Resources Database

The aim of this open access book is to review and analyze the goods and services of bivalve shellfish.

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.

Reviews tide–flipped bags or baskets ability to produce a more attractive and commercially valuable Eastern oyster for the half–shell market. Found that flip-bag oysters grow slower but had a wider fan, deeper cup, heavier shell, yielded more meat, were less fouled, and required less labor to maintain.

Provides a summary of direct and indirect environmental factors that may affect your site selection for your marine aquaculture business.

A brief overview of what aquaculture is, why people do it, and how people do it in Maine.

Good husbandry is critical to success and this gives a general overview of its importance.

Reviews the keys to running a successful business; the four P's of marketing, wholesale distributors, risks, and sales.

Video of a workshop that goes over niche marketing for raw bar cultured oysters, differentiating your product on qualities and adapting your marketing pitch, how to target key buyers and get maximum return.

A study designed to measure the effect of stocking density and bag mesh size on the growth of pre-commercial oysters (60 mm) deployed at three sites in northeastern New Brunswick.

A study compared how oysters grew in floating cages versus bottom cages that determined that generally oysters grew faster and survival and condition index were higher in floating gear.

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.

Focuses primarily on the environmental sustainability of shellfish aquaculture including resource enhancement, habitat restoration, eutrophication, the impacts of farms on water quality, and harvest methods.

Aquaculture of softshell clams (Mya arenaria), also called “steamer clams”, has grown steadily and is becoming a significant industry in New England. Examined in this fact sheet are specific aspects of softshell clam production during the Hatchery Phase and a description of variations in management practices at three shellfish facilities: two in Massachusetts and one in Maine.

Brief overview of softshell clam distribution, habitat, life cycle, predators, disease, harvest, marketing, and aquaculture.

Overview of mussels nutritional value and their biology.

Use this to create your own farm-specific Best Management Practices (BMP) document use this template, a Microsoft Excel file in macro format.

The intent of the Lentz system is to grow a superior quality oyster while utilizing less labor that will enable significant operation cost reduction and this presentation describes a large trial grow out study of this system.

Intended for a novice farmer to give a overview of oyster farming topics such as oyster biology, site selection, rearing methods, spat supply, and production plans.

Overview of popular finfish and shellfish aquaculture systems (husbandry & gear) used in the northeast including bottom culture, near bottom culture, water column culture, surface culture, hatchery land-based systems.

Reviews business management skills, such as finance, record keeping, marketing, and personnel management. More aquaculture businesses fail because of poor management than poor production practices.

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.

Questions to ask when beginning to consider different overwintering oysters options.

Reviews the importance of recording growth and environmental data, estimating number of seed, and provides template data sheets to record this information.

If you're thinking about farming mussels, either as a sideline or the main chance, this booklet is designed to help you make decisions.This booklet reviews mussel raft culture in the Gulf of Maine, The Mussel Raft Project, Predators, storms and moorings, Mussel biology, Selecting a site, Steps in culturing mussels, Outreach, applied research, Sales and marketing , Getting into business, Planning a mussel business, Training and information, Leases and permits, Suppliers, and provides further reading suggestions.