MILLINOCKET, Maine — A proposed Atlantic salmon farm could revive a spark that Millinocket lost when the Great Northern Paper mill that sustained it for a century shuttered in 2008.
Katahdin Salmon, whose founders are based in Portland, plans to hatch, raise and process salmon in freshwater tanks on the former mill site owned by economic development nonprofit Our Katahdin. The two parties signed a lease, and the aquaculture company will use up to 40 acres on the 1,400-acre site.
Proposals for farmed salmon and yellowfin operations in Belfast and Jonesport, among other towns, have faced pushback due to their size and effects on the environment. In Millinocket, a town that has struggled to map out an economic upturn, town leaders are supportive of Katahdin Salmon’s plans, which are still in the early stages and could bring 80 full-time jobs.
Locals interviewed Thursday were mostly receptive, pointing to the mill that has sat untouched for years and the area’s desperate need for jobs. Some were skeptical yet curious, pointing to previous investors who also promised jobs that never materialized, as well as legal battles tied to other fish farms in Maine.
“In a place like Millinocket, every job counts,” said Jessica Masse, an Our Katahdin board member.
Debora Rountree has lived in town for 61 years. Her father worked on the mill’s river drive in the late 1960s and later helped build the Golden Road. She works as executive director of rural development initiatives at Eastern Maine Community College’s Katahdin Higher Education Center, which is eager to train people for Katahdin Salmon jobs.
She watched Millinocket evolve from a once-booming manufacturing town to a place with a decimated economy where thousands lost their jobs. Rountree referred to the town’s rebuilding over the past few years as a “renaissance.”
“It’s taken so much to get to this point,” she said. “People have seen the town go through the good, bad and ugly, and now it doesn’t have anywhere to go except move ahead.”
Young people tend to graduate high school and leave Millinocket. If there were jobs to keep them here and they paid well enough to raise a family, that would make a difference, said Donna Stewart, a waitress at the Appalachian Trail Cafe. She was skeptical about the operation because other companies have misled townspeople countless times, she said.
Katahdin Salmon’s co-founders are Marianne Naess and her husband, Erik Heim. They are the former leaders of Nordic Aquafarms, which has plans to build a land-based salmon farm in Belfast, though the company has been involved in legal battles over land. They chose to move inland because that’s where aquaculture in Maine and across the nation will thrive, Naess said.
Katahdin Salmon’s operation will be smaller and produce less salmon than the other proposals, and it will rely 100 percent on renewable power, Naess said. The industrial site, now called One North, is ideal because of access to fresh water and pre-excavated space that is safe to build on, among other factors, she said.
But the operation is still a few years away from raising fish that will be sold locally and to regional seafood markets — 2026 is when production is projected to start — and plans can shift in that time. The permitting process is underway, and a 24-acre lagoon at the mill will be repurposed as the construction site for the new facility.
Our Katahdin has spent a portion of a $12 million investment designated for cleanup and infrastructure improvements since it bought the mill site in 2018, Masse said. Funding came primarily from federal and state grants.
Bill Morgan, who owns Angelo’s Pizza Grille along Penobscot Avenue, noted the enthusiasm of area leaders when it comes to large-scale projects, but local businesses have yet to see big benefits. If a fish farm is the industry to uplift the area and attract more skilled labor, he’s open to it, although skepticism remains.
“When I start seeing rebar and cement trucks, that’s when I’ll believe it,” he said.
The town is preparing for Katahdin Salmon’s operation by looking at child care, internet access and limited housing stock because those will be crucial for families settling in the area, town officials said.
“Millinocket is so invigorated to get something rolling again, anything, anything with promise and tangible jobs,” said Jesse Dumais, town council chair. “Once we get one or two anchor tenants up there at the old mill site, you’re going to see the town take off again.”
