DAMARISCOTTA, ME ā€” Last Friday, Damariscotta served as a vibrant learning hub with the SEAMaine Educator Summit. This event drew participants from all over the aquaculture sector, providing educators with invaluable insights into Maineā€™s aquaculture industry, starting with seed sourcing at the upweller, an informative river cruise, and concluding with collaborative meetings among the participants.

Aboard the boat were individuals from various corners of the sector, including representatives from , , , the Aquaculture Research Institute, Lobster Institute, and , and to name a few. The diversity of attendees brought a variety of perspectives and a wealth of knowledge to the discussions, creating a rich and inclusive learning environment.

The day kicked off with a hands-on session at the dock around the upweller ā€“ a system used for growing oyster seeds in a controlled environment, optimizing their development ā€“ providing foundational knowledge about seed sourcing. This set the stage for the subsequent river cruise on the Damariscotta River, an educational opportunity allowing participants to delve into various aspects of the oyster aquaculture industry. Carter Newell, a seasoned oyster farmer, offered a first-hand experience of oyster harvesting while shedding light on different cultivation methods.

A stop at the workfloat tumbler, a device designed to gently tumble oysters, promoting their growth and forming a desirable shape and thickness of shell, affording participants a closer look at its significant role and operation in oyster aquaculture, enhancing their grasp of industry practices.

Anne Langston Noll, one of SEAMaineā€™s Co-Chair of the Workforce Development Committee, engaged the attendees with answers to a broad array of questions from lease applications to harvesting techniques, offering insights into the wider scope of aquaculture and underscoring the need for workforce development. The summit underlined the importance of proficiency and skills across all facets of aquaculture, equipping educators to steer their students towards careers in the sector.

As the morning session concluded, educators transitioned to afternoon presentations, moderated by Keri Kaczor, another of SEAMaineā€™s Co-Chairs of the Workforce Development Committee, showcasing the efforts of grant recipients working to advance workforce curriculum and training modules in Maine’s seafood industry. These grants, strategically designed to bolster Maine’s seafood economy, seek to build capacity for creating new curriculum and training modules, as well as attracting fresh, young talent to the sector.

During the afternoon session, presenters explored a diverse array of topics, ranging from virtual workforce awareness initiatives to hands-on aquaculture education and the creation of mariculture training modules. These initiatives have a dual impact, nurturing talent within specific sectors while contributing to the overall resilience and sustainability of Maine’s seafood economy. 

Each presentation brought a unique perspective on how these initiatives support the growth and sustainability of Maine’s seafood sector as a whole. Educators shared project summaries showcasing successful strategies and discussed valuable lessons learned. Their insights offer actionable knowledge that can be applied across the seafood value chain, from harvest to distribution. The afternoon session served as an incubator for inventive ideas and approaches that will shape the future of Maine’s seafood industry, ensuring its competitiveness on a global scale. 

Throughout the summit, the collaborative spirit among educators and industry experts highlighted SEA Maine’s role in fortifying the seafood value chain, underscoring its significance in the industry’s collective growth and development

The SEAMaine Educator Summit not only provided educators with valuable insights into Maine’s aquaculture and seafood industry but also served as a catalyst for collaboration and innovation across the seafood sector. It exemplified the dedication and passion of individuals and organizations working together to nurture the next generation of seafood professionals in Maine, positioning the state’s seafood industry for ongoing strength and adaptability in an ever-changing global landscape.

For additional details and media coverage, .

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Awards

Five pilot projects were awarded funding, two of which are here in the state of Maine. Damian Brady, a joint faculty member with Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) and the School of Marine Science (SMS) and Dana Morse, of Maine Sea Grant were selected for their project ā€œComparing the biolog¾±³¦²¹±ōĢżand economic performance of rigid trays and lantern nets for the nursery culture of Atlantic sea scallops.ā€ In collaboration with Maine scallop farmers, this project will compare rigid trays with industry standard lanterns nets, two types of nursery gear differing in material and mesh size. Scallop growth and economic data will be incorporated into an existing bioeconomic model of scallop farming andĢżshared with stakeholders through outreach and extension.

