It was with great disappointment that I read Jane McCloskey’s Aug. 14 letter to the editor on salmon farming. Once again Maine’s working waterfront folk are being used to serve the private purpose of a privileged coastal property owner. Does Ms. McCloskey really think that Maine’s hard working lobstermen and shellfish harvesters don’t understand that objections to their commercial activities on Maine’s waters are the next target for wealthy landowners?

To set the record straight.

. There have been a number of rigorous studies in the United States, Canada and Europe on the possible environmental impacts of Slice. None of these studies indicated any significant impacts on lobsters or the marine environment.

. Few if any of the shellfish or finfish lease sites that are permitted in Maine state waters are exclusive use leases. In fact most leases that are issued by the state have multiple-use conditions placed on them. Fishermen routinely fish next to aquaculturalists. Fishermen may initially oppose marine farms because of concerns about lost territory. Typically however, once a farm is in place fishermen quickly learn that some of the best fishing is found close to marine farms due to the habitat they provide. Like the artificial reefs constructed by the federal government for recreational fishermen our farms provide shelter and habitat for a broad range of aquatic species.

Much the same way that different fishermen have disagreements about who fishes where, aquaculturalists sometimes have gear conflicts with their fellow watermen. Gear that doesn’t move, “stationary gear” like lobster pots, oyster racks and salmon pens, sometimes conflicts with gear that does move, “mobile gear” like otter trawls, urchin and scallop draggers. These conflicts are generally resolved through frank discussions between folk who face the same challenges involved in making a living on the water. They are most definitely not resolved by shore folk pitting one group against the other.

. None of the shellfish or finfish lease sites that are issued in Maine are free. In fact our members pay more that any other marine resource user group for the privilege of operating in Maine’s marine waters. We pay lease fees, user fees, post environmental bonds, pay state and local taxes on income, property and business assets including our floating gear. Unlike many coastal states to our south, which have already lost their working waterfronts, aquaculture makes significant contributions to Maine’s state coffers. Many of these fellow states are forced to generate operating funds through salt-water sport fishing licenses, recreational use fees and expensive boat registrations. Far from being subsidized by other coastal user groups one can legitimately argue that Maine aquaculture’s financial contribution has helped Maine state agencies resist the need to fund their agencies by taxing other user groups.

. Farmers are deeply concerned about disease threats and have more to lose than anyone if their animals get sick. It may sound silly but as herdsmen we work with our animals everyday. We take it kind of personally if they get sick. There are no documented cases of aquaculture spreading disease to wild aquatic animal populations in Maine. This is one of the most widely made and poorly supported allegations about farming of any kind, be it on land or in the water. The preponderance of the data shows that wild animal populations pose a disease threat to farmed animals not vice versa. Bacteria and viruses occur naturally in the environment and challenge both wild and farmed stocks. The difference is that if a wild animal becomes diseased we rarely see it because it is eaten or dies “out of sight, out of mind.”

. There is no data to suggest that wild fisheries in Scotland and Norway (or anywhere else for that matter) have collapsed due to salmon farming. Ms. McCloskey is correct in suggesting that some wild fisheries have collapsed. It is also true that aquaculture is expanding, however as my honorable old statistics professor taught in Stats. 101 “correlation does not equal causation.”

International fisheries scientists generally concur that the reason for most wild fisheries collapses is our inability to effectively manage them combined with our tremendous ability to harvest them efficiently. We are too good at hunting wild fish stocks and not good enough at sheparding them. Many of these same scientists have concluded that any increased ability for humans to feed themselves will be based on the healthy seafood that comes from aquaculture production. By suggesting that any possible impending demise of the lobster industry is linked to the existence of salmon farming in Maine Ms. McCloskey is doing nothing short of fear mongering and should be ashamed. Maine lobstermen know full well where their challenges lie and they have taken tremendous responsibility for meeting those challenges through the formation of their local zone councils. The councils may not be perfect but at least the guys are trying to solve things their own way and on their own terms. I respect that, and my door is always open to fellow watermen

. Finally the suggestion that there is a linkage between salmon aquaculture and human diseases was particularly irresponsible. The bacteria Ms. McCloskey refers to, Streptococcus sp., has only been documented in aquarium fish and fish from southern United States and Japan. Furthermore there are no documented cases of transmission to humans.

Ms. McCloskey is correct that in the fall of 2000 the Scottish government closed a portion of the scalloping grounds due to Amnesiac Shellfish Poisoning. However she is incorrect that the reason for these algae blooms was determined to be salmon farms. In fact the Scottish government specifically examined whether there was any linkage between salmon farming and the algae blooms that triggered the closure. Their conclusion, after exhaustive study, was that that there was no linkage and in fact the blooms had been occurring at infrequent but regular intervals for thousands of years. This is precisely the same conclusion the Norwegian government came to when they reviewed a series of algae blooms that occurred off Norway in the late 1980s.

By trying to pit different groups of working waterfront folk against one another and not disclosing ownership of property that overlooks a pending lease application that she opposes, Ms. McCloskey does the Maine public a disservice.

Sebastian Belle is executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association.