August 21, 2025 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources’ (DMR) Aquaculture Division has purchased a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to assess aquaculture lease applications, replacing a failing older model.
The remote vehicle was purchased with USD 51,024 (EUR 43,934) in funding from the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center (MAIC)
May 12, 2021 — Seafood farms popping up all along the coast have Maine’s aquaculture industry primed for a boom and two organizations in the state are preparing to meet its workforce needs with a first-of-its-kind training program.
The Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center and Washington County Community College received a $500,000 grant to be paid out over three years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop an aquaculture-specific training program at the college.
The program will aim to meet the growing need for tech-savvy, skilled workers in four of the largest aquaculture subsets: land-based recirculating aquaculture, marine fin-fish aquaculture, cold-water coastal shellfish aquaculture and marine macroalgae aquaculture. Students will graduate with either a workforce training certificate or an associate’s degree.
“Aquaculture is the fastest-growing form of agriculture in the U.S.,” said Chris Davis, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center.
November 10th, 2016 — Last month, lobstermen Marsden Brewer and his son, Bobby, joined a delegation of Maine fishermen and aquaculturists on a visit to Aomori on the northern coast of Japan’s major island to learn about the latest techniques for cultivating scallops.
Among their hosts was Hiroaki Sugiyama, an inventor and manufacturer of high-tech machinery used in Japan’s enormous scallop aquaculture industry.
On Monday, the Brewers returned the favor. Sugiyama arrived in the U.S. Sunday night for a four-day visit to learn about what is happening in Maine’s nascent scallop aquaculture industry. After a stop at a newly-formed aquaculture cooperative in Spruce Head, and a boat ride to visit an experimental scallop growing operation, Sugiyama and his Maine hosts traveled to Stonington for more talk about scallop aquaculture, and a terrific lunch, hosted by Marsden and Donna Brewer at their Red Barn Farm.
Brewer first travelled to Aomori in 1999 as a member of a study mission organized by the Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center. Including fishermen, scientists and representatives of the University of Maine Sea Grant program, the group visited Mutsu Bay in Aomori Prefecture where the Japanese scallop is intensively cultivated both on longlines and on the seabed.