Workforce shortage in Maine’s aquaculture industry has been an obstacle to growth for many businesses and could stunt the industry’s tremendous growth potential. To address this, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI), The Maine Aquaculture Association (MAA), and Educate Maine partnered on The Maine Aquaculture Workforce Development Strategy- a forward thinking strategic roadmap for Maine to achieve a cohesive and comprehensive workforce training pipeline that meets the needs of today’s industry and anticipates future workforce needs as the industry evolves. To ensure objectivity and learn from countries with developed aquaculture industries that have already gone through ‘aquaculture workforce growing pains,’ we hired a team of Scottish consultants who brought global aquaculture expertise in business development, workforce development analytics, and workforce training at both higher education and vocational levels. Direct input from Maine’s commercial aquaculture businesses – including established and prospective land-based operations, marine producers, service providers, and supply chain companies - formed the base of the analysis. Over the course of the work, we met with 15 businesses and 62 businesses were formally interviewed or surveyed. In addition, we met with representatives of 17 of Maine’s education or training institutions and surveyed another 33. GMRI convened a steering committee of 30 representatives from various Maine education and training institutions who met four times to provide feedback throughout the project.
Considerable progress has been made towards implementing the Strategy since it was published in 2020. The first-generation Maine Aquaculture Occupational Standards, which specify the current workforce skills and training needs of Maine’s aquaculture sector, were developed collaboratively by MAA, GMRI, and Educate Maine; and were published October 2021. Four standards have been released, focusing on occupations related to (1) Marine Shellfish and Sea Vegetables; (2) Marine Finfish; (3) Land-Based RAS; and (4) Land-Based Shellfish Hatcheries. A supplementary document, the Maine Shellfish Aquaculture Career Pathways Map was also designed to provide an overview of the most common job types, entry points, and career pathway opportunities in Maine’s shellfish aquaculture sector today. Currently GMRI, MAA, Educate Maine, and Southern Maine Community College are working together to develop and pilot a Maine Department of Labor Aquaculture Apprenticeship Program where participants will gain valuable experience, receive mentoring, and get trained and tested on defined occupational competencies. We continue to coordinate program development and delivery between the Community College system, Career Technical Education schools, Department of Labor, and University of Maine to establish matriculation pathways and dual-credit programs that enable fast-tracked degree completion.