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April 2, 2012

Conn. company pitches Gouldsboro salmon farm

A Connecticut-based company is applying to build a salmon aquaculture operation on former Navy property in Gouldsboro. Local officials have approved the preliminary proposal.

Palom Aquaculture LLC is seeking local, state and federal permits for the salmon farm in Gouldsboro’s village of Corea at the Navy’s former Schoodic Point, according to the Bangor Daily News. The company hopes to acquire two lots, where it will build a facility to house 20 salmon-raising tanks that will be grown without the use of pesticides, antibiotics or growth hormones. The company hopes to produce up to 2 million pounds of salmon a year by 2017 and employ seven to 10 people.

Local officials have given their preliminary approval but are still waiting to see blueprints of the proposed facility before issuing a permit, according to the paper. Palom is seeking approval form the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to extract water from and discharge it to Prospect Harbor. If it receives all necessary permits, the company hopes to begin construction this year and bring its first product to market in 2014.

Other parts of the former Navy site are also being eyed for aquaculture work. A facility for Maine Halibut Farms, which currently operates at the University of Maine Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research in Franklin, is in development, and Eastern Maine Development Corp. wants to bring fisheries businesses to the 40 acres it owns.

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