Maine is trying to encourage competition in the salmon aquaculture industry, said Samantha Horn Olsen, the department's aquaculture policy coordinator.
The state doesn’t want Cooke Aquaculture to have a monopoly in the production of farmed Atlantic salmon, so Cooke must release two of its roughly two dozen farming leases to a competitor, she said.
If a suitable aquaculturist can’t be found, the sites will continue to be operated by Cooke, Olsen said.
"They are both good-quality sites," Olsen told IntraFish.
The two sites are Prince Cove in Cobscook Bay in Eastport, a 26.5-acre
