Maine's wild Atlantic salmon are already among the most endangered fish in the country. Dams, pollution and overfishing wiped out commercial salmon fishing in the state back in the 1940s, and the population has never recovered. For over 30 years, conservationists have worked to bring these salmon back from the edge. Now that recovery is at risk again.

Cooke Aquaculture, a Canadian company that runs every commercial salmon farm in Maine, holds 23 leases for open-net pens along the coast. Nine of those leases are up for renewal right now. Farmed salmon have escaped Cooke's pens before, including a 2023 incident where more than 50,000 fish got loose near Cross Island, and escapees can spread disease and interbreed with the wild salmon biologists are fighting to save. Waste from the pens has also been linked to toxic pollution on the seafloor, and a 2025 lawsuit accuses Cooke of Clean Water Act violations at 13 of its Maine sites.

"We have secured them, to an extent. However, they remain at critically low levels," says Dwayne Shaw, executive director of the Downeast Salmon Federation, according to Sentient. Meanwhile, lobster harvesters say the leases are pushing them out of traditional fishing grounds.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources doesn't have to approve these renewals. Given Cooke's record of escapes, pollution violations and limited public input on lease decisions, the agency should reject the renewal of these nine leases until Cooke proves it can operate safely.

Sign the petition to demand the Maine Department of Marine Resources reject Cooke Aquaculture's lease renewals, before more wild salmon and Maine's coastal waters pay the price.