Courtesy / Maine Aquaculture Association
Antonia Small (right) took the shared waters course in 2018 and started Ice House Oysters in Port Clyde with her partner John Cotton (left) who is also a commercial fisherman.
November 2, 2022
Casting a wider net: Free program helps fishermen start aquaculture farms
Courtesy / Chris Davis
A cohort from Aquaculture in Shared Waters gets a tour of a Pemaquid oyster floating upweller system from oyster farmer Smokey McKeen. Registration is now open for the Aquaculture in Shared Waters program.
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Since Aquaculture in Shared Waters began in 2013, over 400 people have completed the course, 30 new aquaculture businesses have been established, and 60 have expanded or are still in business.
Applications are being accepted until Dec. 1 for those who want to join the ranks and complete the free program that begins Jan. 3 in Belfast.
“For the past 10 years, the Aquaculture in Shared Waters course has served as a vital tool to help fishermen learn to farm the sea, diversify their income, and pioneer a new industry on Maine’s working waterfront,” said Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association.
The program is run by Coastal Enterprises Inc., Maine Aquaculture Association, Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, and Maine Sea Grant.
The focus is on the cultivation of commercially valuable species including oysters, mussels, scallops and kelp. Students learn from industry, regulatory and scientific experts on fundamentals such as site selection, permitting, animal husbandry, equipment, business planning, financing, marketing and community relations.
“Having fished in Penobscot Bay and southeast Alaska for many years, this training course was a great fit for me, and I’m now in the early stages of starting a scallop farm,” said Michael Scott of Isle au Haut.
In 2020, the program received the Superior Outreach Programming Award from the National Sea Grant Program.
The 2023 course will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday evenings for 14 sessions, concluding in early April with optional field trip opportunities in the spring. Click here for more information.
The course will be offered in-person at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast with an option to join virtually. The course is free and applications are open to all based in Maine.
The 2023 course is funded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, administered through the Department of Marine Resources.
According to the Maine Aquaculture Association, aquaculture in Maine is one of the most diverse sea farming sectors in the nation, producing more than 25 species of finfish, shellfish and sea vegetables, more than any other U.S. state.
Maine aquaculture has grown over the last 20 years at an average rate of 2%. Less than 1% of Maine’s coastal waters are used for aquaculture but more than 99% of Maine sea farms are family-owned.
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