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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 9 O C T O B E R 1 7 , 2 0 1 6 1.877.Bangor1 | www.bangor.com BENEFIT HOME EQUITY BLEND Home Improvements Heating Repairs & Upgrades Winterization Subject to credit approval. * Annual Percentage Rate offer is subject to change without notice and is accurate as of 9/12/16. Benefit Home Equity Blend rates are fixed for 36 months then convert to variable rates that can change monthly. The variable rate is tied to the highest domestic Prime Rate published in the "Money Rates" section of the Wall Street Journal. The maximum annual percentage rate that may be imposed is 18.000%. Prepayment fee of $450 if the line is terminated within the first 36 months. Any applicable origination fee will be waived for borrowers with a Bangor Savings Bank Benefit Plus Checking account and auto-pay of monthly payments. Bangor Savings Bank deposit account and auto-pay required to obtain relationship rate. If determined to be required, valuation of property and/or title insurance may be obtained. Costs may range between $200 to $700. Maximum loan to value is 85 percent of appraised value, including any other existing liens. 10-year advance period followed by a 15-year principal and interest repayment. Available for owner occupied 1 to 4 family residential properties and second homes. Hazard Insurance is required. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender APR * Maine fi sheries experts visit Japan to learn scallop practices, buy machinery Expanding on earlier visits to Japan, 10 aquaculture and fi sheries experts from Maine headed to Aomori Prefecture on the main island of Honshu to learn suc- cessful techniques to grow scallops and to buy machinery to help harvest them. "Sea scallops are among the most lucrative commercial marine species caught in the United States," Hugh Cowperthwaite, fi sheries project director at Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), and the trip leader, told Mainebiz as he was pre- paring to leave. "The nationwide landings value of sea scallops remained high in 2013 and was ranked fourth among all species with a total worth of $467.3 million. In 2015 the Maine wild-caught scallop season witnessed prices at $12 per pound for 20-30 counts … [and up to] $16 per pound for 10 counts." Maine's scallop industry was worth $5.7 million in 2015 for 452,672 meat pounds of scallops, down from 2014's $7.6 million and 605,360 meat pounds, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The price per pound remained similar, at $12.70 in 2015 and $12.67 in 2014. Cowperthwaite said Maine growers have benefi ted from Japanese scallop-growing techniques and have known about Aomori's strong scallop industry since 1994, when Maine established a sister state relationship with the Japanese prefecture . "Japanese scallop enhancement and cultured grow-out is considered to be the most successful and oldest organized effort in the world dating back to the 1930s," he said. "Through previous exchanges between Maine and the Aomori Prefecture [in 1999 and 2010], Maine's shellfi sh growers have become aware of machinery that will signifi cantly reduce the manual labor currently practiced." He added, "In order to grow scallops in high volume, you need to automate the process as much as possible to cut down on labor." Part of the trip is for CEI to buy three machines that he said will help increase the speed and volume of the harvest and remove biofouling organisms. "We expect to learn a lot from the Japanese about other value-added oppor- tunities for scallops," he said. The three machines, funded by a $68,500 Maine Technology Institute grant, are a scallop-drilling machine for $11,320, an automatic age pin setter for $11,900 and a scallop aquaculture cleaning machine for $45,270. The machines all are made by Mutsu Kaden Tokki Co. Ltd. The 10 delegates are Cowperthwaite; Don Hudson, chair of the Maine Aomori Sister-State Advisory Council; Dana Morse, extension associate, Maine Sea Grant College Program; Sebastian Belle, executive director, Maine Aquaculture Association; Chris Davis, executive director, Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center; Nate Perry, Pine Point Oyster Company LLC; Gordon Connell, F/V Zephyr, com- mercial fi sherman; Marsden Brewer, F/V Lindsay Marie, commercial fi sherman and aquaculturist; Robert Brewer, commercial fi sherman and aquaculturist; and Matthew Morretti, president of Wild Ocean Aquaculture LLC. — L o r i V a l i g r a P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y C O A S TA L E N T E R P R I S E S I N C . Hugh Cowperthwaite, fi sheries project director at CEI (right), with Dana Morse, extension associate at Maine Sea Grant College Program, are part of a Maine scallop fi sheries delegation that visited Japan to learn farming practices that might translate to Maine.

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