Japanese Delegates Visit Maine Aquaculture Sites

by Fishermen’s Voice Staff



Members of the Japanese delegation gave a scallop and oyster aquaculture demonstration at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole. The 15-member delegation visited shellfish aquaculture sites, seafood dealers and processors during their four days in Maine. CEI Photo

 

A fisheries delegation from Japan visited sites in western Maine in early September. They came here to learn about Maine aquaculture and to consider what applications equipment used in Japan may have here. Americans from Maine made a similar visit to Japan last October.
In Maine from September 6-9, delegates visited the Darling Marine Science Center where they gave a presentation on Japanese scallop and oyster aquaculture to the 15 Maine shellfish growers in attendance. The 15-member delegation and their Maine hosts also visited the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, and seafood processor Shucks Maine Lobster in Richmond. While in Portland they stopped at seafood trading companies including the Harbor Fish Market on Custom House Wharf.

Hugh Cowperthwaite of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. was one of the guides for the group. Visitors were taken by boat to see the floats at Pemiquid Oyster and later sailed aboard Frank Strout’s lobster boat the Nancy J off Union Wharf in Portland. The Ocean Approved kelp-growing site in Casco Bay, McAlney’s Lobster Pound, TSF Trading and Browne’s Trading Company were also on the agenda.

Later in the week. the group went to Brooks Trap Mill in Thomaston. The Japanese visitors were interested in seeing how an American lobster trap is made, as well as what the fishing equipment supplier had for inventory at the company’s store.

Among the delegation were representatives from Japanese companies that manufacture aquaculture equipment, which includes specialized netting and machinery for handling high volumes in aquaculture operations. Some aquaculture processes done by hand here are done with machines in Japan.

Cowperthwaite said these visits open doors in Maine by initiating conversations among fisheries people here. He cited Tollef Olsen and Paul Dobbins of Ocean Approved, who after meeting the delegates are anxious to go to Japan to see how things are done there.

Japanese scallop growers are organized around coops, a fact delegates discussed when hearing about Maine lobster coops.

Another delegation from Maine in Japan in 1999 learning about scallop aquaculture. Efforts to develop this industry here are ongoing. Asian expertise may provide the needed pieces to that puzzle.

This Japanese delegation was from Aomori, which is a sister state to Maine, and the northernmost prefecture or state on the main island of Japan. (See accompanying story) These visits were facilitated by UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization)

The sister state relationship can be traced back to an 1889 shipwreck. The Maine-built Hasbro sank off Aomori in a typhoon that year. Of the 25 on board only four survived. The Japanese saw the wreck, took the survivors in and the story of the relationship with Maine unfolded. The relationship was formalized in 1994 by then governor McKernan. There have been educational and cultural exchanges over the years between the two countries.