WRITTEN BY JULIA BAYLY Aquaculture in Maine is a numbers game. It’s one that’s been running for the last 40 years and in that time the industry has evolved and adapted to changes in the environment, economics, and consumer demand. The history of the industry goes back to the 1970s when it was populated mostly by marine biologists interested in marrying their scientific knowledge to a sustainable business model.
“Compared to cod fishing or lobstering, we are not a several hundred-year-old tradition,” said Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association. “Most of the people who started in it were aspiring marine biologists or aspiring ecologists who believed in a responsible and efficient way to grow food and they loved the science around it.” Over the years, those scientists were joined by commercial fishers or their sons and daughters looking for viable ways to make a living in the state’s coastal waters.
Belle said the percentage of those in aquaculture who are active commercial fishers or come from a commercial fishing family has steadily increased and he sees no slowing down of that. Since 2007, Maine has seen steady growth in this industry. The total economic impact of aquaculture nearly tripled from $50 to over $137 million.
It employs over 700 people full-time at nearly 200 farms along the coast. At the same time, it is becoming more diverse, Belle said. “Some of these farmers may still be fishing but then they have also started .