| Maine's
mussel farming industry maturing
Portland Press Herald
January 6, 2003
MOUNT DESERT, Maine - The pleasure boats are gone, swaddled in white plastic for
the winter. Blue Hill Bay belongs now to those who can coax a living from the
cold water, and in the sheltered coves off Pretty Marsh Harbor, entrepreneurs
are refining a new, commercial-scale aquaculture venture - growing mussels on
rafts. Mussel
aquaculture is well-established in other countries. In Maine, small sites have
been operated in various forms for a quarter-century. But what has been lacking,
supporters say, is a critical mass of sites and marketing to expand production
levels and meet growing consumer demand. Now Maine may be close to achieving that
critical mass. This
development would be welcome in waterfront communities that haven't shared in
the economic prosperity of the south coast. It could offset job losses in commercial
fishing, which has been restricted by government regulations, and other aquaculture
businesses, struggling with salmon illnesses and new environmental rules. Recently,
heaped on a custom-built, $200,000 harvesting barge in this Downeast town were
3,000 pounds of mussels. They were cultured from a raft site at the edge of the
bay, in Frenchboro. Four workers raced an approaching storm to clean, sort and
bag the mussels, which would be sold at fancy restaurants and seafood stores around
the country. The
Frenchboro site is one of 10 scattered across Midcoast and Downeast Maine that
by later this year will be producing shellfish for Great Eastern Mussel Farms
of Tenants Harbor, the country's largest mussel producer. The company has $1.5
million in loans, government grants and equity tied up in this venture, with a
goal of producing between 500,000 and 1 million pounds of mussels a year. The
two dozen or so fishermen working with Great Eastern also are invested in this
endeavor. Over the next year or so, they will know whether mussel raft aquaculture
can evolve into a larger industry in Maine, according to Chip Davison, Great Eastern's
president. Any new source of income would be welcome in coastal communities where
other fishing opportunities have declined. "The
bottom line," Davison said, "is that 10 rafts should make a profit for us. The
fishermen have to be profitable and we have to be profitable. If it works, this
is a nice way to go in the future." Great
Eastern and its allies face some obstacles, however. They must consistently raise
a top-quality product that will command premium prices. And they'll be tested
by the public's love-hate relationship with aquaculture - support for farming
the sea, tempered by opposition to the gear that can conflict with views and navigation. Blue
mussels are plentiful along the Atlantic coast, feeding on plankton floating in
the water. Recently, Americans have been developing a taste for the bivalve mollusk,
which is related to the clam. Consumption has doubled since 1998, and is said
to be growing at roughly 25 percent a year. Processing
and shipping blue mussels is already a $7 million a year business for Great Eastern.
The company has 50 employees who processed 6 million pounds last year. But Davison
hopes to double production over the next four years. The expansion of raft aquaculture
is central to that goal. Great
Eastern and its partners have been refining techniques used by European processors. A
key to their plan is the harvesting barge, Mumbles, that was anchored last month
off Pretty Marsh Harbor. The 60-by-24-foot barge is like a mobile processing plant,
fitted with a crane and imported equipment that helps workers unload, clean and
bag the mussels. Mussels
thrive all over the Maine coast, even where they're unwelcome, like on piers and
boat hulls. But it takes some tinkering to raise mussels that yield 40 percent
meat and grow to more than 2 inches in a year or so. That's the science behind
mussel-raft design. On
a cold morning last month, Davison piloted a small boat to a raft site located
off Hardwood Island, a few miles southwest of the harbor. Four rafts are moored
there, each measuring 40 by 40 feet. The rafts look like a large deck with planking
yet to be installed. Horizontal rows of wood beams are fastened to a steel frame. Hanging
from the beams of each raft are 400 ropes dangling 35 feet into the water. A year
ago, the ropes were seeded with young mussels that cling on and grow. The placement
of the rafts, the flow of the water current, the design of the ropes and other
factors influence the productivity of each site. Building
and seeding one of these rafts costs roughly $31,000. Two of the rafts here are
owned by Great Eastern, two by a local fisherman. On
this morning, Davison and an assistant scrambled onto the raft platform and pulled
up some of the ropes. They were covered with thick, blue-black clumps of mussels.
