State of Maine lighthouse zones for the sea

Much of Maine’s recent economic development effort has gone toward trying to prevent traditional industries from losing jobs – industries such as and fishing and farming and manufacturing. This has been unavoidable. But it’s not enough. An equal effort must be made to build those industries that have growth potential and where Maine has a competitive advantage, particularly when such industries are located in rural Maine.

What are some of those industries? Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but sometimes it’s easy. Biomedical research is easy. The Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, the Maine Medical Center Research Institute, the Foundation for Blood Research, the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, have all added well-paying jobs for Maine people every year for the last decade. Maine state government has helped a great deal by financing essential infrastructure.

Another industry with similar potential is aquaculture. Maine has hundreds of miles of coastline; a labor force traditionally skilled in catching, raising, processing, storing, and moving fish; an infrastructure of transportation and markets for selling fish; scientists at the University of Maine who understand the biology of raising fish; entrepreneurs along the coast who own and run fish-raising businesses; and an ongoing research and development capacity supplied by the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center at Orono.

According to research conducted last summer by my company, Planning Decisions, Maine’s aquaculture has a $130 million overall economic impact in Maine, supporting 1,400 direct and indirect jobs. The industry pays well, with an average compensation (pay and benefits) per worker of $39,000, higher than the state average, and well higher than alternative jobs in Washington County where much of the industry is based.

While we were finding this out, another consultant, Gardiner Pinfold of Nova Scotia, was studying the future potential of Maine aquaculture. They found strong prospects for new and expanded sales of farm-raised salmon, oysters, mussels, and cod. This is in sharp contrast to the outlook for wild fisheries.

In short, Maine aquaculture is a business sector that is growing, in which Maine has natural advantages, and that helps Maine’s poorest regions. Why is it, then, that Maine’s aquaculture businesses are struggling today?

One reason is that it takes longer to get permits to start an aquaculture business than for almost any other business in Maine. If an entrepreneur gets an idea for a new aquaculture product, he or she must find a potential site; go through a two- to three-year permit process; get bank financing; put fish in the water; and hope that the next year some money starts to come in. That’s roughly five years between a business idea and a financial return. No other business sector in Maine could survive at all with this kind of gap between idea and action. If we don’t change this, Maine will stand by and watch the rest of the world take all of the new farmed fish markets, and we will squander our natural competitive advantage.

What’s the answer? It’s simple. Give aquaculture businesses the same kind of advantages we offer to land-side businesses. For years Maine state and local governments have helped businesses reduce the time from idea to investment to financial return through the mechanism of the business park. A business park provides lots already approved for building, and sewer and water and power availability. In some cases it also provides a speculative (“spec”) building, so an aspiring entrepreneur can move in tomorrow. These is a proven technique for reducing the time between idea and financial return that has achieved success in hundreds of Maine cities and towns.

Why not do the same on the sea? Why not create Lighthouse Zones at sea, just like our Pine Tree Zones on land? These zones would be sections of the sea, distributed every 50 or so miles along the Maine coast, which have been studied and “pre-permitted” by the state government scientists for identified types of aquaculture operations. The zones would be accessed from public piers. Technical assistance and low-interest financing would be provided to aspiring aquaculture entrepreneurs. These sites would meet the highest environmental standards and have state-of-the-art technologies

Unlike many economic development ventures, this one is a sure winner. In no other industry where Maine has such a competitive advantage is there a guaranteed growing global market in the future. We have the coastline, we have the skilled workers, we have the scientists, we have the business owners. Many of these resources are in Maine’s poorest regions. All they need are places to do business.

If we make it as quick and easy to start an aquaculture business in Maine as it is to start a restaurant or motel, it is a sure thing that, within a decade, Maine will become as well-known for its high-quality farmed salmon and oysters and mussels and cod as it is now for its lobsters.

Frank O’Hara is vice president of Planning Decisions in Hallowell.