MACHIAS – Coastal Washington County will soon be the site of a marine research laboratory and education center designed to create economic opportunities for area fishermen.

The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year, $600,000 grant to the University of Maine at Machias and the Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education – formerly the Beals Island Regional Shellfish Hatchery.

The first $289,869 will be available Jan. 1, 2003, according to Brian Beal, the UMM professor of marine biology who wrote the successful grant application.

Beal said the focus of the project is to create an infrastructure that will attract marine researchers who can work with local fishermen to find innovative ways to use Washington County’s rich diversity of marine life.

“The resources have been here forever and we’ve been harvesting them forever,” Beal said. “Can we add value? Can we use the traditional marine industry in a different way?”

The project money will permit UMM to hire another marine biologist and a natural resource economist. They will divide their time between teaching and research, and will work with local fishermen to create pilot commercial ventures, Beal said.

The new center will include a shellfish production facility, a research laboratory with running sea water, a classroom and office space, he said.

The shellfish production center will build on the expertise Beal has developed since 1987 when, as UMM’s environmental resources coordinator, he worked with six local communities to create the Beals Island Regional Shellfish Hatchery.

That facility, which has since become the Downeast Institute, is in the town of Beals and is operated during summer months by UMM students. The hatchery raises larval soft-shell clams to seed flats across the state. This summer, for the first time, the hatchery successfully raised larval sea scallops, he said.

The expanded shellfish production center at the new facility will grow clams, sea urchins, sea scallops, lobsters and other marine organisms for public stock enhancement or private enterprises.

UMM President John Joseph said the university’s partnership with the Downeast Institute will allow UMM to move forward with a plan to create the Downeast Center for Coastal Studies – a curriculumwide focus that will build on UMM’ s geographical location and strength in biological and environmental sciences. It is designed to increase enrollments and provide faculty resources to the Down East region.

“This can be transforming for us, and all the credit goes to Brian for putting it together,” Joseph said. “I don’t think it’s possible to overstate the synergy with the Down East Institute.”

David Rosen, UMM’s vice president for academic affairs, said UMM is becoming an undergraduate research center and will be looking for a marine biologist who specializes in algae and marine vegetation and an environmental resource economist to complement staff already working at UMM, including a marine biologist, a zoologist and an analytical chemist.

The new research laboratory will be a direct collaboration between UMM and local industry and “a powerful instrument” for economic and community change, he said.

Beal said the Downeast Institute is working with the Trust for Public Land to locate coastal property near the UMM campus to create the marine lab and field station.

Beal said the grant will allow UMM to buy equipment for the laboratory and provide the money for the Downeast Institute to hire an executive director – who will be in charge of fund raising – and a hatchery production-facilities manager.

Other partners in the project are: the Sunrise County Economic Council; Eastern Maine Development Corp.; the town of Beals; Carver Shellfish Inc.; Washington County commissioners; the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center; The Nature Conservancy; the Maine Department of Marine Resources; the Maine State Planning Office; and the Maine Science and Technology Foundation.