Tag Archives: Coastal Enterprises Inc
Maine fisheries experts head to Japan to learn scallop practices, buy machinery
Expanding on earlier visits to Japan, 10 aquaculture and fisheries experts from Maine are headed for Aomori Prefecture in the northern part of Japan’s main island of Honshu to learn successful techniques to grow scallops and to buy machinery to help harvest them. “Sea scallops are among the most lucrative commercial marine species caught in the United States,” Hugh Cowperthwaite, fisheries project director at Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), of Portland and the trip leader, told Mainebiz as he was preparing to leave for Aomori last Friday. Over the Oct. 1-15 visit, Maine’s scallop experts will meet with the Aomori Prefecture Fisheries Research Institute to learn about the oceanographic effects of releasing scallop larvae as well as learn to use a spat harvester. They’ll also observe scallop and marine processing facilities and see cage cleaning at the Shimokita Product Market, plus visit various fisheries cooperative associations to get aquaculture equipment training. Read the story here, and watch the video 18:27
It’s time Gov. Paul LePage released bonds Maine’s working waterfronts depend on
In 2010 and 2012, Maine voters approved $14.25 million in bonds to support multiple conservation priorities, including the privilege of fishing communities to pass on critical working waterfront access sites to the next generation of commercial fishermen. We encourage Gov. Paul LePage, who supports many of Maine’s vital natural resource and economic development programs, to authorize the sale of voter-approved bonds to fund projects already approved by the Land for Maine’s Future Program to move working waterfront preservation forward. Read the rest here 11:56
New Website Bridges Gap Between Local Seafood, Consumers
Coastal Enterprises Inc., or CEI — which works to spur small business development — says the idea is to do for seafood what the locavore and “buy local” movements are doing for Maine agriculture. From an office overlooking Portland’s working waterfront, Hugh Cowperthwaite sits hunched over his computer. At his fingertips, he says, is a wealth of information about Maine seafood — all in one place. Cowperthwaite is the fisheries project director for CEI, which has just launched a website to integrate Maine’s lucrative seafood industry into the local food movement. Read the rest here
