Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, in the United States, has a tradition of having a large fishing and

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

industry. However today some of that industry has switched to

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

farming or

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

. Of late aquaculturists in

are most concerned about the outbreak of Infectious Salmon anemia(ISA) in the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is the hi ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. The Canadian and US salmon raising industries in the bay are geographically near one another and are therefore ecologically integrated.

Machias Bay Machias Bay is a bay in Washington County, Maine that opens into the Gulf of Maine. The bay was the scene of the Battle of Machias — the first naval battle of the American Revolution, occasioned by the British need for lumber for Boston. Lo ...

, which is 50 miles west of the Bay of Fundy, is also a location of salmon raising in Maine close to the Bay of Fundy.

History

The Maine aquaculture industry has grown dramatically in the past decade. In 1988 the harvest collected approximately 1 million pounds of

and

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

at 10 sites, while just four years later this had grown to 10 million pounds of harvested salmon alone. This growth in Maine mirrors growth of the industry worldwide. Farmed salmon production worldwide increased from 47,000 tons to 550,000 tons during the years from 1985 to 1995.Aquaculture in Maine In 1995 Maine comprised approximately 1.8% of the total world production of salmon. In 1997 the Maine aquaculture industry produced 22.5 million pounds of salmon from 27 sites for a total of $50 million. In 1998 it was 24 million pounds of salmon worth about $60 million. Salmon producers in Maine indicated to the Maine Department of Marine Resources that they are committed to increasing production up to 50% in the next few years.

Economics

Maine accounts for 18% of the US domestic salmon market. Within the state of Maine, the salmon industry provided close to 1000 jobs in 1996. The vast majority of these jobs are in Washington County. The industry in 1996 accounted for "$30 million of personal income and $44 million of goods and services produced in Maine (gross regional product). In 1998, the Maine salmon industry had an estimated economic value of $60 million. For comparison, the Maine dairy and potato industries each had an estimated economic value of $90 million in 1998." See below, Karlsen. One company, Atlantic Salmon of Maine LLC produces about 7,000 tons of farmed salmon. Design and consulting firm, Innovio Labs (ILGC) has made forecasts that would suggest significant growth in the industry due to rising global demands.

References

* Jarp J., Karlsen E. Infectious salmon anemia (ISA) risk factors in sea-cultured Atlantic salmon. Salmo salar. Disease of Aquatic Organisms, 1997; 28: 79-86. * https://web.archive.org/web/20060926140107/http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps3025/isacana.htm. Retrieved 20 July 2007.

History

Economics

References

See also