TRENTON, Maine — A local man who is hoping to raise oysters on two 25-acre lease sites just west of the Mount Desert Island causeway has had his lease application approved by the state.
On Monday, the Maine Department of Marine Resources approved an application from Warren Pettegrow to cultivate oysters in cages in Western Bay, near Goose Cove.
DMR has imposed certain conditions on Pettegrow’s permit, however. He will not be allowed to operate power washers at the lease site and will have to dispose of all removed marine debris at a land-based composting site. He will have to post a bond of $25,000 and cannot let cages holding the oysters rest on the bottom of the bay.
Pettegrow had applied for a 10-year lease but was given a five-year lease and will be allowed to apply for an extension.
Pettegrow’s attorney, Douglas Chapman of Bar Harbor, said Thursday that his client has no objection to any of the conditions imposed by the state.
“We embrace those,” Chapman said Thursday morning.
But Pettegrow’s company, Acadia Sea Farms, needs more than just permission from the state to begin cultivating oysters off MDI. It also needs federal permission, and not just the usual permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Last week, federal officials indicated that Pettegrow will have to get his proposal approved by the Federal Aviation Administration before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will permit the oyster farm. The issue of whether birds might be attracted to the aquaculture site, and therefore whether flight approaches to the nearby Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport might be affected, came up at a multiday public hearing held in September 2010.
Chapman said Thursday that Pettegrow has been aware of the aviation concerns since he submitted his lease application in early 2010.
“We’ve known that since the beginning,” Chapman said.
He said he had “no idea” how long it might take for the FAA to review and make a decision about the oyster farm, but added that he thinks his client hopes to begin operations in Western Bay sometime this spring.
A message left Thursday afternoon at the FAA regional office in Burlington, Mass., was not returned.
A group of nearby property owners called Friends of Goose Cove had raised concerns about Pettegrow’s operation, which eventually could include 5,000 oyster-growing cages and could produce as many as 10 million oysters annually.
An Ellsworth attorney representing the group, Sally Mills, said last week that the group was “delighted” by the restrictions the state was considering. Those are the same restrictions that were included in the decision approved by DMR on Monday.
Great, a local sustainable business that benefits everyone. I am surprised the out of staters who own all the waterfront property on Little Deer Isle, and Deer Isle have not screeched about this. “Imagine someone wanting to make an honest living working the water, harvesting sea grass, or farming oysters, in front of our summer retreat, the nerve”
This is Goose Cove in Trenton on Western Bay. Deer Isle is heading west toward Blue Hill Bay.
Deer Isle? If people on Deer Isle are screeching about this then you’ve got some real screechers down there. Good luck with that.
I grew up in Trenton across from Alley Island in upper Western Bay. Not once in my entire childhood or adulthood have I ever seen a lobster boar or fishing vessel in that body of water. Anyone who has ever been in Goose Cove and around the Trenton Bridge will tell you that is not an area for anyone to be paddling a canoe or a kayak for recreation.
Arguements that this will screw up recreational use of the water or lobster fishing are bogus.
Seagulls? They never have posed a risk to airplanes due to all the mussel pens that are on the other side of Trenton Bridge in Eastern Bay. Planes come in for landings at the airport that way as well.
Congrats Warren! I hope the rest of the process works out for you! Cant wait to buy, sell and eat your oysters!
You’re absolutely right on all counts, although I personally can’t comment on the bird issue, but you make a good point about the mussel pens in the upper bay not attracting a large amount of birds because they don’t. They’re also not an eyesore and they don’t impact recreational use of any kind whatsoever. Warren Pettigrow’s a good guy, he’ll do this right.
No large groups of birds in that path, it has never been an issue. I find it hard to believe that birds would gather in such droves that it would effect the flight path in this location.
You’re absolutely WRONG about planes coming in for landings from the other side of that bridge. The only landing strip at that airport doesn’t face anyway near the other side of the bridge. It lines up DIRECTLY where Pettigrew wants to put his cages. You better hope Capt. Sullenberger is pilot of your plane flying out of there.
As stated I live in Trenton and although I now live on the Oak Point Road, I used to live on Route 3 right next to the airport in a stretch of houses that is on the straight part of the road after the old Green Moth heading towards MDI.
I personally have flown over my Uncles Log Cabin Home, in the field in front of the airport, and landed on that runway that runs along the Jordan River and is not near Goose Cove at all. I have seen US Airways commuter jets do this many times as well as President Obama’s plane when he landed at Trenton. To be fair and honest I will also say that I have seen planes come in for landings the other way as well, coming in over the Narrows Two Campground and Lunts Lobster Pound. Perhaps the landings and runwways being used change to wind conditions of the day?
There are planes flying over Eastern Bay where there are large mussel cages and there seems to be no concerns about birds in that circumstance. I find it odd that birds are a concern here. And the thing people should keep in mind is that oyster cages are not going to be left with open tops so that birds can dive in and get the oysters. People have some sort of idea that this is going to turn into a scence in the Alfred Hitchchock movie called The Birds but I think that is a bit far fetched.
I want to expand on my statement. I have taken off from the Trenton Airport and swung east, going to the left of the bridge over Eastern Bay and flying over Lamoine Beach and near Hancock Point. Upon landing, coming from the East we again came over Eastern Bay, swung over Lamoine and came into a landing coming from the West. Both times we were over Eastern Bay where there are mussels pens. No large amounts of birds or anything like that.
Planes do land coming in from the other side too. However if Mussel Pens and Birds are not a concern on Eastern bay where there are flight paths for landing and taking off then how come it is such a big concern in Western Bay where the oyster farm is going to be?
Let us help!
http://www.intelligenceforrent.com/
Oysters should be a profitable business. I admit, I have not followed this plan very well so hope I am not repeating. The Delaware Bay and more recently, the Chesapeake Bay have had major hits to their oyster industry. Much has been learned; I hope that has been taken into account so that the disease that wiped out much of their industry is less likely to come here. I sense, that as warmer waters move north the possibility of disease also comes north.
The Gulf got wiped out after the BP accident too. One good thing is that there is not heavy shipping traffic in this area or in Blue Hill or Hog Bays like there is in the Chesapeake or Delaware Bays. There you have Baltimore, Philadelphia, Camden.
Dispose of all marine debris at a landfill. Wow! Marine Debris would be things like seaweed and Barnicles that grow on the pens. Things that already come from the ocean right? He cant use a pressure washer to get rid of it, even though he could run that washer with sea water right there and ready to use. So he will haul out all the pens and wash them were exactly. How will he recover the debris? And then after gathering said debris he will truck it where burning how much fossil fuel? Makes a whole lot of sense!