Whole Oceans, once a darling of the blossoming land-based salmon farming industry in remote Maine, is on life support. Most of its employees are gone. The small town where it hopes to build its farm barely hears from the company these days. And three years since its plans were approved by the local government, there is nothing to show but a piece of undeveloped property.

When it was announced in 2018, the team behind Whole Oceans' land-based salmon farm laid out a plan that promised to create hundreds of jobs in a Maine town with a population of less than 5,000 people.