Maine hosts a small but lucrative fishery for juvenile American eels, which are transported to Asian fish farms for culturing to the adult stage for the seafood market. Maine could realize even greater benefits if, instead of being exported, the eels could be grown and marketed in the U.S.

Maine Sea Grant provided program development funding to American Unagi LLC to experiment with American eel culture methods. Business owner Sara Rademaker successfully cultured adult American eels, shared product with local chefs, and leveraged funds for additional research and development to culture American eels to market size.

The American lobster is the most valuable fishery in the nation and among Maine’s most important industries. After several years of record harvests, there are signals that both adult and juvenile lobster populations are declining. Sea Grant research helped establish the influence of temperature on settlement of juvenile lobsters, as well as the relationship between settlement and the future populations of adult lobsters. In response to industry concerns, Sea Grant supported research by Richard Wahle at UMaine to evaluate the relationship between larval settlement, juvenile, and adult lobsters along geographic and temperature gradients, addressing a key information gap and generating industry support for continuing the monitoring program.

New England Aqua Ventus I is a 12 Megawatt (MW) floating offshore wind pilot project to develop a clean, renewable energy source off Maine’s shores, led by the University of Maine. Paul Anderson (previous director) and Assistant Director for Research Damian Brady facilitated outreach to fishing communities in the mid-coast Maine region related to the development of offshore wind technology where the turbines are expected to be placed.

The Department of Energy recently awarded New England Aqua Ventus $3,700,000 to demonstrate the innovative design of the VolturnUS with full-size offshore wind turbines, work with local contractors and manufacturers to generate local economic benefit, create and keep Maine jobs in Maine, and provide renewable energy now and in the future.