This summer, visitors to Maine waters may be startled to see the STEWARDSHIP, a new craft that was launched Feb. 21 at the Bar Harbor town dock. The aquaculture barge was christened by Maine First Lady Karen Baldacci as part of Focus on Farms, educational programs meant to raise awareness of the importance of both land and sea farming in Maine and to increase understanding about what is involved in each.
Owned in partnership by Great Eastern Mussel Farms (GEM) and Fiona and Theo de Koning, the boat is a 74-foot surplus U.S. Military landing craft converted by Comeau Marine Railway of Nova Scotia into a European style aquaculture seeding, harvesting and processing barge. It is the only one of its kind in North America.
The hold of the barge is able to store as many as 2,500 bushels of mussels, and its deck contains a mass of high-tech gear developed in the Netherlands, where Theo de Koning is part of a fifth generation mussel farming family. The equipment is designed to treat the mussels gently, which Chip Davison, President of GEM, says will extend their shelf life and improve quality.
The barge will greatly increase the capability of Aquaculture Harvesters, a company started by GEM in 2000 and now owned in equal partnership by the de Konings and GEM, to handle mussels grown by bottom culture techniques used and perfected in Europe over the past 200 years.
This culture includes a mussel seed management plan developed in the Netherlands and proven successful in several European countries. Wild seed that settles on top of mussels on a bottom culture aquaculture site is harvested and transplanted to other sites. This protects the nutrient supply for the growout mussels and ensures a consistent supply of seed. Fiona de Koning explained that European growers have discovered that seed resource management makes it possible to smooth out the peaks and valleys of the mussel supply produced by bottom culture. “We can guarantee GEM a more stable supply and homogeneous meat quality and size,” she said.
STEWARDSHIP will use sophisticated shallow water dragging equipment to harvest mature mussels and seed. Mature mussels can be washed, graded and packed into bags on board the vessel. The boat’s large hold and water systems make it possible to purge mussels on board if a red tide closure is affecting the Great Eastern plant in Tenant’s Harbor. “We can go further offshore or to another area where the water is clean and purge the mussels there,” Fiona de Koning said.
Theo de Koning came to Maine in 2004 after looking in Canada and Chile for places to expand the family mussel business, which produces about 60,000 bushels of mussels a year — one and one-half percent of the total grown in the Netherlands by 80 different companies. There was no more space in their native country to expand. Meeting Carter Newall, biologist at GEM, led to the partnership with GEM, which places them in charge of the GEM farming program. “We will be their supply arm and they will handle marketing,” Fiona de Koning said, adding that because GEM “needs a lot more mussels than even we can supply,” the company will continue to obtain mussels from other sources.
Fiona de Koning and their three children arrived to settle in Bar Harbor last year. So far, she says, entering business here has been a learning process. Newall helped them determine the best sites for bottom culture and provided support when they applied for their first aquaculture lease, a grueling process she describes as “character developing.”
Their bottom culture requires little maintenance beyond seeding ΒΌ-inch mussels, harvesting seed, and after two years, mature mussels. They will need to monitor the site for predation by eiders and starfish. “Eider ducks are a part of life,” Fiona de Koning says, “impossible to deal with,” but she adds that their company can “mop up starfish with a special wool yarny stuff that they get stuck on.”
“We are committed environmentalists who believe in sustainable farming” she emphasizes. “We are working to understand what the issues are here and how to work around them.” They have agreed to cooperate with environmental and research groups on Mt. Desert Island, where their first lease is situated off Hadley Point. Theo de Koning is participating in the Bay Management and Shellfish Steering Committees of the Maine Department of Marine Resources and is on the Board of Directors of Maine Aquaculture Association.
The family is happy about resettling in Bar Harbor. The new venture and STEWARDSHIP have required a large initial investment of time, effort and money, but Fiona de Koning says they hope their project will show that financially it can support a family. “Then,” she says, “we can apply for permanent residency.”