CALE - Adaptation and Aquaculture: Transforming the Working Waterfront

Community Adaptation Learning Exchange - September 28, 2023

The lobster fishing industry is a cornerstone of coastal Maine’s economy. Fast-warming waters in the Gulf of Maine are making the jobs that depend on lobster more precarious with each year. Despite significant efforts toward sustainable management, Maine’s lobster fishing industry remains threatened by warming water as a result of climate change. Today, coastal communities and businesses are seizing the opportunity to diversify and innovate with aquaculture. In this session, we discussed the challenges and successes in helping to transform a deeply historical industry. Further, we explored the emergence of modern, regenerative practices focused on oysters and kelp.

Speakers:
Briana Warner has dedicated her life to doing well by doing good. She is passionate about our incredible home state of Maine and working with our partner farmers to help create a more resilient and thriving coast. As the CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms, she and her team have forged a new path for seaweed aquaculture in the US by working with fishermen to grow kelp as a climate change adaptation strategy – and building national demand for that kelp. The ASF team and partner farmers now account for the majority of line-grown kelp grown in the US and are proving that a model that puts farmers, planet, and people first can drive an entirely new way of producing food. Bri has followed a mission-driven path that brought her to kelp – including serving several tours as a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service, starting and selling a wholesale bakery focused on employing newly resettled refugees, and creating the first Economic Development programming suite at the Maine-based Island Institute.

John “Boe” Marsh is the CEO of Community Shellfish Co. in Bremen, Maine, an integrated shellfish and aquaculture company. The company lands and processes wild-caught seafood and operates an oyster farm and developmental aquaculture program. The company works with UMaine Darling Marine Center in this area through a joint venture to expand the industry in Maine. Community Shellfish has 22 employees in Maine, a summer intern program in aquaculture, and a distribution center in Fairfield Cty. CT with 6 employees. The company ardently supports the sustainable expansion and dynamizing of our Maine working waterfront through introduction of new technologies and income opportunities for existing fishermen and new entrants. This is possible because of the vast amount of embedded energy and overlapping existing technology present on the working waterfront which is just waiting to be put to a new and exciting use.

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