Seven years after it was proposed and amid growing doubts about its future, the backers of a land-based fish farm in Bucksport say they are still discussing a project there.
Whole Oceans, which initially planned to produce 20 metric tons of Atlantic salmon annually on the site of the town’s former paper mill, let its local building permits expire last year.
Since then, there has been skepticism about whether a facility will still be built and if the company will stay in town. Local officials recently said they were preparing for the possibility of the company selling its property or scaling down the proposal significantly.
But Whole Oceans says it is not departing Bucksport. Though specifics remain unclear, it still plans to build in town, and there may be new parties involved, town officials suggested this month.
“We’ve had contact by another organization that’s interested in that property and has approached Whole Oceans, and there are some types of discussions going on for a project which would be virtually identical to what Whole Oceans had proposed,” Town Manager Susan Lessard said at a Town Council meeting on May 8.
Whole Oceans confirmed it still plans to build a facility in Bucksport but declined to comment further.
Numerous parties interested in the property have contacted the town and been referred to Whole Oceans, Lessard said, but this one is the first to have conversations with the owner. Lessard said at the meeting that she couldn’t share more yet.
The company said last year that it planned to pursue a smaller project on the site, the Maine Monitor previously reported.
Its plans have been delayed in part by the pandemic, a lawsuit involving one of its consultants and steep price increases.
Whole Oceans’ owner Dale Reicks, an Iowa pork producer, also leased a land-based Atlantic salmon farm in British Columbia. That farm, Kuterra, has since pivoted to steelhead trout after financial troubles. On its website, it says parent company Whole Oceans is applying the approach to a new farm venture in Bucksport.
It wasn’t clear Monday what fish the company ultimately intends to raise in Maine.