Paul Rawson, a joint faculty member with ARI and SMS, Adam St Gelais of ARI, and Dana Morse of Maine Sea Grant were also awarded funding for research looking at ā€œOptimizing settlement substrate and nursery practices in support of razor clam (Ensis leei) farming.ā€ Although there is strong interest in razor clam production within the shellfish industry, there is a lack of reliable razor clam seed. The current labor effort and logistical planning to grow these clams to seed size within a hatchery is strenuous. This project will address these challenges by developing technologies for culturing razor clam seeds outside the hatchery, by supplying the grower with clams in an earlier (larval) stage – including experiments to establish which sediments maximize production with hopes to increase survival and lower costs.Ģż

NOAA Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) Awards

The 91±¬ĮĻ also received two S-K grant awards. Professor of Marine Ecology at UMM and ARI affiliate, Brian F. Beal, was awarded $300,000 for his project ā€œAn examination of softshell clam, Mya arenaria L., fecundity along the Maine coast: the influence of clam size, tidal height, season, and geographic region.ā€ This project seeks to understand how reproductive effort changes with age of the organism, and how both spatial and temporal variability impact egg production and spawning related to clam size. Research findings will inform decision makers regarding rules and regulations to promote sustainable softshell clam production, as the population is currently declining.Ģż

Dr. Timothy Bowden, a joint faculty member with ARI and the School of Food Agriculture brought in $299,992 for his project examining ā€œProbiotics to improve sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) hatchery success.ā€ Bowdenā€™s project will optimize hatchery methodologies to create a more reliable seed source for scallops and enable year-round hatchery production of larvae by improving larval health and reproduction. This research could increase the economic value of sea scallop landings in Maine, benefiting the industry, both wild caught and farmed.

Both these projects focus on the 2nd priority of the S-K funding: technology promoting sustainable US seafood production and harvesting.

NOAA Sea Grant Awards

ARI, Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, 91±¬ĮĻ CCAR, and Maine Sea Grant were all also awarded funding totalling 2.12 million dollars. The projects range in topics from enhancing US finfish and shellfish broodstock to community engagement.

ā€œNutritional Strategies for Improved Larval Production of Marine Finfish with an Emphasis on Seriola sp.ā€ led by Matt Hawkyard at the Aquaculture Research Institute focuses on Seriola and will advance the development and expansion of marine finfish aquaculture in the US by furthering the capability to cultivate and produce larval feeds and assess the effects of “assess the effects of non-artificial, nutrient rich diets on growth and survival rates of both larval California yellowtail and yellowtail amberjack.

Ģż

Chris Davis Executive Director ofĢż the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, and ARI affiliated faculty Tim Bowden, Adam St Gelais, and Damian Bradyā€™s project ā€œā€˜Cracking the Shellā€™: A Collaborative Approach to Developing Hatchery Production of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Placopecten magellanicusā€ will determine best practices for larval rearing and settlement protocols, and broodstock conditioning and spawning. It will also look into how hatchery environments impact organism health, growth, and larval immune response, evaluate the economics of hatchery production at a commercial scale, and collaborate with community members and stakeholders.Ģż

Stephen Eddy, Director of 91±¬ĮĻ CCAR will work on a project titled ā€œDomestication and Breeding of Lumpfish to Accelerate Successful Commercialization and use for Sea Lice Biocontrol in the Northeast US.ā€ Eddyā€™s project will address the lack of US sourced, diverse, and self-sustaining Lumpfish used as a biological control for parasitic sea lice in farmed Atlantic Salmon. Starting with wild-caught juveniles from the Gulf of Maine, researchers will refine lumpfish husbandry protocols to establish a domesticated, genetically diverse breeding colony.Ģż These fish will enable hatchery production of up to 100,000 juveniles in the 3rd year of the project, which will be stocked into commercial salmon pens.Ģż

ā€œSupporting Industry Needs Through Maine Aquaculture Hub” will continue for two more years, implementing activities identified in the recently released 10-year Maine Aquaculture Roadmap. These activities will benefit Maine’s aquaculture industry, coastal communities, and general public, including workshop and outreach events, and various trainings. Additionally, through ARI and MAIC, an R&D and Education assessment will create a stronger relationship between the Hub and industry members by gauging industry research and training needs for future progress.Ģż

NOAAā€™s continued investment in aquaculture within the State of Maine demonstrates the important role this industry plays in fostering Maineā€™s coastal communities and economy. With continued R&D, Maine is well established to be a leader in the Nation for sustainably produced US seafood.

Author: Corinne Noufi

Thousands of clams. Mud and sediment everywhere. Hungry, invasive crabs. A constantly changing climate. These are things Andrew Hoffman deals with every day.

Hoffman, a Bates College student from Oak Park, IL, works for the Town of Brunswick Coastal Resources Department on shellfish conservation through 91±¬ĮĻā€™s Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) externship.

