Maryland Shellfish Aquaculture Industry Update

1

Karl Roscher, Director

Aquaculture Division

DNR-Fisheries Service

• MARBIDCO

– Shellfish Aquaculture and Remote Setting Financing Programs

– Low interest loans to businesses

• Funding comes from a combination of federal and state sources (NOAA, State Capital Funds, MDOT)

• $3,582,044 in funding has been approved for 61

projects located in 10 Maryland counties

• 50 loans approved for TFL holders

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Goal: make affordable loan financing

available to new and existing businesses

to help offset capital investment required

Partnerships-Financial Assistance

Partnerships-Training

• DNR-NOAA-UM Extension-HPL

– Oyster Aquaculture Training and Education Program

– Regional Workshops for aquaculture training

leasing process, finance programs, information on remote setting

– 2 annual conferences held

attended by over 120

– Publications developed

Production systems, remote setting,

cost and returns for bottom culture

– HACCP training for growers

Certification as a shellfish shipper

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Goal: Provide hands on training in aquaculture production and lease management for

commercial fisherman and other entrepreneurs

Partnerships-Training

• DNR-NOAA-ORP-HPL-UME

– Remote Setting Training Program

– Oyster larvae used in

remote setting systems is provided

– State supplies setting tanks, tech support

– Growers required to have shell and supply labor

– Participants have produced and planted over 750 million spat on shell on their leases through this program.

– This program has jump started production and will generate thousands of bushels of harvestable oysters for leaseholders.

– ORP has secured private funding through 2016

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Goal: Provide hands on training in remote setting for leaseholders that will produce low

cost spat on shell for planting on private leases.

• Shellfish Lease Application Activity Since September 2010Lease Site Totals through 1/14/2016 Acres

346 Submitted since 9/7/10 (SLL+WC) 7699.75

103 Executed since 9/7/10 (SLL only) 3686.03

66 Executed since 9/7/10 (WC only) 302.02

169 All executed by State since 9/7/10 3988.05

2 Pending Execution (SLL+WC)

67 Applications Terminated/Withdrawn 1629.91

106 In process total (SLL+WC) 2081.77

11 In-process applications that are incomplete 10.10

268 All applications submitted since 8/1/11 5100.15

120 Water Column submitted since 8/1/11 944.29

60 Water Column executed since 8/1/11 264.04

86 Sanctuary submitted since 8/1/11 669.21

43 Sanctuary executed since 8/1/11 682.21

215 TFL holders named on apps submitted since 9/7/10

110 TFL holders named on leases executed since 9/7/10

65 TFL holders named on apps still in process

147 Permitted by ACOE since 9/7/10

Commercial Shellfish Aquaculture

Lease Applications Received

51

67 69

27

64 62

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Commercial Shellfish Aquaculture

Count By County

Acreage By County

Lease Type AA CA CH DO KE QA SM SO TA WI WO Total

B 328.45 83.9 25 2149.3 44.8 42.7 653.13 465 576.79 867.3 142.7 5379.07

WC 4.1 15.06 0 84.01 3.9 10 95.98 24.7 5.5 0 38.08 281.33

Total 332.55 98.96 25 2233.31 48.7 52.7 749.11 489.7 582.29 867.3 180.78 5660.4

Lease Type AA CA CH DO KE QA SM SO TA WI WO Total

B 24 11 1 68 1 5 65 25 54 42 10 306

WC 2 2 0 18 1 2 23 6 1 0 9 64

Total 26 13 1 86 2 7 88 31 55 42 19 370

Shellfish Aquaculture Lease Stats

• Currently 370 total leases owned by 158 distinct individuals/companies on 5660 acres.

• Average size of a submerged land lease is 17.5 acres. Water column leases average 4.4 acres.

• Largest leases: SLL=311 acres WC=27 acres

• 83% of active leases are submerged land leases.

• About 41% of leases issued since 2011 are for water column leases.

• In 2015, DNR permitted 585 distinct individuals to work on these leases.

• About 50% of leaseholders have TFLs (76 out of 158).

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

2012 2013 2014 2015

Year

Ind

ivid

uals

Farm-Raised Oyster Production

Year Species Units Bushels

2012 Oysters Bushel 1,443

2012 Oysters Individuals 567,403

2013 Oysters Bushel 16,104

2013 Oysters Individuals 1,827,991

2014 Oysters Bushel 21,362

2014 Oysters Individuals 3,838,037

2015 Oysters Bushel 32,282

2015 Oysters Individuals 4,833,855

Annual Total Harvest as Reported

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

2012 2013 2014 2015

Year

Bu

sh

els

Farm-Raised Oyster Production

Year Species Bushels

2012 Oysters 3334.6

2013 Oysters 22196.4

2014 Oysters 34154.9

2015 Oysters 48394.03

Annual Total Harvest Converted to

Bushels

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

2012 2013 2014 2015

Year

Bu

sh

els

• 2014 Average Sale Prices (reported from 2014 Industry Survey)

Commercial Shellfish Aquaculture

Market Type Units

Wholesale Bushels $56

Individuals $0.41

Average

Price

2015 Harvest

• 151 leases reported harvest in 2015 (131 submerged land leases and 20 water column leases), which is 41% of all active leases.

