NOAA Fisheries Science Helps Maine’s Pioneering Sea Scallop Farmers

Typography

Enterprising fishermen have been developing sea scallop aquaculture in Maine with technology adapted from Japan. Recently, NOAA Fisheries scientists conducted a study to help with site selection.

 

Enterprising fishermen have been developing sea scallop aquaculture in Maine with technology adapted from Japan. Recently, NOAA Fisheries scientists conducted a study to help with site selection.

A trait fishermen and scientists share is adaptability: the trait required to think on your feet, be comfortable with uncertainty, and repurpose resources when necessary.

“Adaptable” is a word that perfectly describes Marsden Brewer, a third-generation commercial fisherman, who is also a scallop farmer and owner of PenBay Farmed Scallops. Brewer’s business is the result of his 20-year effort, as well as techniques learned through Maine's enduring friendship with its sister state, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. His three-and-a-quarter acre Stonington, Maine, farm is the first of its kind in Penobscot Bay.

 

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Image via NOAA Fisheries.