A productive raft can yield 30 tons of mussels a year. Two
of the rafts are owned by Evan Young of Trenton. Young has worked as a commercial
diver, harvesting scallops and urchins. In the past year, he's been busy almost
full-time with mussels, growing them from seed, operating his own small processing
barge and employing three helpers. He sells to Great Eastern and local restaurants. "I
love it," he said, standing on the deck of his barge. "It's a brand new industry.
You take your lumps, but it's a learning curve." Young
said he's earning a living with mussels, but considers it a risky business. So
he's making gradual investments. Other fishermen who see his operation express
interest, he said, but there's a lot of lead time to consider. Getting a state-approved
lease site can take almost two years, plus another year or two for seed mussels
to mature. Mussel
farming also can also be a part-time venture. Daniel
Lunt is a Frenchboro lobsterman who owns two small mussel rafts. The rafts are
moored in the island's harbor and Lunt said he can earn $3,000 to $4,000 a year
to help supplement his income from lobstering. There's plenty of growth potential
for the industry, Lunt said, but fishermen will need to think on a large scale
to make a living. "How
much you get out of it depends on how much you put into it," he said. Mussel
farmers face several challenges. They need to find locations that are sheltered
from storms, but have the right currents and plankton flows to maximize production.
Underwater nets must be installed to deter eider ducks, which can eat their body
weight in mussels daily. But
the largest obstacle facing mussel rafts isn't weather or predators. It is people. "The
market is phenomenal," Young said. "We have no problem getting rid of the mussels.
The industry's potential really depends on public acceptance." All
aquaculture sites need lease permits from the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
The agency tries to balance the desire of farmers to choose a certain location
against concerns over navigation, the impact on other fisheries and the ability
of shore owners to get to and from their properties. Mussel
rafts tend to be less controversial than large salmon farms, according to Andrew
Fisk, the department's aquaculture coordinator. But with any form of aquaculture,
some coastal residents worry that clusters of mussel rafts will pop up in harbors.
"We don't want to see bays that are paved with mussel rafts," Fisk said. "It's
a legitimate concern, and one that our regulations are set up to prevent." In
Sorrento, northeast of Mount Desert Island, the department recently denied a lease
application filed by Young. Navigation and traditional fisheries were issues there.
But in Northport, south of Belfast, the agency approved a raft lease in 2001 that
has riled some residents and recreational sailors. The raft is among the 10 sites
that are part of the Great Eastern venture. Todd
Park Merolla lives on the waterfront and is a member of the Northport Yacht Club.
The raft, he and other members say, is located in a high-traffic area that interferes
with the club's weekend races and is a hazard in fog. "I
think it's a big mistake," he said. Aquaculture,
Merolla said, is a good thing. But he said the state has ignored public opposition
to this specific site. These
sort of complaints are familiar to Davison. His company and allied fishermen have
faced opposition at other sites. Great Eastern is formulating a code of operation
for mussel rafts that would limit the number of acres in any bay to a fraction
of a percent and set a distance between sites. In a related development, the marine
resources department will hold public hearings this week in Ellsworth, Portland
and Eastport on proposed revisions to the department's aquaculture lease rules. But
for Davison, the most pressing task has been marketing the mussels that were harvested
last month from Frenchboro and Mount Desert. Great
Eastern competes with Canadian growers in Prince Edward Island. Davison is marketing
the raft-cultured mussels as "choice," targeting high-end restaurants and asking
a higher price than Canadian producers. He has begun sending samples to his distributors
and advertising in trade magazines. If
the product takes off, it could pave the way for fishermen to apply for leases
in other areas. "If
they think they can make money," he said, "they'll get into it." WCTC's
aquaculture program serves regular WCTC students as well as local industry, said
Miller. After the ISA outbreak, WCTC developed an eight-week professional development
course in fish science and fish farming math that taught computerized fish feeding
systems to 25 people. Flexibility
is a key component at the new aquaculture incubator, too, said Fraser, noting
that programs will be customized to fit local needs. | 
