Innovative Fish Farms Aim to Feed the Planet, Save Jobs and Clean Up an Industry’s Dirty Reputation
Carter Newell owns and operates one of the most productive mussel farms in the state of Maine. One frigid spring morning I joined him and his two-person crew on a short boat ride to the barge he calls Mumbles, a 60-by-24-foot vessel anchored that day in a quiet cove in the brackish Damariscotta River.
As one wild fishery after another falters, the future of Maine—and, some say, the future of seafood—may lie in aquaculture, the cultivation of aquatic plants and animals. Historically, intensive fish farms have been linked to a lot of bad things: declines in biodiversity, habitat loss, the overuse of antibiotics, and animal welfare abuses, especially in Asia and Latin America. And in recent years fish die-offs and other problems have plagued North American sites.
The question of whether industrial aquaculture will enrich Maine’s economy without damaging its fragile ecosystems haunts scientists, politicians and residents. The Gulf of Maine is the least alkaline body of water on the Atlantic coast between Mexico and Canada, and its delicate chemistry is particularly vulnerable to disruptions both natural and human caused. Whatever their outcomes, Maine’s experiments will set an important precedent for seafood production around the globe.
Feed is another major problem. Salmon farmers sometimes inadvertently overfeed their stock, and the uneaten feed promotes the growth of algal blooms that deoxygenate the water as they decompose. This can lead to “dead zones,” wide swaths of ocean that can no longer sustain life.
Several multinational RAS companies are currently vying for a stake in Maine. Notable among these is Nordic Aquafarms, a Norwegian firm that has proposed a major tank facility in the small coastal city of Belfast. Nordic’s $500-million plan to generate nearly 73 million pounds a year of Atlantic salmon would make it the second-largest RAS salmon farm in the world. The largest is an operation run by Atlantic Sapphire, another Norwegian-owned firm based in the unlikely location of Homestead, Fla.
There are also fundamental objections to raising free-ranging creatures such as salmon in crowded captivity. The animals we lump together and call “fish” represent a staggeringly diverse array of species, some of which have incredibly complex social structures and navigation abilities, says Becca Franks of New York University, a psychologist who researches animal behavior and welfare.
Bill Mook has had painful experience with this problem. Founding owner of Mook Sea Farm and Hatchery on Maine’s Damariscotta River, one of the two largest oyster producers in the state, he grows both mature and seed oysters. A few years ago he noticed that his oyster larvae were not developing normally, a problem he traced to increased acidity of the river water flowing through his hatchery.
In Maine the oyster-growing season lasts only five months, from April to October. But Mook’s success derives in part from his ability to extend this period by growing them indoors in the colder months, beginning in January. Like cats and dogs and chickens, indoor oysters need to be fed. Mook has developed proprietary growth and processing techniques for algae, and the details are a company secret.
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