Starting the business

Becoming a fish farmer is not without financial risk. Program director Belle says students need to come up with a workable marketing and business plan before they can graduate. They'll be expected to raise about half the money toward any farming venture they want to create.

According to Belle, the Cod Academy is based on successful government-sponsored programs, started in Norway and Japan more than 30 years ago, to retrain displaced herring and tuna fishermen.

The U.S. program is beginning on a much smaller scale.

“It's never been done before in America and we're trying to see if it's a model that has some potential," says Belle, who hopes the program will help Mainers realize the huge potential in farming cod. “It's a native fish to Maine. The growing conditions in Maine are very good for cod and it's kind of a natural choice for us as a state.”

According to Belle, the strong tides help keep the fish active and healthy.

He acknowledges that aquaculture has its share of critics who are concerned that bunching fish together in a farm setting could spread disease and breed unhealthy stock.

“We're a relatively young business and, certainly when you start a new activity, you're going to make mistakes and fish farmers have made mistakes. And they've at times exceeded the carrying capacity of the environment.”

Belle says Maine's fish farmers have learned from those mistakes, and that they're also subject to regular strict environmental monitoring by state inspectors.