A new cooperative in Virginia is helping some oyster fishermen -- or watermen, as they are known in the Chesapeake -- transition to oyster farmers.
The coop, Oyster Company of Virginia, will lease the farm sites from the state and buy the seed and equipment. Then, 12 former oyster watermen will plant the seeds, harvest and sell the mature oysters. The proceeds will go to pay the watermen and help the coop reinvest in new equipment.
You can read more about the coop in this story from the Daily Press down in Newport.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Debate brews over Maine oyster farm
There is a good article in The Working Waterfront about broiling opposition to a proposed oyster farm in Down East Maine.
A company called Acadia Sea Farms is asking the Maine Department of Marine Resources for a 10-year lease on 50 acres of seabed in Goose Cove, which is near the entrance to Mount Desert Island. The public hearing on the proposed oyster farm has gone on for three nights and will continue for at least a fourth night, according to The Working Waterfront.
The Friends of Blue Hill Bay and the Friends of Goose Cove Bay are opposing the project, claiming it will harm the health of the bay.
Maine has a good track record in the licensing of aquaculture operations. The state regularly monitors the environmental effects of all aquaculture sites, and considers ecological impacts when considering applications. So, if you trust the DMR to do its job (as we are wont to do), then you need to trust the application process. Plus, oyster farms are some of the biggest success stories. Shellfish actually help clean the water by filtering it.
Since this is my blog, I'll shed my journalistic veil for one moment to share my fear that the opposition's real motive is NIMBYism. This opinion is supported by comments made by Sally Mills, attorney for the Friends of Goose Cove Bay. She said the group's members fear the oyster farm could become a floating industrial zone and could be a shock to waterfront homeowners, according to the The Working Waterfront.
"It's an extension of people's backyards," Mills is quoted as saying.
I wasn't present at these hearings and haven't spoken to those that oppose the farm, so there's a chance they have legitimate concerns that weren't accurately portrayed in a newspaper that covers the working waterfront and whose readers incude fishermen and fish farmers. But this article leads me to believe that we are witnessing NIMBYism in Goose Cove.
NIMBYism irks me. It's a tough nut to crack. On the one hand, I'm a firm believer everyone is entitled to their opinion. On the other, especially in this case, the people opposing the oyster farm are part of a community, one that has been home for years to working fishermen and fish farmers. I guess it boils down to my disbelief that one group of people (waterfront landowners) can be so inconsiderate to the economic pursuits of their neighbors (those who make their living on the water).
Okay, I've replaced my journalistic veil.
Another complaint came from an abutting landowner who also happens to be the manager of the nearby Trenton airport. According to the newspaper, this landowner worries the oyster farm -- more specifically, the birds it will attract -- will interfere with the airplanes taking off and landing at the airport. Certainly a concern, if proved accurate, that the state should take into account.
The Maine Aquaculture Association supports the project. Sebastian Belle, its executive director, lambasted those opposing the project. Belle told the newspaper that Mills is "looking for everything she can to scare people" and that the opposition is evidence of a class conflict waged by people who have "the luxury not to make their living on the water".
The fourth public hearing will be held in late October or early November, according to The Working Waterfront.
What do you think about the opposition to this oyster farm?
A company called Acadia Sea Farms is asking the Maine Department of Marine Resources for a 10-year lease on 50 acres of seabed in Goose Cove, which is near the entrance to Mount Desert Island. The public hearing on the proposed oyster farm has gone on for three nights and will continue for at least a fourth night, according to The Working Waterfront.
The Friends of Blue Hill Bay and the Friends of Goose Cove Bay are opposing the project, claiming it will harm the health of the bay.
Maine has a good track record in the licensing of aquaculture operations. The state regularly monitors the environmental effects of all aquaculture sites, and considers ecological impacts when considering applications. So, if you trust the DMR to do its job (as we are wont to do), then you need to trust the application process. Plus, oyster farms are some of the biggest success stories. Shellfish actually help clean the water by filtering it.
Since this is my blog, I'll shed my journalistic veil for one moment to share my fear that the opposition's real motive is NIMBYism. This opinion is supported by comments made by Sally Mills, attorney for the Friends of Goose Cove Bay. She said the group's members fear the oyster farm could become a floating industrial zone and could be a shock to waterfront homeowners, according to the The Working Waterfront.