• A total of 217 leases declared intent to harvest during the summer.

• 369 individuals were associated with harvest

• 23,357 bushels were harvested in 2015 by a leaseholder with a TFL

Year Species 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

2012 Oysters 413 523 578 533 398 411 484

2013 Oysters 369 407 504 5,526 4,080 1,762 2,401 2,163 2,370 915 852 1,079

2014 Oysters 765 1,320 1,277 5,897 4,408 3,591 3,601 3,693 3,820 1,953 1,781 2,066

2015 Oysters 1,305 1,143 1,925 6,177 7,705 5,740 5,848 5,854 5,701 2,469 2,100 2,427

Submerged Land & Water Column Lease Production

Submerged Land Leases

• 306 submerged land leases

• 5379 acres total

• Make up 95% of total lease acreage and account for 2/3 of the total harvest from leases in 2015.

• 32,282 of 48,394 (66%)

Water Column Leases

• 64 water column leases in Maryland

• 281 acres total

• Account for only 5% of the total lease acreage but produced nearly 1/3 of the total harvest in 2015.

• 16,113 of 48,394 bushels (33%)

• Reported as individuals (4,833,855) but converted to bushels using a conversion of 300 oysters per bushel

Submerged Land Leases

14

Mr. Leonard and

family have multiple

submerged land

leases in Talbot

County, MD.

He is also a farmer

and owns and

operates a retail

seafood business in

Hyattsville, MD.

Has a large stockpile

of shell for remote

setting and bottom

stabilization.

Eric Wisner owns and manages

over 450 acres of submerged

land leases in the Nanticoke

and Wicomico Rivers.

He utilizes remote setting to

produce spat on shell that is

planted on his leases.

Some of his leases are in

areas that receive a good

natural spat set which

supplements what is planted.

Water Column Leases

16

True Chesapeake raises

oysters on multiple

water column leases in

Southern Maryland.

Owners: Pat & Patrick

Hudson, Ray Jackson

and Fred Cheek.

They market their

premium product as

“Skinny Dipper” oysters

Hooper’s Island Oyster Aquaculture

Company

Dorchester County

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Home of Chesapeake

Gold Brand Oysters

and equipment.

Owners: Johnny

Shockley and Ricky

Fitzhugh

HIOAC grows oysters

on a water column

lease, raises and sells

seed and manufactures

equipment for nursery

and grow-out

production.

Regulatory Change in 2016

• Currently everyone conducting aquaculture activities on a lease must be permitted.

• Regulatory change to 08.02.23.04

• Modify Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permit (SAHP) requirements.

• Provide flexibility to leaseholders to use workers that do not have to obtain a SAHP registration card.

• No need for the worker to obtain or possess a card when working under the direct supervision of the SAHP permit holder while on a lease.

2015 SHELLFISH AQUACULTURE

HARVESTER REGISTRATION CARD

PERMITTEE

NAME: John A. Smith, Jr.

ADDRESS: 12345 Chesapeake Way

My Town, MD 01234

PERMIT #: 0001-P1

EXPIRES

12/31/15Valid only for

harvest on lease:

___XX001______ THIS CARD IS NOT TRANSFERABLE

Shellfish Aquaculture Siting Tool

• Interactive Online map viewer – launched in 2012

– Assist in planning and applying for leases

– Help make informed decisions on lease locations, reduce conflicts

– Free to use, requires registration

• Includes mapping layers on:

Active Leases Oyster Sanctuaries Yates Bars

SAV Pound Nets PSFAs

WQ Classifications Restoration Sites MARI Reefs

Federal Channels NOAA Nautical Charts

• Provides user with the ability to draw polygons and establish lat/long coordinates for proposed sites

• http://dnrweb.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/aquatool/aquatool.asp

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Goal: Provide existing and prospective leaseholders with a mechanism to identify and

locate potential shellfish aquaculture sites prior to filing an application.

Aquaculture Division Staff

• Administration

– Katie Busch

• Leasing and Permitting

– Becky Thur

– Maude Morris

– Alyssa Cranska

• Field Operations

– Manager (vacant)

– Steve Schneider

Lease Processing

Field work/MGO

DepartmentalBusininess

Law and RegulationCoordination

Coordination with NRP

Compliance withNSSP/FDA

Non ShellfishAquaculture

Other Permits (Import,Nursery, Harvest)

Reporting (Harvest,Annual)

Questions?