Resources Database

Licenses AND Sanitation Certificates must be applied for online! This is new and the preferred system for applications now. This includes Shellstock Shipper Certificate, Shucker-Packer Certificate, Shellfish Reshipper Certificate, and Depuration Processor Certificate.

May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024 Aquaculture Harvest License (to harvest & sell aquacultured product) Application

Summarizes common and important mistakes that new growers will make when first starting.

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.

This brochure explains the benefits of eating locally farmed seafood including freshness, heart-health, food safety, good nutrition, and community benefits.

A guide on what is soft-shell clam farming, how to start your own farm, and quick overview of the financials of clam farming.

This brochure reviews what Vibrio is and how to reduce illness from Vibrio by achieving and maintaining temperature controls when harvesting and transporting shellfish.

After purchasing used shellfish production equipment, it is strongly recommended to thoroughly clean and disinfect the gear prior to use to limit the risk of introducing disease or invasive species. An easy-to-use process is as follows:

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.

An ID guide to organisms commonly found in, on, and around oyster grow bags ​and other aquaculture equipment used in the Gulf of Maine and North Atlantic.

A list of current aquaculture training programs offered in Maine.

This directory aims to identify available sources of seaweed (macroalgae) seed for cultivation in the United States. The directory includes facility contact information, available species, and other factors related to seaweed seed sources. Updated annually, this directory will serve as a valuable resource to current and prospective farmers, regulatory authorities, and researchers across the country. Please note, this directory only reflects facilities that have chosen to opt-in, and therefore, is not a complete list of all sources.

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.

The UMaine Aquaculture Research Insitute has created a Research Portal in which you can look up aquaculture research happening in Maine by focus area, PI, funding source, timeline or keyword.

Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, in collaboration with The World Wildlife Fund, is on a mission to get educational resources about seaweed aquaculture into Maine’s 5th-grade classrooms. During the summer and fall of 2023, we will distribute With a Little Kelp from Our Friends– a book on the secret life of seaweed written by Mathew Bate and illustrated by Liz Rowland– to educators. The book will be accompanied by teacher resources to increase literacy about seaweed aquaculture.

List of the over 200 harbor masters and deputy harbor masters in The State of Maine Harbor Masters Association.

DMR-approved hatchery status is contingent upon a variety of factors including clean pathology reports and hatchery inspections. Given this, the list below is subject to change.

Free online entry-level oyster farm worker Certificate course. Do all 16 modules to pursue farmhand certification, or simply watch and browse to get a better sense of the industry. Instructors include East Coast Shellfish Growers Association's Dr. Bob Rheault, and amazing farmers Matt Behan, John and Cindy West, and David Roebuck.

You need to plan ahead to make sure seed stock is available for the growing season. Without a lead on seed, you could end up missing the entire growing season of your first year.

This document is intended to help Maine restaurant owners and staff understand the risks of handling shellfish, and how to manage them safely and effectively.

Social license to operate (SLO), a concept that describes community acceptance and approval of incoming industry, offers a lens for better understanding these barriers and an opportunity to identify strategies for successful development. Efforts to measure and predict social license have begun, but these efforts primarily focus on company actions and impacts. This study seeks to expand the utility of social license within the aquaculture sector by developing a preliminary quantitative framework that can predict a community’s willingness to issue SLO prior to siting.

A list that contains the names of markets and restaurants that are licensed to purchase shellfish directly from harvesters, then sell them in the retail trade only.