Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I I N O. X X S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 7 20 B ill Mook started Mook Sea Farm on the Damariscotta River in 1985, and today has bootstrapped his way up to becoming one of the Maine oyster industry's top producers. A ceaseless entrepreneur, Mook has set the pace by investing in research, new equipment and a skilled workforce. As a result, in just the past decade he's been able to double annual hatch- ery production to 120 million seeds today, substantially increase feed production, expand his workforce from four to 24 and, in the past year, double weekly produc- tion of market-size oysters. At the same time, he's been tackling issues related to climate change, both managing current impacts and developing predic- tive monitoring techniques that could help inform future mitiga- tion measures. His eff orts come at a time when chefs and consumers are buying more Maine farmed oysters than ever. Sales of farmed oysters hit $4.9 million in 2015, fi ve times what they were just a decade earlier. "Right throughout the great recession, market demand for half-shell oysters has grown — and it's still growing right now," Mook says. A growth strategy with multiple approaches Mook's approach includes deployment of a suspen- sion-cage system, called OysterGro, that allows him to harvest all of his market-size oysters and allows year-round harvest. is compares with uncertain harvest levels and seasonality of more common bottom-culture methods. He invests in research leading to innovations such as methods for overwintering seed; a tidal- powered nursery system; a vessel and gear for mech- anizing the use of OysterGro cages; and a unique, energy-effi cient and highly productive system for growing microalgae that's used to feed juveniles. He's developed strategies to monitor and manage the chemistry of seawater pumped into the hatchery, P H O T O / F R E D F I E L D P H O T O / F R E D F I E L D Site Work & Excavating Contractor in Southern Maine. Since 1987. www.gsgravel.com 1986 Debbie Sawyer is hired (first office employee) 1994 Mark Curtis: General Manager 1997 Greg Carver: Senior Equipment Operator 1999 Mark Johnson: Supervisor 2000 Faron R. Shean: Crushing Operations 2001 Randy Wood: Senior Equipment Operator 2001 Josh Pierce: Senior Equipment Operator 2002 Michael McKinley: Head Estimator F O C U S From seed to market How one oyster farmer leverages a growing market B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r N o rt he r n t ri p lo i d 4 m illi m e t e r l on g ( 7 0 - da y- o l d ) se e d o y s te r s Hannah Clark of Newcastle fi lls tubes with micro algae. The liquid is used as oyster food at Mook Sea Farm in Walpole, where she is a hatchery technician.

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