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June 21, 2019

E2Tech conference to focus on land-based fish farming, draws sell-out crowd

Rendering of Whole Oceans' Bucksport site Courtesy / Whole Oceans A June 27 forum on land-based aquaculture, convened by E2Tech, has drawn interest due to emerging activities like land-based salmon farming. Seen here is a rendering of the proposed Whole Oceans salmon farming plant in Bucksport.
By Laurie Schreiber

E2Tech’s latest forum, called “Fish Out of Water: Land-Based Aquaculture in Maine,” has sold out for the venue, an indication of the interest in salmon farms being planned on the midcoast. 

Organizers are looking into live-stream options, according to the forum web page.

The forum is scheduled for June 27, from 7:30-10 a.m., at the headquarters of Coastal Enterprises Inc., 30 Federal St. in Brunswick.

The focus of the forum is on sustainable land-based fish farming, a growing industry worldwide and more recently in Maine. 

Interesting initiatives in Maine include those of Whole Oceans and Nordic Aquafarms, seeking to establish land-based salmon farms;  and American Unagi, an eel farm start-up.

E2Tech (the Environmental & Energy Technology Council of Maine) will bring together academics, business leaders and regulators to discuss the technology and economic impacts of sustainable land-based fish farming. 

Speakers include:

• Sebastian Belle, executive director, Maine Aquaculture Association;

• Barry Costa-Pierce, executive director, UNE North: Institute for North Atlantic Studies;

• Erik Heim, president, Nordic Aquafarms Inc.;

• Meredith Mendelson, deputy commissioner, Maine Department of Marine Resources; and

• Sara Rademaker, president and founder, American Unagi.

The subject of land-based aquaculture was a natural, given growing activities in Maine, E2Tech Executive Director Martin Grohman told Mainebiz.

“Our program committee identified this as a segment that’s generating a lot of buzz and activity,” he said. “They’re absolutely right. This segment is hot.”

The speakers will offer a cross-section of discussion, with Belle providing an overview on aquaculture, Mendelson on the regulatory landscape, Costa-Pierce the global perspective, Rademaker the start-up perspective, and Heim a discussion of how his operation is expected to work.

Courtesy / Sara Rademaker
American Unagi is developing an eel farming industry, using baby eels harvested in Maine. The company’s founder, Sara Rademaker, will be speaking at E2Tech’s forum, called “Fish Out of Water: Land-Based Aquaculture in Maine,” June 27.

“I think of the question as, ‘Why Maine and why now,’” Grohman said. 

Rademaker, who launched American Unagi in 2014, has had a small eel farm under way in South Bristol, raising elvers so they can be sold live and fully grown to local restaurants.

Her operation includes partnerships with Maine elver harvesters, to grow the eel farm industry in Maine. Typically, Maine’s elver harvest is shipped overseas to farm operations in Asia. Maine is the heart of the East Coast elver fishery 

At the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in March, she said her operation has grown from growing 1 metric ton of eels the first year to 10 metric tons this year. A metric ton is 2,200 pounds. She’s seeking permits to build a grow-out facility in Waldoboro, with capacity to produce 100 metric tons in 2019 and 200 metric tons by 2020. And she’s been sending product to chefs across the U.S. to try.  

Plans have been in the works to build two of the world’s largest land-based salmon farms, Nordic Aquafarms Inc. in Belfast and Whole Oceans in Bucksport. Company leaders say they were attracted to Maine for the same resources leveraged by others in the fisheries — clean, cold water and a heritage of working waterfronts. Together, Nordic Aquafarms and Whole Oceans expect to capture nearly one-fifth of the domestic import market. Additional interests are now eyeing Maine.

Maine’s growing land-based aquaculture industry, like sea-based industry, benefits from high water quality, a growing suite of training opportunities, aquaculture development facilities, and a well-established service infrastructure in environmental monitoring, site assessment, marine engineering, seafood processing and aquatic animal health fields.

Aquaculture is a targeted technology sector in Maine for R&D investment.

E2Tech is a member-based organization comprised of individuals, businesses and organizations that seek to build Maine's environmental and energy technology economy and include renewable power companies, environmental engineers, emerging entrepreneurs, innovators and designers, as well as government agencies, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations and businesses that see the economic promise of clean tech for Maine.

 

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1 Comments

Jeffrey Payson
June 21, 2019

With this much interest, why not move to a larger venue?

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