After their March 2 hearing in Washington County Superior Court, the opposing parties of the Ross v. Acadian Seaplants lawsuit shook hands and left Machias, expecting to wait a month or more for the verdict. However, the ruling came in only 12 days.
      Judge Harold Stewart found in favor of the plaintiffs, Carl Ross, Kenneth Ross and the Roque Island Gardner Homestead Foundation, who had sued Acadian Seaplants in December 2015 for illegally harvesting rockweed from their private property. The judge ruled that "rockweed/seaweed growing in the intertidal zone is private property owned exclusively by the fee owner."
      Jean-Paul Deveau, president of Acadian Seaplants, which is headquartered in Nova Scotia, comments, "We're very disappointed in the decision." The company will be appealing the superior court's ruling. "We've seen a number of issues we feel need to be brought to the attention of the law court."
      Acadian Seaplants manufactures a variety of products based on dehydrated rockweed, a brown seaweed that only grows in the intertidal zone. "This is very detrimental to the marine plants industry in the state of Maine," says Deveau. "People need to understand the ramifications of this decision, with respect to the people earning a living harvesting marine plants." Deveau believes that this case could create precedent for excluding other intertidal industries from harvesting on private property. "Up until now, anything that grew in the ocean was public property," says Deveau. "So the question now is: What else?"
      George Seaver, vice president of Ocean Organics, a Maine company that creates organic fertilizers based on seaweed extracts, states, "Wormers all use the same type of seaweed to pack their worms in. So there are 800 plus people with marine worming licenses who have a right to be very concerned about their access to this type of seaweed."
In his written ruling, Judge Stewart stated that the harvesting of rockweed does not fit within the three protected public rights to the intertidal zone: fishing, fowling and navigation. "Harvesting a terrestrial plant is no more a fishing activity, such as worming, digging for mussels, trapping lobsters or dropping a line for fish clearly are, than is harvesting a tree the same as hunting or trapping wildlife."
      Ben Leoni, attorney for Acadian Seaplants, says that most of the legal work between now and when the case is taken up by the supreme court is done through written briefs. "The written briefs are generally more important for the judge than the oral argument. One study of a Third Circuit federal judge stated oral argument only changed his opinion about 16% of the time." Leoni says that most supreme court cases are heard in the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland and that it could take a year to receive a verdict.
      Carl Ross says he is pleased with the superior court's decision. "I thought that we had the better case, but I realize that it's subject to an appeal," says Ross, who was raised in Calais. "A lot of people who signed up on the no‑cut registry should feel a lot better about the prospects of their property being protected." The registry, which is maintained by the Rockweed Coalition, lists 568 Maine property owners who do not want their rockweed harvested. "At least they'd have their own influence on whatever happens, and control their own destiny as far as rockweed goes," says Ross. "With me, it's just a wait and see thing."