"It's an extension of people's backyards," Mills is quoted as saying.
I wasn't present at these hearings and haven't spoken to those that oppose the farm, so there's a chance they have legitimate concerns that weren't accurately portrayed in a newspaper that covers the working waterfront and whose readers incude fishermen and fish farmers. But this article leads me to believe that we are witnessing NIMBYism in Goose Cove.
NIMBYism irks me. It's a tough nut to crack. On the one hand, I'm a firm believer everyone is entitled to their opinion. On the other, especially in this case, the people opposing the oyster farm are part of a community, one that has been home for years to working fishermen and fish farmers. I guess it boils down to my disbelief that one group of people (waterfront landowners) can be so inconsiderate to the economic pursuits of their neighbors (those who make their living on the water).
Okay, I've replaced my journalistic veil.
Another complaint came from an abutting landowner who also happens to be the manager of the nearby Trenton airport. According to the newspaper, this landowner worries the oyster farm -- more specifically, the birds it will attract -- will interfere with the airplanes taking off and landing at the airport. Certainly a concern, if proved accurate, that the state should take into account.
The Maine Aquaculture Association supports the project. Sebastian Belle, its executive director, lambasted those opposing the project. Belle told the newspaper that Mills is "looking for everything she can to scare people" and that the opposition is evidence of a class conflict waged by people who have "the luxury not to make their living on the water".
The fourth public hearing will be held in late October or early November, according to The Working Waterfront.
What do you think about the opposition to this oyster farm?
Friday, October 1, 2010
I cover halibut, kelp farming in Aquaculture North America
I have a couple of articles in the July/August issue of Aquaculture North America. Unfortunately, the articles aren't posted online, but here are the synopses.
The first is about Maine Halibut Farms, which plans to break ground by next summer on a land-based halibut farm at a planned aquaculture business park in Corea, Maine. The company began in 2002 as a pilot project at the University of Maine's Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research, which has been conducting research on halibut aquaculture since 2000. The Atlantic halibut fishery is basically nonexistent, and those halibut that are caught are restricted to large sizes, so Maine Halibut Farms plans to fill a niche supplying restaurants in the northeast with plate-size halibut. (To see what I mean, check out this New York Times article about Marc Forgione in New York City.)
The second article is a profile of Ocean Approved and its kelp farm in Maine's Casco Bay. The company is in its second year of operation and spent the summer ramping up its production of kelp, which it sells in natural and health food stores in noodle cut, salad cut, and slaw cut. Paul Dobbins, one of the company's owners, told me he expects a "tenfold" increase in revenue from 2009 to 2010. Dobbins and his partner Tollef Olson are the former owners of Bang's Island Mussels farm, which they grew into a successful aquaculture business, but had put up for sale to focus on Ocean Approved.
Aquaculture North America is a trade magazine for the aquaculture industry published by Capamara Communications in Victoria, B.C.
The first is about Maine Halibut Farms, which plans to break ground by next summer on a land-based halibut farm at a planned aquaculture business park in Corea, Maine. The company began in 2002 as a pilot project at the University of Maine's Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research, which has been conducting research on halibut aquaculture since 2000. The Atlantic halibut fishery is basically nonexistent, and those halibut that are caught are restricted to large sizes, so Maine Halibut Farms plans to fill a niche supplying restaurants in the northeast with plate-size halibut. (To see what I mean, check out this New York Times article about Marc Forgione in New York City.)
The second article is a profile of Ocean Approved and its kelp farm in Maine's Casco Bay. The company is in its second year of operation and spent the summer ramping up its production of kelp, which it sells in natural and health food stores in noodle cut, salad cut, and slaw cut. Paul Dobbins, one of the company's owners, told me he expects a "tenfold" increase in revenue from 2009 to 2010. Dobbins and his partner Tollef Olson are the former owners of Bang's Island Mussels farm, which they grew into a successful aquaculture business, but had put up for sale to focus on Ocean Approved.
Aquaculture North America is a trade magazine for the aquaculture industry published by Capamara Communications in Victoria, B.C.
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