o Design, construct and develop indoor facilities for growing and harvesting intensively farmed sandworms in tank-based systems using recirculation technology.
o The company will test market product for in-depth analysis of the markets.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Proposed Technology
Seabait Ltd (UK) is a world pioneer of sustainable mass culture of marine polychaete worms (seaworms) and this high quality, pathogen free product is supplied to anglers as bait and to fish farmers as highly nutritious feed components, reliably year round without the need for exploiting wild stocks in environmentally sensitive areas.

The newly formed Seabait (Maine) LLC, will utilize unique technology developed by the parent company for the commercial scale rearing of the polychaete seaworm Nereis virens and the sale of this product to fishing bait and aquaculture feeds markets. This partially patented technology was developed over a 20 yr period in UK using local broodstocks. Worms are grown on a commercial scale in a sand substrate using an open, flow through system utilizing waste heat from a local power station. The project will seek to apply and modify these techniques to local, Maine seaworms to achieve successful culture in intensive recirculation conditions.

The technology includes control of reproduction and time of spawning, artificial fertilizations, embryo and early larval rearing, first feeding, juvenile culture, grow-out, harvesting, handling, packaging marketing and shipping. Most of these will require modification and adaptation to local broodstocks, local weather patterns, local day lengths and recirculation. In addition sale of product into the USA will require a full understanding of local expectations for packaging, delivery methods, customer preferences and requirements.

Company History and Mission
Seabait Limited was formed in 1985 to commercialize production of marine worms based on many years of research. Seabait Ltd benefits from an IP spin-out agreement with Newcastle University (April 1984 for 25 years) that assigns all IP-relating to commercially important marine worms to the company and grants access to University facilities and key personnel.

The leading position and ‘best practice’ of the company was recognized by the granting of The Queen’s Award for Environmental Achievement in 1994, for Sustainable Development in 2003 and for International Trade in 2003 and the National Training Award in 1995. There are currently 29 employees of whom 7 are university graduate level or higher. Two other employees have 15 years of service and a further 5 have more than 8 years of service with the company having received full in-house training.

The company’s strong commitment to continued R&D in order to scale up and improve prototype processes has resulted in a strong portfolio of technological achievements protected by patent. Turnover has increased.

Products
Seabait products contribute to the development of environmentally and economically sustainable aquaculture. They provide materials for people to engage in healthy outdoor pastimes without damage to the environment and aid sustainable production of fish and shellfish promoting human health. The concept of sustainable economic development is integral to the companies plans both in the production and consumption of its products. Seabait (Maine) LLC will contribute to regional economic growth providing a long-term source of income in areas of economic need and a basis for sustainable growth.

Seabait in Maine
Seabait Ltd. established the company Seabait (Maine) LLC to develop and exploit the technology in the state of Maine. Both companies are fully committed to both the development and the commercial operations taking place in Maine and to that end the Seabait Ltd. MD has relocated to Maine to ensure maximum input by Seabait Ltd. by his full time presence and commitment. It is envisaged that employees will be Maine residents and where possible materials and services will be sourced locally by preference.

Prior Experience
Seabait Ltd.'s prior experience and research dates back more than thirty years with the work of Seabait's research director, Prof. Peter Olive, one of the world's foremost authorities on polychaete reproduction. As a student of Prof. Olive, the company’s managing director, began the investigation into the commercial culture of the sandworm in 1981. Together they started the company Seabait Ltd. culturing the worms commercially. The company continued to develop the technology in-house and through postgraduate research at Newcastle University. Much of this work led to the publication of papers, PhD theses and patents in both Europe and USA. A great deal of the R&D undertaken in the UK at a total cost of more than $1.5m over ten years was assisted by the UK's department of Trade and Industry.

The most recent and applicable R&D was carried out in Maine with the assistance of two MTI Seed Grants (SG747) at the UMaine’s for Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR) at Franklin. The aim of these two projects was to identify areas of the technology in most need of development and to assess the feasibility of such a program. The first of these projects, SG747 (completed in July 02) established the first sandworm broodstocks and rearing of juveniles to be carried out in the USA. It confirmed that as far as reproduction is concerned Nereis virens in the UK appears to be the same as in Maine.

Broodstocks were successfully held in recirculation prior to producing by artificial fertilization 1.35 million eggs yielding 0.94 million weaned nectochaete larvae. These were reared under recirculation conditions giving good survival overall. Useful market and distribution information was also gained during the program (see section 4) During the second seed grant SG836, completed in October 02, juveniles were transferred at a variety of grow-out densities under recirculation. The results proved that growth in recirculation systems was as good or better than in flow through systems typically used in the UK. Some product was used for market research and customer feedback to the product was very favourable.

CONTACT INFORMATION
For more information please contact Peter Cowin
pcowin@seabait.com
+1 207 422 3169