Award Data

By 2020, fully one quarter of Americans will be over 60. Some 77 million Baby Boomers ages 42 to 60 are just beginning to face this critical juncture in their lives. In Maine, the oldest state in the nation, some people, due to lack of planning, may leave their homes and enter assisted living facilities or nursing homes at a huge economic and social cost to themselves, their heirs and public resou ...

The high cost of producing microalgae as food for bivalves constrains the size to which large quantities of bivalve seed can be grown in controlled hatchery conditions prior to transfer into a nursery. Larger hatchery seed translates to larger juveniles planted in the fall, and dramatically improves yields at harvest. Based on preliminary bench-top studies conducted by Mook Sea Farm, the SBIR Phas ...

Biofouling is a costly and serious problem for all types of aquaculture and with certain types of shellfish, culture is highly vulnerable. Fouling organisms not only clog gear, stopping water flow and food delivery, they can also settle and grow on the cultured organisms themselves, causing reduced growth rates, decreased product quality and mortality. In response to increasing problems with biofo ...

The exposure of perishable commodities to even modest levels of ethylene is known to significantly affect the quality and appearance of the product resulting in a reduction of shelf life and market value. A Phase I project is proposed which will demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative, low cost ethylene monitor to be used to facilitate control of ethylene levels at or below biologically criti ...

Stabilized plant propagation media are used throughout the agricultural industry for mechanized planting, to ease transplant and shipping of young plants and to increase efficiencies in greenhouses and nurseries. Rynels Grow-Tech division manufactures a growing medium used by foresters and commercial growers to start seeds or cuttings, but it is only partially organic due to a polyurethane compone ...

On a worldwide basis, Maine is famous for its lobster and enjoys an inherent brand equity that is unparalleled. Yet, no company has taken advantage of leveraging this perceived quality from a mass marketing perspective. In its Phase II effort, Saltwater Marketing proposes to continue developing a business model that will do exactly that. Phase I research indicated that seafood consumers want to ea ...

Since wild fish stocks began their drastic decline in the early 1990s, the aquaculture sector is the fastest growing food sector in the world. Production from U.S. marine aquaculture accounts for only 1.5 percent of the domestic seafood supply, leaving an enormous growth potential for the production of safe, high-quality seafood that is farmed under federal and state environmental standards. Howev ...