Photo / Courtesy Gulf of Maine Inc.
Sheehan’s work takes him out to the beaches and water.
10 hours ago
Downeast supplier of marine specimens forges global distribution agreement
Photo / Courtesy Gulf of Maine Inc.
Tim Sheehan is seen here collecting starfish in Pembroke.
Gulf of Maine Inc., a marine specimen supplier in the Washington County town of Pembroke, is expanding into international distribution.
That's thanks to an agreement with VWR International LLC, a Radnor, Pa.-based distributor of research laboratory products in North America and Europe.
“VWR International has been a long-time supporter of Gulf of Maine Inc., and so this is a natural evolution of a 20-plus-year relationship,” said Tim Sheehan president of Gulf of Maine. “Now that we can reach more customers, it's not only going to help us grow as companies, but we can improve access to education and research worldwide."
Tidepool Tim
Gulf of Maine Inc. was established in 2000 by Sheehan and his wife Amy. Sheehan and local fishermen gather specimens using traditional, low-impact methods.
Core products include wild seaweeds, live and preserved specimens, bait and aquaculture feed, educational and science kits and coastal materials such as seashells. Collections and kits are made to order and shipped overnight direct to customers across the U.S.
Customers include labs, schools, supply houses, museums, artists, magazines, interior designers and people in the fishing industry.
An Aroostook County native, Sheehan was a schoolteacher for eight years and shares his knowledge about marine biology via his YouTube series under the name Tidepool Tim.
The agreement with VWR was spearheaded by Jesse Perez-Robicheau, Gulf of Maine’s general manager.
Gulf of Maine also launched a pilot program to offer co-packing, broker agreements and trade promotions to its business partners.
“Gulf of Maine Inc. is making some big changes this year,” said Perez-Robicheau, “We're going to show the market how to lead in B2B partnerships and grow while we do it.”
Clam shells
Perez-Robicheau is a Downeast native who has worked in seafood industries along the coast for 18 years. Other roles have included business instructor, vice president of sales and project management.
Sheehan credited Perez-Robicheau for leading the company in new directions.
Photo / Courtesy Gulf of Maine Inc.
Jesse Perez-Robicheau
“I’m an entrepreneur. He’s trained as a businessman,” Sheehan said. “I’ve been operating for 20 years on a handshake and gentleman’s agreement. That doesn’t hold a lot of water these days.”
Uses for specimens include science education and museum displays. Uses for seaweed include animal feed and research. Fishermen in San Francisco and Spain want worms. Film companies have been asking for shells for set design and artists for installations.
“Who wants a bucket of stinky clam shells? No one,” said Sheehan. “So we got them shells that are nicely bleached by the sun — people want them.”
Sheehan thinks he started the company with starfish, which sold to customers looking for teaching specimens.
“We’ve sold everything from buckets of sea water to plankton to seashells, anything out of the ocean that isn’t a lobster. And we do sell lobster,” he said. “A teacher in high school wants to show her students sea anemones, let’s say. I’m the guy who goes gets them, packs them with gel packs and overnights them to her. And sometimes they overnight back to us for release.”
Sheehan said that he more or less “cobbled together” any international trade he might have had, and the logistics involved — inspections, health certificates — for shipping, say, a batch of worms to a customer in Spain.
Distribution
Up until the VWR deal, Perez-Robicheau said, the company’s marketing and distribution operation “was similar to what you might expect any small to medium size business” — running an e-commerce website, other online channels like Etsy, eBay, Amazon and a direct structure with wholesale accounts, primarily focused in the U.S.
Perez-Robicheau credited Sheehan with the VWR lead, by way of Sheehan’s long relationship with Ward's Science, a supplier of science education materials and a sister company of VWR.
The agreement between Gulf of Maine and VWR was a natural evolution, said Perez-Robicheau.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“However, I can say that the agreement will help us reach more customers, grow as a company and improve access to education and research worldwide,” he said
Photo / Courtesy Gulf of Maine Inc.
Starfish are among the specimens sent to customers such as labs and schools.
The agreement allows Gulf of Maine to access international markets that before weren’t available or would require extensive market entry investments and makes key investments that are expected to offer a competitive advantage in the specimen market, Perez-Robicheau said.
It’s expected that the deal will help Gulf of Maine double its production levels in the next 12 months. That would result in more hiring in areas such as marine biology and aquaculture in addition to harvesting, he said.
Partner services
Gulf of Maine is also expanding its scope of operations by offering co-packing, broker and trade promotion services. The focus is on developing a new growth strategy through business-to-business partnerships with vendors, manufacturers, retailers and distributors.
“At the end of the day people buy from people they like, so our B2B accounts are top priority for us,” said Perez-Robicheau. “We make sure that we don’t just sell them a product but we help them with a plan to be competitive in the market. Today that goes a long way.”
Doubling down
Most products are sourced in Downeast waters. The company’s facilities include a warehouse and an atrium, to hold live specimens and process preserved specimens.
Collections and kits are made to order and shipped overnight direct to customers across the U.S.
Photo / Courtesy Gulf of Maine Inc.
There’s a satellite facility in Freeport to hold products sourced in southern Maine.
In addition to dealing with fishermen and distributors, the company has its own boats to harvest products. Processing and packing is mainly done at the Pembroke facility.
There are three employees. This summer, the company partnered with the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center to bring on six aquaculture pre-apprentices.
Revenue trends have been pretty steady over the years, although there was substantial volatility from 2019 to 2023.
“That’s another reason why we want to double down on our partnerships, to make sure our sales and revenues are stable and steady and essentially to know what the demand will be,” said Perez-Robicheau.
Last year was a big year, with revenue growing by 30%. The same or more is expected for this year.
Perez-Robicheau noted that, far from negatively affecting the company, trade tariffs have given it a competitive advantage as companies look to source marine specimens domestically.
“Its’ a bull market for us,” he said.
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