Resurfacing industry deemed economic vessel
Aquaculture-related industries in the state experienced a 28 percent jump in revenue in 2003, according to an industry-wide report.
Experts say the $5.5 million in total revenues posted by an array of industries with ties to aquaculture may be a sign that the small but dynamic industry is coming into its own.
“It has been slow and steady, but my gut says that it will increase from this point forward,” said Dr. Tim Scott, director of the Center for Economic and Environmental Development at Roger Williams University. “A lot more people are interested in it and the state has definitely made it a priority.”
Bill Silkes, president and founder of American Mussel Harvesters in North Kingstown, gets half of his shellfish supply from farms. He’s optimistic the industry can grow from a $6 million to a $20 million industry by 2010 – including pharmaceutical and biomedical applications, research, tourism and hospitality uses, and aquaculture supply companies.
“I’m looking at what’s going on globally – 30 percent of the fish and shellfish in the world comes from aquaculture,” he said. “There is a market for these products, and in Rhode Island, the pioneering efforts of Rep. Eileen Naughton (and others) have kept it on the table. Now there is an awareness, a consciousness.”
The number of oysters sold in 2003 was up 114 percent from 2001, from 543,978 sold in 2001 to 1,163,589, according to the annual status report from the Coastal Resources Management Council.
Rhode Island will experience continued growth, but will never have an aquaculture industry like Connecticut’s $75 million one, said David Alves, state aquaculture coordinator for the management council and author of the report. Rhode Island is the smallest state, the most densely populated, and there are limitations, he said, but the growth, however small, is positive.
“It’s a small, dynamic industry that’s growing and it fits into what Rhode Island wants to be doing” – it could help clean up Greenwich Bay, it’s environmentally sustainable and contributing to the state’s bottom line. “Unfortunately, it’s still small, so a 50 percent increase doesn’t mean much in a dollar amount, but if it keeps growing like this, it will.”
Oyster revenue has also skyrocketed, up almost 100 percent from $275,559 in 2001 to $549,913 in 2003. Two more farm leases were added to 20, and total acreage cultivated rose to 61 acres. Streamlining the permitting process is largely responsible for that progress, Scott said.
“I think it was vital,” he said. “The original set of laws had contradictions, and the permitting process was so laborious – it could take up to a year for your (application) to be accepted.” It used to be illegal to have a 1-inch clam, he said, but if you’re growing them, you have many that size or smaller. “Growers didn’t know if they were legal or not.”
Aquaculture has also become more widely accepted as a viable industry with a variety of applications, Scott said, and not just for food.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed secured $1.5 million in grants for aquaculture that were divided into few other mini-grants, Scott said.
“The finances have been good, but I think it’s been the awareness and acceptance” that has helped the industry, he said. The relationship between commercial fishermen and aquaculturists is also no longer as strained.
“It’s the open-mindedness of a new generation of commercial fishermen,” Silkes said, adding that many of them are involved in industry growth.
Aquaculture was booming in Rhode Island in the early 1900s to 1920s. Several companies had private leases on 20,000 acres of Narragansett Bay, taking them away from commercial fishermen. Economics, the 1938 hurricane and other factors resulted in the industry’s demise, but the owners held on to the leases, which lead to the “Oyster Wars,” Scott said. Finally in the 1950s the government removed the leases and the state aquaculture industry disappeared. The animosity between them, however, remained – until recently.
“Steps taken in the last few years … have improved communication, and the misconception that aquaculturists and commercial fishermen hate each other” has changed, Scott said.
“If someone wants to lease an acre, the fishermen are there to negotiate a reasonable location.” Most of the new shellfish farms are actually leased by fishermen. “They’re not converting but they’re adding aquaculture to their business plan.”
There is still much progress ahead, Silkes, Alves and Scott said. Aquaculturists need to try new species of clams and other shellfish, and would like to see the state extend the leases from 10 to 20 years. Marketing is also important.
“As we produce more species here, we have to be able to brand them,” Scott said. “Rhode Island should have a product that’s known for its quality.”
Scott added that he’d like to “short-circuit” the incremental growth and shoot ahead in development. Silkes said the state needs to structure water leases like it does land leases, and recognize the bay’s value.
“We have to put a value on the leases – that becomes access to the resource,” he said. “We have to get the financial sector to realize the value of the lease.”
The industry must also not limit itself to edible products, he said.
“We can’t limit our thinking to small two-acre plots for oyster culture in the bay.”
The future of aquaculture, he said, is bigger than that.
