Can it, Maine! Adding Value and Resilience to Maine’s Shellfish Seafood Sector

December 4, 2020

Project Team: Rob Dumas, Jeffrey Swada, Kirk Dolan

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need for research into diversified markets that increase resilience in the seafood sector and support working waterfronts hit hard by the economic downturn. In April, the Maine farmed shellfish industry was severely impacted by social measures aimed at addressing the pandemic. A survey conducted by the Maine Aquaculture Association in May 2020 found that virtually all respondents (98%) had experienced a price decline for their product due to the onset of public health measures. Similarly, 96% of Maine farmers expected reduced revenues in the 2020 fiscal year. In a Virginia Cooperative Extension survey of all Eastern shellfish farmers, 32% of respondents answered the question, “What assistance would be helpful to your business right now?” with “help identifying new markets”.

In March 2020, as the pandemic spread, U.S. canned seafood sales increased 10% to $5.1 billion. Even before the pandemic, the global market for canned fish was expected to reach $36.7 billion by 2021 according to Supermarket News. In the U.S, imported canned oysters, mussels and scallop totaled $44.6 million leading to a trade deficit of $42.5 million in 2019. In Maine, most farmed shellfish is sold live for restaurant markets. However, canned seafood can last up to 18 months. This extended shelf-life creates opportunities to develop expanded and diversified markets with the advantage of year-round availability, better transportability and increased ease of preparation.

We propose to address the shellfish industry need for greater resilience and market expansion by taking steps towards determining the demand for and feasibility of the canning process for Maine’s most prevalent farmed shellfish species: mussels, oysters, scallops. Our work will also inform the potential for canning to add value to farmed intertidal species such as razor, Arctic, surf and soft shell clams and quahogs as well as wild harvested shellfish. The state’s shellfish industry has already gained significant headway in educating buyers, chefs, and consumers of the value of Maine’s brand of sustainably farmed live products, priming them for innovative canned products.

Working at the UMaine Food Pilot Plant, the research team, consisting of Meggan Dwyer of the UMaine Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) and Robert Dumas, Pilot Plant manager, will develop four recipes for canned products featuring Maine’s primary farmed shellfish species. Collaborating with Maine’s only surviving seafood canning plant, A.M. Look in Whiting, they will develop FDA/USDA compliant thermal processes and create a sample canning run of each product. These prototypes will be used to inform sensory and marketing studies to be conducted with separate funding in 2021. They will also be used as demonstration products for collaborating with industry on economic feasibility and microsimulation studies in a separate project on canned shellfish conducted by ARI and the Center for Business and Economic Research at USM. Responding to industry’s market research needs will help spur innovation in the shellfish aquaculture sector in the face of emerging environmental and economic challenges. This is key to the sustainable growth of the sector and to optimizing economic resilience for Maine’s working waterfront communities.

Project Dates: 12/1/20 – 7/1/21

Project Funding: Maine Sea Grant