16 NATCHEZ ON THE WATERFRONT


Marinas and aquaculture A


By Dan Natchez*


quaculture or Aqua Culture – that was the dilemma we faced in the office for this article. The former


would focus on the actual word and what’s happening in efforts to farm the sea, the latter on the culture of marinas and boating. In the end, while leaning more towards the literal versus the pun, it’s become a bit of a mix – along with reserving the right to focus on the boating lifestyle at a later date! The fact of the matter is that at the moment (and not the Covid-19 moment, but the more general ‘moment’), there is a whole lot going on in the world of aquaculture, and plenty happening in the world of marinas, but not a whole lot marrying the two – and that’s kind of too bad, though there are some notable exceptions.


Dual purpose Some 20-30 years ago, there was a desultory push to try incorporating mussel and/or oyster aquaculture as part of the marina, including with the marina’s floating docks


serving a dual purpose by both providing access to the boats and suspending the mussel or oyster cages below the floats. Cedar Island Marina in Clinton, Connecticut, is one of the facilities that put in some of the biggest effort on this front. However, while the theory was promising, the reality of trying to do this amidst the actual berths proved slightly problematic. The mussels would grow just fine, but the operational conflicts and the need to relocate the shellfish to certified waters for cleansing prior to harvest did not work out in most cases.


One operation, albeit slightly


different, that did work out and that really has stood the test of time is that of the Monterey Abalone Company (MAC). Founded in 1994, MAC is located at the seaward end of the massive Municipal Wharf No. 2 in Monterey, California, just beyond the Monterey Municipal Marina. The company has a good size building atop the pier, but the real


The company has a good size building atop the


pier, but the real activity happens below it, where a network of catwalks below the pier deck, but above the water, allows workers to haul up and access the many cages suspended in the waters below.


activity happens below it, where a network of catwalks below the pier deck, but above the water, allows workers to haul up and access the many cages suspended in the waters below. The abalone thrive in the shade of the pier along with the diet of kelp they are provided, which is gathered from that which is free-


floating in the waters of the bay. Since the farm is located beyond the marina breakwaters, combined with the tides, currents and overall cleanliness of the Northern California water, there is no need to relocate the abalone prior to harvest. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that there are relatively few sources of abalone these days and they are retailing theirs from $7 up to $28 a piece, the small size yielding about two ounces and the large yielding about six ounces of actual meat. This makes lobster look cheap! Next, we head North to the


Campbell River on Vancouver Island where two berths at the Hidden Harbor Condominium’s marina are used for a few weeks each year to raise about 160,000 salmon fry, growing them in the temporary nursery to give them a better chance at surviving in the wild. The annual effort was originally begun through a government fisheries program and has proven so popular that even when the government funding ended, the residents found


Hoopers Island Oyster Company has been successful since its foundation in 2010. MARINA INDUSTRY • AUGUST 2020


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