Working in an uninsulated, unheated, unelectrified barn, Charlie Walsh and Jon Steuber are building what look like lobster traps but are actually a new type of shellfish farming grow cage called the Maine Scallop Pot.
Working in an uninsulated, unheated, unelectrified barn, Charlie Walsh and Jon Steuber are building what look like lobster traps but are actually a new type of shellfish farming grow cage called the Maine Scallop Pot.
Their Thomaston startup, Seascale, last year swept all three categories and $25,000 in prizes at a pitch competition held by Dirigo Labs in Waterville.
“We built the Maine Scallop Pot to make aquaculture a real, viable option for working fishermen, not just in Maine, but anywhere traditional fisheries are facing pressure,” says Steuber.
At Seascale, the shellfish grow cages haul, set and stack like lobster traps. But they’re purpose-built for shellfish culture and fitted with shellfish bags.
Salty roots
Walsh grew up on the Maine coast. His career includes lobstering, managing puffin and tern colonies for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and working with the University of Maine’s experimental shellfish hatchery, Maine Sea Farms and Pemaquid Oyster Co.
Steuber co-founded a youth mentorship and community development organization in Valparaíso, Chile. Since 2019, he’s worked as a lobster boat sternman, helping his boat diversify into kelp production.
The Seascale concept started in 2024. Each invested about $2,000 plus sweat equity and revenue from initial sales. Both continue to work their day jobs as a sternman and oyster grower.
Business support has come from academic and nonprofit partners including Dirigo, Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Blue Tech Boost Incubator, Maine Technology Institute’s Maine Entrepreneurial Resource Corps, Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, Brady Lab at University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center, Maine Sea Grant, Island Institute and Coastal Enterprises Inc.
Marketing is mostly direct with fishermen, aquaculturists and researchers at trade shows, wharfs and gear demonstrations.
“Jon and I have been friends going on 16 years,” says Walsh. “We’ve been orbiting each other in terms of interests and professional endeavors for years.”
The idea for Seascale originated with Walsh. The idea was to create more efficiency in aquaculture equipment.
“Two years ago, it was a doodle on a yellow legal pad,” says Walsh. “I sat down with Jon and said, ‘Do you think this has any legs?”
The two bought a couple of rolls of covered wire mesh typically used in lobster traps. They cut, bent and J-clipped the wire by hand — jobs that could have been done with pneumatic tools.
“In terms of figuring out the design and putting it together, the first pot took us about eight hours, doing every connection with a pair of pliers,” says Walsh.
Tests began in 2024 on the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center’s experimental aquaculture lease site off Walpole. Later versions went to lobstermen who also do aquaculture work.
The gear can be used on state-permitted aquaculture lease sites; the partners are pursuing a regulatory change that would allow the gear’s use alongside lobstering operations. To date, they’ve sold over 200 cages to a dozen customers, including researchers and aquaculturalists in Maine and beyond.
Walsh and Steuber now work with Thomaston lobster trap producer Brooks Trap Mill to process components while they complete final assembly and design custom versions requested by customers for species such as clams and urchins.
“These are species that want cold, deep water where fishermen were already fishing and they have pathways to market,” says Walsh. “A lot of it was looking at the Venn diagram of commercial fishing and aquaculture.”
