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UMM
wins grant for research lab
Bangor Daily News
September 6, 2002
MACHIAS, Maine — Coastal Washington County will soon
be the site of a marine research laboratory and education
center designed to create economic opportunities for
area fishermen. The National Science Foundation has
awarded a three-year, $600,000 grant to the University
of Maine at Machias and the Downeast Institute for Applied
Marine Research and Education — formerly the Beals Island
Regional Shellfish Hatchery.
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| Downeast
Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education |
The
first $289,869 will be available Jan. 1, 2003, according
to Brian Beal, the UMM professor of marine biology who
wrote the successful grant application.
Beal
said the focus of the project is to create an infrastructure
that will attract marine researchers who can work with
local fishermen to find innovative ways to use Washington
County's rich diversity of marine life.
"The
resources have been here forever and we've been harvesting
them forever," Beal said. "Can we add value? Can we
use the traditional marine industry in a different way?"
The
project money will permit UMM to hire another marine
biologist and a natural resource economist. They will
divide their time between teaching and research, and
will work with local fishermen to create pilot commercial
ventures, Beal said.
The
new center will include a shellfish production facility,
a research laboratory with running sea water, a classroom
and office space, he said.
The
shellfish production center will build on the expertise
Beal has developed since 1987 when, as UMM's environmental
resources coordinator, he worked with six local communities
to create the Beals Island Regional Shellfish Hatchery.
That
facility, which has since become the Downeast Institute,
is in the town of Beals and is operated during summer
months by UMM students. The hatchery raises larval soft-shell
clams to seed flats across the state. This summer, for
the first time, the hatchery successfully raised larval
sea scallops, he said.
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| Marine
biology at UMM |
The
expanded shellfish production center at the new facility
will grow clams, sea urchins, sea scallops, lobsters
and other marine organisms for public stock enhancement
or private enterprises.
UMM
President John Joseph said the university's partnership
with the Downeast Institute will allow UMM to move forward
with a plan to create the Downeast Center for Coastal
Studies — a curriculumwide focus that will build on
UMM' s geographical location and strength in biological
and environmental sciences. It is designed to increase
enrollments and provide faculty resources to the Down
East region.
"This
can be transforming for us, and all the credit goes
to Brian for putting it together," Joseph said. "I don't
think it's possible to overstate the synergy with the
Down East Institute."
David
Rosen, UMM's vice president for academic affairs, said
UMM is becoming an undergraduate research center and
will be looking for a marine biologist who specializes
in algae and marine vegetation and an environmental
resource economist to complement staff already working
at UMM, including a marine biologist, a zoologist and
an analytical chemist.
The
new research laboratory will be a direct collaboration
between UMM and local industry and "a powerful instrument"
for economic and community change, he said.
Beal
said the Downeast Institute is working with the Trust
for Public Land to locate coastal property near the
UMM campus to create the marine lab and field station.
Beal
said the grant will allow UMM to buy equipment for the
laboratory and provide the money for the Downeast Institute
to hire an executive director — who will be in charge
of fund raising — and a hatchery production-facilities
manager.
Other
partners in the project are: the Sunrise County Economic
Council; Eastern Maine Development Corp.; the town of
Beals; Carver Shellfish Inc.; Washington County commissioners;
the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center; The Nature
Conservancy; the Maine Department of Marine Resources;
the Maine State Planning Office; and the Maine Science
and Technology Foundation.
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