Resources Database

CEI Ventures manages socially responsible venture capital funds. Our investments help to create quality employment opportunities, especially for those with low to moderate incomes; promote progressive management practices; support socially beneficial products and services; enrich distressed communities; and foster environmental sustainability.

Coastal Enterprises, Inc. provides loans to aquaculturists. If you are seeking to grow your aquaculture operation but have had difficulty getting a loan from a commercial lender, CEI is here to help.

MTI offers grants, loans, equity investments, and services to businesses, organizations, and individuals to support Maine’s innovation economy. MTI defines innovators as individuals or groups who introduce ideas that create something new or improve an existing product, service, or process.

Lists Maine Sea Grant Funding Opportunities, Regional Research and Funding Opportunities, Sea Grant Supported Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities, and Other NOAA Scholarship Opportunities.

Oyster Tracker, the developer of a software platform that helps oyster farmers manage their farms, has changed its name to BlueTrace and is expanding to mussels, clams, scallops, and geoducks.

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) provides a risk management safety net for all commodities on the farm under one insurance policy and is available in all counties nationwide. This insurance plan is tailored for any farm with up to $8.5 million in insured revenue, including farms with specialty or organic commodities (both crops and livestock), or those marketing to local, regional, farm-identity preserved, specialty, or direct markets.

The Top Gun training program is designed specifically for the entrepreneur with a desire to grow his/her business and achieve long-term success through the use of the right tools, resources, and related mentorship. MCE has taken the time to develop strong business partnerships and to acquire loyal sponsorships which allow us to provide Maine entrepreneurs with the programing, mentorship, training, and knowledge they need to grow and succeed.

An overall business resource on starting a business, business licensing, corporate resources, business taxes, and employer resources.

Provides advising and financing to fisheries and aquaculture businesses to improve their long-term viability, create and maintain quality jobs, safeguard marine-related infrastructure and environments, and help preserve the cultural integrity of Maine’s working waterfront.

Step by step guide to help plan, launch, manage, and grow small businesses including, writing a business plan, calculating start-up costs, get funding, managing your finances, and more.

A leader in the small business economic and development arenas that assists new businesses as well as existing businesses manage, run and grow.

A nonprofit organization providing educational workshops and helping small businesses get started, grow and operate effectively.

If you have been around this business for a while, you’ve probably watched some of the newcomers make the same mistakes you did when you were getting started. ECSGA Executive Director Bob Rheault decided he would try to think of as many of these common pitfalls as he could to help new growers avoid making the same costly blunders. Through the years he has continued to add to the list.

This grant guide was prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in consultation with the Subcommittee on Aquaculture (SCA) under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). This guide focuses only on grant programs that aquaculture farmers or aquaculture researchers may be eligible for. Updates will include Federal cooperative agreements, contracts, loans, or other direct support programs for aquaculture farmers or (non-federal) aquaculture researchers, for the purpose of aquaculture siting, research, development, and operations.

Listen in as Carissa Maurin and Chris Vonderweidt, from the GMRI Aquaculture Program, lead a webinar (originally recorded on 4/13/21) teaching users the basics about The Maine Aquaculturist – a free to use aquaculture business knowledge portal - and how it can be an asset for aquaculture businesses.

Webinar about research on scallop aquaculture production and economics including comparisons of nursery and growout gear: lantern nets, pearl nets, ear hanging, pocket nets, rigid trays, and adhesives; tissue sampling and testing for biotoxins such as saxitoxin and domoic acid; evaluation of fouling communities; surveys of producers to understand economic inputs and outputs such as capital, labor, and yield; environmental data matched with growth data to better understand good scallop-farming sites.

List state and federal grants to provide services, resources and personnel to nonprofit groups, municipalities and other agencies.

Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center has limited funds to support innovative research that will help advance the Maine aquaculture industry and also lists Maine funding opportunities.

Reviews the different types of disaster insurance that would cover hurricanes and typhoons, oil spills, harmful algal blooms, and other types of disasters, both natural and manmade, that cause a aquaculture farm to be harmed or fail.

List of Grants and Requests for Proposals (RFPs) on the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) website. These include opportunities in Coastal Access & Working Waterfronts, Coastal Community Planning, and Outreach & Education.

This non-profit organization helps export Northeast food and agricultural products overseas since 1973. They provides a wide range of services to facilitate trade between local food suppliers and importers around the world including: export education, self-paced training & expert advice, customized export assistance, new market analysis, international marketing &branding, facilitate meetings with international buyers, and a cost-share funding program.

These risk management tools are designed to help Maine aquaculture producers find new ways to identify and respond to risk on their farms and in their businesses. The tools include information and visuals to help farmers identify risk factors and risk management within each of the five categories of risk as well as aquaculture crop insurance options currently available.