BY JULIA BAYLY
Since gaining a foothold in the state a half century ago, Maine’s aquaculture industry has been on an upward trajectory. Based on economic and other key indicators, it’s showing no signs of slowing down in meeting ever-changing demands.
More recently, those in the sea-based industry are adapting to shifting food trends and the increasing impacts of climate change in the Gulf of Maine.
“It’s really an amazing new frontier using a lot of things central to and traditional to Maine’s identity,” said Trixie Betz, outreach and development specialist with the Maine Aquaculture Association. “Our working waterfronts are such a central part of Maine culture and [aquaculture] allows people to pursue careers on the waters in new ways.”
Those ways may be new, Betz said, but they are based on generational skills going back decades.
Maine has seen steady growth in this industry. The total economic impact of aquaculture nearly tripled from $50 to over $137 million from 2007 to 2014, according to the Maine Aquaculture Association’s most recent data. It employs over 700 people full-time at nearly 200 farms along the coast.
Annual sales of those farmed seafood products reach $110 million annually and predicted growth in the industry of 2 percent a year. That prediction could be confirmed later this summer when the association releases its most recent census data.
Certainly the country’s appetite for food from the oceans is not slowing down. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Americans consume 20.5 pounds of seafood annually per capita. Based on the 2023 United States census data, that’s a staggering 6.867 billion — with a ‘B’ — pounds of shellfish and finfish eaten every year.
“Americans want to eat seafood,” Betz said. “Mainers want to grow the best seafood for people in the state and around the country.”
Doing so will help put a dent in the 85 percent of the country’s seafood market that is supplied from other countries.
“It’s so valuable to grow this seafood in our own backyard,” Betz said. “It’s coming from people you know.”
The overwhelming majority of Maine’s seafood industry revolves around lobster, that iconic state crustacean tourists gobble up by the plate — or lobster roll bun-full. According to the Maine office of tourism, more than 50 percent of those visiting Maine in 2021 said they specifically came to eat lobster.
Lobster fishing in Maine goes back to the 1600s and is one of the oldest continually operated industries in North America. Maine remains the largest lobster-producting state in the nation.
But changes are on the near horizon. And it wasn’t always about lobster.
“Lobster as sort of that mono crop is really a new thing,” Betz said. “In decades past Maine had a really big wild ground fish industry with cod, halibut, and sardines.”
As those stocks dwindled over the years, lobsters rose in importance and monetary value. It’s a $1 billion annual industry, according to a 2018 study by Colby College.
“But it’s risky to have all your eggs in one basket,” Betz said. “Especially since the Gulf of Maine is warming so fast.”
Annual sea surface temperatures have increased at a rate of 0.84-degrees Fahrenheit every decade between 1982 and 2024, according to The Gulf of Maine Research Institute. That rate of warming is nearly triple that of the world’s oceans. Those warming waters are forcing some species — like lobsters — to move northward out of Maine fishing grounds to find cooler waters.
That’s where aquaculture comes in.
“Having something to hedge our bets and return us to our roots in terms of fishermen harvesting multiple species throughout the year is key,” Betz said.
That has some lobstermen and women, along with newcomers to Maine’s coastal waters, farming kelp, oysters, mussels, seaweed, scallops, clams, trout, halibut, and green sea urchins. In many cases, these farmed species create year-round income for the traditional fishing enterprises. Lobster, for example, is fished and sold in the summer. Kelp is a winter crop.
“The kelp can be harvested and sold in the spring when the lobster fishers normally don’t have an income at all,” Betz said.
In addition to the economics, Betz said aquaculture is providing cultural and environmental wins for the state.
“It builds on the strong generational knowledge and traditions of our working waterfront,” Betz said. “It’s also a great frontier for entrepreneurs or people wanting to work on aquaculture farms. It attracts those who want to work outside in a sustainable industry with green jobs.”
Betz is well aware these new aquaculture ventures represent some big changes for Maine’s working waterfronts.
“Change is hard and there are people who are uncomfortable with it,” she said. “But if you think about the alternative, we risk losing the working waterfronts of Maine.”
Among those threats is the so-called gentrification of small coastal communities. Housing prices have been steadily rising along the coast, especially since COVID when people fleeing bigger New England cities discovered waterfront property in Maine was affordable. That phenomenon has led to opportunities for longtime property owners to sell at prices far above those possible even a decade ago and pricing out local buyers.
“If there are no opportunities for working and preserving the waterfronts, they will be lost,” Betz said. “No one wants that.”
Moving forward Betz sees aquaculture in Maine responding to challenges on two major fronts — globally and nationally.
“I think we are being proactive in terms of the U.S.,” she said. “We already have some of our 3,500 miles of coastline, 3.5 acres of state water, strong traditions, and workers that can all help us succeed.”
Most of Maine’s coastal communities have a generational understanding of what it means to work on the water, Betz said.
“We have been proactive in setting the bar on regulations for growing our products and assuring growth is sustainable,” she said. “We know we are doing it right and not just throwing things out there to see what happens.”
As far as reducing seafood imports, Maine is playing more of a catch up game.
“There are so many other countries that are really ahead of Maine,” Betz said. “So we are hoping to catch up to meet U.S. demand.”
A big part of that is ongoing cooperation among those in aquaculture, neighboring residents, regulators, and politicians all working together.
“Before any regulations are put in place, there are open discussions between everyone involved to get opinions,” Betz said. “We want any conflict worked out before any laws are on the books [and] it’s a very transparent process.”
That is going to help everyone involved in aquaculture grow the changing fishing industry together despite any local, national, or global challenges.
“Sure, in terms of our working waterfronts we could keep our heads in the sand,” Betz said. “But sooner or later the tide comes in.”
