Maine Shellfish Developers LLC — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase II: 8.119999999999999

Description

The Problem: Today oyster lovers pay caviar-like prices of $2.50 even $3.00 each for amollusk that was once everyman's cheap luxury. This is not likely to change without a newindustrial strategy. It is intrinsically costly to farm from boats and rafts. Near-shore oysterfarming is government-regulated; permission to expand is usually onerous to obtain. In colderclimes there are significant winter mortalities while down south there is adverse weatherincluding more and stronger hurricanes and unprecedented flooding not to mention bacterialgrowths such as vibriosis. Everywhere growth is unduly slow and predation burdensome. A newapproach is long overdue.Opportunity: The alternative is to follow the lead of salmon farmers and move operations on- land and indoors even to non-coastal sites. Expansion constraints would be lifted since any well- insulated warehouse or space in an abandoned shopping mall would serve. That some shellfishare intertidal animals hence able to be managed out of water at room temperature for severalhours at a time makes possible agribusiness-like operations. High-volume oyster through-putwith commensurate economies of scale lead to substantially lower unit costs. Extraordinaryenvironmental and stock control represents a game changer not seen before. Harvests are non- seasonal while the product will be both sustainable and traceable.Objectives: After experimenting with the indoor concept for three years at a marine researchinstitute Maine Shellfish Developers LLC (MSD) expanded during SBIR Phase I into facilitiesat the non-coastal Waldoboro Business Park Waldoboro ME (Park) where we installed fourfull-scale oyster "feedlots" (Mark V tankage) in a 60' x 60' room each feedlot rated to yield aharvest of 20000 oysters per month when stocked with 1.5" seedlings four months earlier.Feedlot tankage installed at the Park differs radically from the conventionally styled prototypes(Mark I to IV) in which trials were run at the Darling Marine Center (DMC). Yet to be installedand also not yet perfected is a an embryonic Shellfish-Specific Recirculating AquacultureSystem (SS-RAS) that includes remote monitoring and remote management capacities thusmaking possible 100% water quality control and Park-base remote d control of water quality oncontract farms. Perfecting automation too will be crucial to attaining high volume through-puteconomically with unprecedented bi-valve husbandry made possible too.Anticipated results: While projected to be a profitable operation unto itself this 4-feedlotclosed containment farm will double as a pilot for recruiting contract farm clients at theconclusion of Phase II. Modular design will support contract farm expansion into 20-feedlotfarms once it too has been demonstrated by MSD at the Park With wide-spread contractfarming producing oysters at half the cost per unit typical of near-shore farms MSD's land- based Shore-Side brand can penetrate existing markets in large numbers and create new onesincluding value-added produce as well as world-wide exports. Surf clams and mussels alsointertidal animals can likely be added to today's oysters.Commercial applications:The proposed Phase III 4-feedlot contract farm system and themodular-built 20-feedlot farms are projected to yield harvests of one million and five millionoysters per year respectively. In time and with multiple 20-feedlots a ten-cent cost per unit maybe within reach. Weekly harvests will be sustainable and year-round. With a diet closelyresembling the planktonic content in Maine's estuaries feedlot oysters will be prized for theirnatural taste while unique for being thin shelled deep cupped and remarkably plump truly theultimate oyster.