BY HANK GARFIELD
Mayzie Corman may not have realized it at the time, but growing up on an apple farm and then moving to a Maine island provided the perfect foundation for a career in aquaculture.
Corman, 27, is a freelance farm hand and nursery technician for the Spartan Sea Farm Cooperative, a collection of small oyster farms in the Freeport area. When she was 10, her family moved from Cornish, Maine to Cliff Island in Casco Bay, where her parents ran the island’s general store for three years. The island’s year-round population is around 40.
“I went to fifth grade at the one-room school,” she said. “There were six students total.”
It was on the island that her love of the sea was born, and she eventually enrolled at the University of Maine to study marine biology. After spending some time out west, she returned to Maine, earned an associate’s degree from Southern Maine Community College, and delved into growing oysters and kelp.
“You have to know some science to do farming in general,” she said. “My ding-ding-ding moment, when I knew this is what I wanted to do, was when I saw that I could do science out on the water instead of in a laboratory.”
Corman enjoys the physical work of oyster farming, but she said there are many opportunities for young people to become involved in all different facets of aquaculture.
“We need engineers, computer people, lab technicians, people with all kinds of different skills,” she said.
Aiden Coleman, 25, grew up in the greater Boston area. He first became interested in sea life while working for a tent company that delivered vinyl to the famed New England Aquarium for its sea turtle rehabilitation program. Coleman became entranced with the ancient marine reptiles and decided then and there to pursue a career on the water.
He’s in his third year of graduate studies at the University of Maine and works full-time at Norumbega Oysters in Edgecomb. His graduate thesis involves developing a species of scallops that can be readily grown and harvested.
Oysters dominate the aquaculture market, Coleman said, because they are hardy, and the infrastructure for growing them has been in place for some time.
“You can throw an oyster on the ground and come back 24 hours later, and chances are it will still be alive,” he said. “Scallops are a bit more delicate.”
What he likes best about his job is networking with new people and looking for innovative ways to produce seafood while being mindful of conservation efforts.
“I love being able to see the results of my work every day. I like going home at night knowing I’ve done something to bring food to people in a sustainable way.”
Lily Hanks, 25, grew up in Massachusetts and graduated with a degree in marine biology from the University of Maine in 2021.
“I immediately moved back in with my parents and started waitressing at a restaurant in my hometown,” she said. “It was really hard to get a job during the pandemic.”
But her desire to work on the water eventually led her to a job at a Maine oyster farm.
“I had no experience with shellfish, I didn’t know how to drive a boat, and I didn’t know how to tie any nautical knots,” she said. “Other marine fisheries have such a history and tradition that it can be hard to get started if you aren’t born into it. It’s rare, outside of aquaculture, to be able to get your foot in the door at a young age.”
Hanks works as a nursery/hatchery technician at Muscongus Bay Aquaculture. The company supplies “seed” oysters to farms in Maine and beyond. She splits time between the nursery, hatchery, and two oyster farms on the Damariscotta River.
“I get to do the hands-on work on the water, and I get to scratch my science brain in the lab,” she said. “I see the whole life cycle of the oyster.”
