Aquaculture
Business Incubation Facilities
at the Center for Cooperative
Aquaculture research
Located at
the CCAR we have one of
the most extensive facilities available to aquaculture businesses
anywhere. The
facilities are available both to established companies looking to
diversify or
test new ideas and also to those companies in the start up phase. The
facilities can be used to test out processes and new products for
aquaculture.
Unlike other business parks, aquaculture business incubation facilities
need
supplies of filtered fresh water and sea water, discharge capacity,
water
treatment, storage and distribution systems, various types of buildings
designed specifically for aquaculture systems equipped with complex
climate
control systems, tanks, filters etc. In addition, there are a number of
permits
required for land based aquaculture operations.
At the
CCAR, we have all this in
one facility. We also have an experienced staff with knowledge of
rearing
technologies, holding systems, growout and hatchery design etc.
Usually, our
staff will assist companies during the tenancy at the CCAR. This means
that
companies that may not yet have the manpower or expertise can draw on
our
resources to run their projects in the early phases of the business
development. We are one of the foremost facilities for marine
recirculation
technology and one of the few marine fish hatcheries in the country. We
have
the capacity to supply the industry with a number of species of marine
fish
juveniles, for example Atlantic halibut and Atlantic cod. In addition,
typically, we will assist industry partners in applying for outside
funding for
their R&D projects and will help design and manage R&D
projects from
basic research, all the way through to design of full scale commercial
farms.
As part of the University of Maine’s Department of
Industrial Cooperation
and in
cooperation with the Maine Aquaculture
Inovation Center,
we are
also well equipped to help companies develop their business plans, find
a site
for commercial operations, develop and protect intellectual property,
put
together a management team, secure investment capital, and to go
commercial.
Examples of
Business Incubation Projects
 Seabait Maine
LLC
Seabait
Maine LLC was formed as a
wholly owned subsidiary of Seabait UK Ltd. The company started with two
Seed
Grants from the Maine Technology Institute and was then funded by an
MTI
Development Award. Together with the CCAR, the company has developed
unique
farming methods using recirculating technology to grow polychaete worms
for
bait and aquaculture feeds markets. This is done in high intensity
systems with
rapid growth and high survival.
Seabait has
used many of the
facilities at the CCAR including a number of buildings and systems.
They have
installed a hatchery, a prototype 7 MT/yr production system, a nursery
system
for juvenile worms, a packaging and cold storage facility, broodstock
systems,
office space, and a bait attractants production facility. Up to 8
employees
have been working alongside CCAR staff as the project progressed.
For more information on the
Seabait
Project follow this link Life
Cycle of a Business
Incubator
 Maine
Halibut Farms
Maine
Halibut Farms (MHF) currently
has two part time employees, Alan Spear (pictured) and Doug Morrell and
they
share fish husbandry duties with the CCAR staff. They have used a
number of
facilities at the Center to hold fish in various stages of growout.
Currently,
they have 24,000 fish which were reared at CCAR and these are held in a
recirculating nursery system in the new hatchery building. We have
assisted MHF
in the writing of a number of grants which have helped the company set
up. Using
funding from a Development Award loan from the MTI, they are
constructing a 20
MT growout system at the CCAR.
Great
Bay
Aquaculture
Great Bay
Aquaculture (GBA) is one of the
leading marine fish producers in the USA
and the only commercial
producer of cod. Using NOAA funding (National Marine Aquaculture
Initiative, we
are working with GBA to develop farming strategies for cod for Maine.
GBA have transferred
50,000 juvenile cod to the CCAR and will place another group here in
the fall
of 2007. As the project progresses and funding allows, we will move
fish onto
lease sites in Maine.
Ultimately the goal will be to develop an offshore cod culture
demonstration
project in Maine.
Friendship
International
 Friendship
International was a major exporter of green sea urchins harvested in Maine.
When the fishery
declined in the late 1990’s, they looked for other sources of
business and sea
urchins. They came to the CCAR in 2003 for assistance with the
development of
sea urchin aquaculture as an alternative source of product. We have
helped them
secure funding from the MTI and the USDA for work on sea urchin
aquaculture. We
have installed a purpose built sea urchin hatchery using MAIC and USDA
funding
and a broodstock holding system. We have had major successes with the
rearing
of sea urchins in our hatchery facility and with preliminary work
growing
juvenile sea urchins out at sea in mesh cages. We are currently looking
for
additional funding to scale this work up.
For more information on business
incubation at CCAR, contact npbrown[at]maine.edu
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