The Maine Department of Marine Resources has presented the Legislature with a plan to overhaul the state’s aquaculture leasing program. It is a document of considerable size, somewhat more readable than such documents usually are and is full of good ideas to make aquaculture, especially finfish aquaculture, a better fit with other uses of coastal waters.

It represents two years of good work by DMR staff. It makes a counter-proposal before the Legislature, advocated by environmental groups and landowners opposed to fish pens, for a two-year moratorium on new leases unnecessary. The intended result of that moratorium, marine zoning, is simply a place a state that earns a substantial part of its living from the sea does not want to go.

The potential problems that would come with zoning the ocean are apparent to anyone who follows landside zoning issues – what seem to be clear ground rules for uses easily and often turn into fuel for endless and expensive lawsuits. The issues that make landside zoning so litigious – such as traffic, property values, change itself – pale in comparison to the additional complex scientific issues that must be addressed in aquaculture siting. To say that the entire 3,500-mile coast of Maine must be thoroughly studied for such things as current flow and oxygenation before any new leases can be granted is to say that there will be no more leases.

One specific proposal by advocates of zoning illustrates the perils: To prohibit fish farms around public lands that have been preserved through purchase or conservation easement adds a restriction after the fact that the public did not bargain for and that throws the intent of public investment in preservation into question. The correct approach to resolving the conflict between aquaculture and other interests, and to avoid conflict in the future is for more precise siting guidelines (including noise and light limits, hours of operation, even the appearance of pens and service vessels), higher performance standards for environmental impact and a review process that is more open to public participation. The goal must be coexistence, not banishment, and this is what the DMR plan proposes.

As lawmakers wrestle with this issue, they should bear in mind, too, that the Maine aquaculture industry is facing extraordinarily difficult times as it seeks to eradicate infectious salmon anemia. A key measure to prevent its return is a new regimen of allowing lease sites to lie fallow. An expansion in the number of leases is needed just to maintain current levels of production and, more importantly, employment, which makes a two-year moratorium more like a death sentence. One final point: Pre-existing use is always a key factor in zoning decisions and Maine has a history of having a working waterfront. It’s grandfathered.