The , managed by Dan Devereaux, creates policy and is responsible for the conservation of Brunswickā€™s shellfish: razor clams, American and European oysters, soft-shelled clams (Mya arenaria) and hard clams/Northern quahogs (Mercenaria mercenaria). Devereaux and Hoffman work together alongside Marine Warden and Harbormaster Dan Sylvain and Community Outreach Representative Ashley Charleson. Together, they find avenues to best conduct ecological restoration to sustain, conserve and enhance Brunswickā€™s historical and ecologically sensitive areas and species.Ģż

Maine and Massachusetts are the only two states left in the nation where shellfish are managed on a local level. Local management allows for a more closely observed interface with the ecosystemā€™s health in the face of climate change as shellfish are keystone species in the near-shore ecosystems.Ģż

According to Devereaux, the Coastal Resources Department licenses 65 commercial clam harvesters to dig hard and soft-shelled clams. In the townā€™s economy, clamming is valued at $13 million and supports 212 jobs including wholesale and retail shellfish dealers, truckers, packers and shuckers.

How does Coastal Resources maintain such a large industry? The department opens and closes mudflats to clammers based on the density and productivity of clam populations. Hoffmanā€™s externship involves mapping mudflats using an interactive website available for anyone interested in harvesting clams. With this website, shellfish farmers and businesses can accurately locate and access open mudflats with high densities of harvestable clams.

ā€œA more fancy and shorter term for what we do is marine spatial planning. Once we get the maps created, it all becomes really useful in terms of what resources are in the area, how we want to develop that area, should we farm

or not farm that area, and which landowners we need to focus on that are part of the solution to climate mitigation. In theory, if we can find those non-productive areas that are consistently non-productive and develop shellfish farms there, it will help wild populations of clams around those areas,ā€ Devereaux says.

To conduct the mapping, Hoffman uses a database called Geographic Information System Mapping, or GIS. GIS helps organize geographical data into maps with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing the data. With GIS, Hoffman can include layers and points of interest on a map based on whether or not the area is open or closed to clamming or if clam productivity and density is high or low. Hoffman hopes to create an interactive map with detailed notes and research similar to the by Casco Bay Regional Shellfish Working Group, but focused on the area surrounding Brunswick.ĢżHoffman hopes to create a story map to show viewers how to interact with the GIS map, explain what each layer is on the map, and why itā€™s important.Ģż

How does one map clam density? The entire area is surveyed every other year, and roughly half of the maintained 1,600 acresĢż is open each year for harvest.Ģż To survey such a wide area, Hoffman and coworkers go out into the mudflats via airboat. They collect GPS points along the perimeter of every mudflat containing harvestableĢż clams. Hoffman makes notes on soft-shell and quahog density. GPS points are imported into GIS to create a map, and Hoffman manually enters all the notes for each point. Using a survey method done for almost 60 years in Brunswick, Hoffman, Devereaux and Sylvain dug 2ā€™ plots on a 200 ft. transects along the mudflat growing areas, providing a random survey of clams and their productivity, measured by size of the shell.Ģż

ā€œRight now, the legal harvesting size of a soft-shell clam is two inches. We want to see whatā€™s actually out here, whether itā€™s a few millimeters or really big ones. Weā€™ll determine an average of all the sizes, and then weā€™ll see if itā€™s worth keeping the mudflat open or closed,ā€ Sylvain says.

However, temperature and predation are threatening clam survival in these mudflats. Soft-shelled clams and quahogs have a very active lifestyle when the water is warm, allowing them to move around and spawn. Unfortunately, warm temperatures rising due to climate change also allow for the invasive green crab (Carcinus maenas) population to thrive and be very detrimental to clam populations.Ģż

Hoffmanā€™s externship also includes monitoring the invasive green crab populations to support shellfish conservation. With traps set out along Brunswickā€™s coast, Hoffman pulls up roughly 500 green crabs twice a week.ā€œThe best thing we can do is leave the crabs in a bucket until they die and then compost them. Thereā€™s nothing else to do with them. Thereā€™s no demand for them in markets. Itā€™s pretty crazy,ā€ Hoffman says.

To make up for the losses of shellfish, Hoffman and Devereaux are planting 500,000 baby quahog clams raised from the larva stage at where Devereaux is a part owner.Ģżā€œTheir survivability increases almost up by 50% if you grow the quahogs over 10mm wide. We float them at the surface in protected nets at one millimeter and we raise them to 10-15mm by the fall. Weā€™ll give them to fishermen and clammers, and theyā€™ll take them out to broadcast them in areas where there needs to be more clam production,ā€ Devereaux says. But the loss of shellfish to crabs is not the only issue Devereaux and Hoffman deal with: citizens of Brunswick need to be open to the idea of clam restoration for the sake of the waterways.

