Fisheries and Aquaculture
Fisheries, aquaculture, and their associated processing, retail, technology, and tourism businesses support diverse economic and cultural activities that help to define the region’s identity, support the livelihoods of people, and draw millions of visitors each year. The pressures of climate change affect current and future conditions for fisheries and aquaculture, from warming waters, acidification, and introduction of new species, to the impacts of sea level rise and extreme storms on coastal infrastructure. For these reasons, an important focus of the fisheries and aquaculture work undertaken by Maine Sea Grant is related to sustainable diversification along the working waterfront. This includes adding to what we catch or grow, broadening income opportunities for those in the seafood industry, preserving and expanding the scope of working waterfront activity, and developing new opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds to acquire the knowledge, skills, and expertise to enter the seafood industry or associated fields.
Maine Sea Grant’s research, extension, and community engagement work in this area is focused on developing and supporting sustainable and adaptive management; engaging harvesters, sea farmers, and community partners in science, monitoring, and management; and supporting efforts to help communities and industry realize direct benefits from their engagement.
We work with our partners to enhance these opportunities for all of our constituents, including vulnerable and historically marginalized communities. We support efforts to create new or value-added products and facilitate collaboration across the seafood, non-food commercial sectors, and associated parts of the marine workforce and supply chains. Our work in aquaculture includes development of new culture techniques and target species, applied research, technical support, and efforts to facilitate communication among conservation groups, resource managers, consumers, adjacent landowners, and other community groups.
Because of the far reaching influence of fisheries and aquaculture in Maine’s economy and culture, much of our work in this focus area also addresses seafood-related education, professional training, and science communication needs.
Recent Activities
- Aquaculture in Shared Waters
- Deepwater lobster settlement across thermal gradients in the Gulf of Maine
- Resources for Seaweed Growers
- Seaweed Aquaculture Industry Overview
- A comparison of farmed versus wild American eel products
- Sustainable post-harvest processing and value-addition of cultured seaweed
- Alliance for Maine’s Marine Economy
- Aquaculture in Maine’s Coastal Waters (PDF)