Resources Database

A brief introduction to current commercial production species, potential commercial species, and experimental species including the hard clam (quahog), eastern oyster, blue mussel, softshell clam, macroalgae, bay scallop, European oyster, surf clam, sea scallop, and more.

Report on the mud blister polychaete worm, Polydora websteri, including a description, life history, settlement, burrowing, treatments, and biosecurity.

Intended to help prospective farmers to identify, record, monitor, and manage production hazards, and ultimately minimize production-related risk. Discusses types of risk in aquaculture, record keeping, environmental conditions, biofouling organisms, predators, diseases, parasites, invasive species, and operational procedures.

This brochure explains the benefits of shellfish aquaculture for the environment including improving water quality, increasing species diversity, removing excess nitrogen, and not needing fertilizers, chemicals, or antibiotics.

Summarizes some simple ways that holders of a valid Maine Aquaculture License can get their shellfish to market.

Lists all upcoming aquaculture public meetings, hearings, and scoping sessions and give the date, time, town and location for them.

A variety of tenacious myths critical of marine aquaculture practiced in the United States have persisted for decades to be presented as facts to the public and Congress. The reality is U.S. fish and shellfish farmers culture aquatic animals and plants within a very complicated and expensive legal, regulatory, husbandry, and science-driven environment. We believe critics are unfamiliar with this environment or have erroneously assumed marine aquaculture-related environmental damage reported in other countries occurs in the United States.

Oyster aquaculture, like any agriculture operation, has inherent risks with perils beyond growers’ control. However, coastal waters present challenges for oyster farmers in the form of tropical storms and hurricanes.

This report addresses biofouling management in relation to marine aquaculture industry operations, equipment and infrastructure. It covers shellfish, finfish and seaweed operations in estuaries and seawater. It does not address freshwater aquaculture activities.

In September 2023 the ECSGA updated its 2010 Best Management Practices manual. Building on the 2010 version, this update adds a new section on the management and handling of floating gear, hundreds of embedded links, info on new gear types and a revised bibliography. ECSGA also completely revamped the tool to create your own farm-specific Best Practices document: the Best Practices Form.

In depth document created to provide the information and a framework that will enable a shellfish farmer to write a comprehensive Best Management Practices document focusing on gear/operation and maintenance, user conflicts, permitting/siting, and environmental concerns.

Reviews harmful algae blooms including conditions for biotoxin formation, detection, management, and common types of HAB's in the northeast.

A look at the individual Maine farmers who make a living in the growing industry of Aquaculture.

This report is based on the research priorities survey conducted in June 2019 of Maine’s aquaculture community and is compared with surveys from 2012 and 2016 to look at trends. There have been some changes in the prioritization of needs since 2016, but many of the same research, development, and education (R&D&E) needs persist and remain unaddressed. As expected, there are different R&D&E priorities for different aquaculture sectors.

DMR resources for growers including approved hatcheries, biosecurity, shellfish sanitation, harvest and reporting, and forms.

In-depth paper on the implementation of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources' online licensing and landings system, called LEEDS (Licensing Enforcement and Environmental Data System) is now available. In order to apply for a new license or renew a license with the system, you first need to create a login for LEEDS

UC Davis Aquaculture visits Dr. Julieta Martinelli at the University of Washington, Seattle, to learn about the shell-boring marine worm polychaete, otherwise known as blister worms (Polydora websteri), and the treatments to control them in oyster shellfish aquaculture farms.

Thesis paper explaining the work that went into creating the Oyster suitability Index.

A basic list of what licenses you need to sell your aquaculture shellfish at your home, at your lease site, to your local grocery/general store, roadside, to a restaurant, to a wholesale distributor, at a farmers market, or out of state.

This flowchart maps the different licenses you need to have to sell your aquaculture shellfish out of state by mail or by vehicle, and in the state of Maine including selling direct to restaurants, and wholesale distributors, at a farmer's market, your home, and your lease site.

This project aimed to identify a gear coating that deters and mitigates predation by oyster drills (Urosalpinx cinerea) and starfish (Asterias rubens) on aquaculture eastern oysters. Identifying potential strategies to mitigate starfish and oyster drill snail predation on eastern oysters could increase oyster survival, which would increase yield and revenue.

The Maine Seaweed Council strives to protect the ecosystems of Maine’s marine algae and adhere to sustainable cultivation and harvest practices, promote the use of Maine seaweeds, educate the public, regulators, and elected officials, and provide a collaborative forum for its members.