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About Smithereen Farm

We have our lease in Schooner Cove, just next to Reversing Falls in Cobscook Bay. Washington County. Maine.
We are the northeasternmost oyster and seaweed farm in the USA, we have 22 foot tides! We also raise organic veggies, wild blueberries, strawberries, fruit orchard-- we make everything we can into value added products that you can buy on our website www.smithereenfarm.com

We grow out native oysters (Crassostrea virginican) and a native kelp (Alaria esculenta) on lines that float between buoys. We believe that small scale, conservation minded, locally owned aquaculture can be a positive player-- and have a SARE grant to explore "alternatives to plastic in aquaculture." Across the world traditional peoples pursue small scale aquaculture using bio-degradable and natural materials. We don't want robotics and large-scale arrays in the ocean, the whales already have enough to deal with

Please learn about our action research project: www.seaweedcommons.org.
We love algae!! and the ecosystem in the littoral zone.

Our water in Maine is relatively clean, a good place to eat algae from. But in places where waterways are compromised, like near cities, in harbors, downstream from intensive agriculture-- growing algae can have a different role-- sucking up phosphorus, nitrogen and frankly heavy metals. By growing seaweed on jute, agave, hemp and other natural fibers-- that algae can be brought back onto the land and used in compost, for street trees, for roadside plantings, and vegetative strategies that help absorb runoff and rainwater where it falls, infiltrating it so it doesn't become runoff. This helps recharge the groundwater, and of course more native vegetation is good for urban shading, habitat for many species, slowing wind and dust. If we heal the land upstream, we heal the water downstream.

Projects like the Billion Oyster project are very important because they show that restoration aquaculture has a major role to play-- but we worry that plans for large-scale " Carbon Projects" being proposed in BC, in Australia, even on the coast of Maine are putting untested large-infrastructures into globally significant marine habitats, Our ocean is stressed, putting more stressors into pristine places feels less helpful.


Location Options
  • Dock Pick-up
Purchasing Options
  • One-time Purchase
Delivery Options
  • In-Person Pick-Up

Visit Our Website

Seafood Offered

Oysters, Seaweed, Wild harvested seaweeds: Farmed seaweed and farmed oysters

1

Locations

2

Number of Fishermen Sourced From

5

Years in Business

The value statements outlined below aim to create a higher level of accountability and trust, both internally within the network and externally to the public, in order to advance the movement of Community Supported Fisheries (CSF) and like-minded community-based seafood operations.

  • Community-Based Fisheries
  • Fair Access
  • Fair Price
  • Eating with the Ecosystem
  • Traceable and Simple Supply Chains
  • Catch and Handle with Honor
  • Community and Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management
  • Honoring the Ocean
  • Creativity and Collaboration

Read More

www.seaweedcommons.org

Framework for Governing the Commons

Define clear group boundaries.
Match rules governing the use of common goods to local needs and conditions.
Ensure that those affected by the rules can participate in modifying the rules.
Make sure the rule-making rights of community members are respected by outside authorities.
Develop a system, carried out by community members, for monitoring members’ behavior.
Use graduated sanctions for rule violators.
Provide accessible, low-cost means for dispute resolution.
Build responsibility for governing the common resource in nested tiers
from the lowest level up to the entire interconnected system.