It's been a slow climb back, but the past few years indicate their push to return the mollusks to state waters is working. Of the 698 active limited purpose aquaculture licenses listed by Department of Marine Resources, an astonishing 77% include oysters, primarily the American or eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, native to the east coast from the Gulf of Maine to the Gulf Mexico. (A single operator can hold multiple licenses, and some grow multiple species, such as sugar kelp, scallops or quahogs.) Oysters were the fourth most valuable marine resource in the state in 2021 (although they still accounted for just 3% of landings by weight, far behind that titan of Maine seafood, the lobster, at 52%).
The vast majority of oysters grown in Maine are farmed, a process that differs depending on the operation. They can be grown in cages or bags, floated or suspended below the surface. Some are even free-planted on the ocean floor before harvesting. Raising oysters to market size takes about three years, and although it can be done year-round, they're most plentiful from spring through fall. Since they don't naturally spawn in Maine's cold waters, growers must buy baby oysters from hatcheries, of which Maine has several.
But there is also recent evidence of "wild" oysters surviving outside of cultivation sites, a phenomenon that may be due in part to warming waters linked to climate change, as Dana Morse, who works for Maine Sea Grant in South Bristol at UMaine’s Darling Marine Center, told the Bangor Daily News last year.
Decades ago, said Morse, it was rare to see an oyster survive outside a cultivation site.
“It would happen every once in a while, but generally it didn’t happen." Now it's an annual occurrence. Their habitat has also shifted east in the past few decades, and commercial harvesters are trying their hand at farming oysters as far east as Deep Cove, off Beals Island in Washington County.
But the oyster boom is not without its critics. Longtime fishermen fear losing productive grounds to farmers, Crystal Canney, executive director of Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation, told the Associated Press earlier this week. The group would like to see a comprehensive plan for shellfish to help manage the increase in leases.
Although industrial-scale aquaculture has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, the Department of Marine Resources has not made moves to restrict limited purpose aquaculture, which accounts for almost all of Maine's oyster harvest. Under those rules, licensees are allowed up to 400 square feet of area for one calendar year to grow certain shellfish species and marine algae. Only certain kinds of gear are allowed.
“We are seeing people treating this like a Wild West gold rush," said Canney, of the explosion in growers looking for ocean acreage. "And it’s irresponsible.
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