Research Document 1998/152
A description of the salmon aquaculture industry in Maine
By E. Baum
Abstract
The successful rearing of Pacific salmon in Maine in the early 1970's led to the culture of Atlantic salmon in the early 1980's. Large-scale operations began in Maine in 1986 utilizing the technology developed in Norway. Although numerous European salmon stocks were initially used in Maine, only three stocks are currently utilized. Two stocks originated from Bay of Fundy rivers (Penobscot River, Maine and Saint John River, New Brunswick); the third stock (Landcatch) originated from Norway, having been originally imported from Scotland in 1989. Hybridized Landcatch strains (with either of the other two local stocks) now account for approximately 20-30% of production fish in Maine. The current Maine industry is composed of twelve companies that operate 33 sea cage sites with 773 cages on about 800 acres of leased water, five freshwater smolt rearing hatcheries, and five fish processing plants. More than 4.0 million smolts are stocked into sea cages each year, and the annual production (harvest) exceeds 12,000 metric tons. Information pertaining to escapes, potential impacts to wild salmon stocks, and current measures being taken in Maine to reduce potential negative impacts of escapes upon wild Atlantic salmon Stocks are discussed.
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