Land-based aquaculture company Kingfish Maine's construction of its recirculating aquaculture facility in Jonesport, Maine, remains on hold until legal challenges filed by opponents are resolved.
"We are still waiting to get through the appeals before we start construction," Tom Sorby, Kingfish maine's operations manager, told IntraFish. The company is expecting to break ground on the site next year, he added.
Legal challenges remain active against the project, including claims pending in the Maine Business and Consumer court filed by conservation group Protect Downeast.
In
a complaint filed with a Maine superior court in 2022, Protect Downeast said its members "are directly or indirectly involved in water dependent businesses, including fishing, lobstering, clamming and tourism" and would be negatively impacted by the aquaculture company.
The state's superior court recently transferred the case to the Maine Business and Consumer Court.
Last March, the Jonesport Board of Appeals
upheld a building permit awarded to the Kingfish Maine land-based yellowtail project despite the
challenge brought by the group.
Elizabeth Boepple, the attorney representing the parties challenging the permit, said they expect to file briefs in the business court by March 15 that challenge the planning board's decision,
reported to the local news site Maine Monitor.
An appeal to
a Maine superior court decision to uphold a permit issued by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to Kingfish Maine in 2021 is also now before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, according to the news site.
Kingfish Maine will also have to wait to use $4 million (€3.7 million) it received earlier this year from the state's American Rescue plan funds to upgrade a power line to the site, Sorby said.
The company is currently operating at the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR) in Franklin, Maine, as it prepares for construction of its Jonesport facility.
Kingfish Maine is part of The Kingfish Company, which currently produces 1,500 metric tons of Dutch yellowtail (seriola lalandi) at its Kingfish Zeeland facility in the Netherlands. The company is expanding its operation there, with the expectation of producing 3,500 metric tons in 2024.
Once the Jonesport facility is fully operational, Kingfish Maine is projected to produce 8,000 metric tons of yellowtail.
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