ā€œProductive acres of mudflats could provide more shellfish to the market, and together, they could provide more ecosystem services than, say, 1,000 acres of sub-productive area. Itā€™s important that we try to keep track of that,ā€ Devereaux says. ā€œThatā€™s what scares people particularly when you get out to these dynamic ecosystems because we need to identify activities that can coexist in a fishermanā€™s world. Thatā€™s a delicate balance, and it requires having really hard conversations with fishermen and other users of the bay about whatā€™s best for the bay. The real question is how do we start to engage in that conversation?ā€

Similar to Devereaux, Hoffman has found a deep interest in conservation and hopes to engage further with it as he enters his senior year at Bates College.Ģżā€œI am definitely interested in coming back to Maine when I graduate. Aquaculture and GIS are subjects Iā€™m really interested in, and Maine is a great spot for that. This externship gives me a lot of different experience in conservation, and I hope to find something like it in the future,ā€ Hoffman says.

Through an Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) externship, 91±¬ĮĻ Marine Science major Jess Cleary-Reuning is working for the in Rockland, ME.Ģż

After serving as a granite quarry in the 1870ā€™s and a base camp for Outward Bound from 1964 to 2006, Hurricane Island is now the site of the Center for Science and Leadership (HICSL). Since 2009, this educational center has been a home for adventurous students of all ages to learn about the natural world and sustainable, environmental practices.ĢżCleary-Reuningā€™s mother visited Hurricane Island Outward Bound as a youth in the summer, soĢż exploring HICSL naturally interested Cleary-Reuning.

HICSLā€™s summer programs for adults, students and school groups provide participants with tools for leadership and social change. This summer, Cleary-Reuning works alongside Aquaculture Manager Madison Maier on the Island Ecology and Marine Ecology high school education programs.Ģż

ā€œIsland Ecology focuses on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Marine Ecology focuses oā€‹ā€‹n the tidal zone, learning about the fisheries in the area and our aquaculture farm. Our aquaculture farm started as a Limited Purpose Aquaculture lease site (LPA), and in 2019, we expanded into a full, 3.2-acre experimental farm,ā€ Maier says.Ģż

The research farm contains an oyster long line and cages, lantern nets for Atlantic sea scallops, and a wooden platform, referred to as ā€œThe Floatā€, with bolted-down lab tables and a solar panel powering machinery for field work. Students in the Island Ecology and Marine Ecology programs have the opportunity to see the farm, learn how it operates, and observe marine invertebrates.Ģż

These educational experiences gained from the summer programs provide training in multiple skills in aquaculture and marine ecosystems, and these are what Cleary-Reuning is observing for her externship. Working at HICSL, Cleary-Reuning gathers data to help the 91±¬ĮĻ Cooperative Extension create youth micro-credentials.Ģż

To do this, Cleary-Reuning researched adult micro-credentials already being utilized in order to find ways to build youth micro-credentials. Adult micro-credentials involve a three-level program: level one is gaining knowledge and information from an instructor; level two is hands-on experience and applying knowledge; level three is certifying all experiences and knowledge in the real world. The micro-credential itself is a digital badge earned after the programā€™s completion and can be placed on an individualā€™s LinkedIn, Gmail, or resume.

ā€œIf you click on it, the micro-credential shows a webpage outlining exactly what that individual did to get that micro-credential. Name, date received, what work was completed, and skills learned and shown. I see it more as a personalized resume addition,ā€ Cleary-Reuning says.

To build micro-credentials for youth, Cleary-Reuning is observing programs at HICSL and deciding which skills and knowledge could be applied to a micro-credential.Ģż ā€œI am looking at what we do with the kids and separating the activities between knowledge and skills. The aquaculture tour would be knowledge. Doing scallop measurements and sorting spat would be skills,ā€ Cleary-Reuning says.

Observing education at HICSL has helped Cleary-Reuning define what youth micro-credentials could entail. This summer, students in the High School Marine and Ecology programs did small research projects involving skills such as organizing data, handling invertebrates, creating graphs and charts, writing hypotheses and presenting posters. Each of these skills will be part of a micro-credential for youths who want to study aquaculture or marin

e science in the future. Cleary-Reuningā€™s time on Hurricane Island allowed a large data set to form and help 91±¬ĮĻ create micro-credentials for youths, all while giving Cleary-Reuning time to herself.

ā€œIā€™ve been scuba diving and learned how to drive skiffs and tie knots. Itā€™s just a really unique living and learning environment. Thereā€™s a lot of personal things that I am learning from living here too. Itā€™s not a traditional internship,ā€ Cleary-Reuning says.