With a limited - but productive - SBIR Involvement, Maine Fresh Sea Farms personnel have developed a business model for ecologically and sustainably growing sea vegetables that can both support the natural environment and protect Maineâs working waterfronts and marine-based economy. Operating year round in a 40-acre tidal inlet roughly halfway between Portland and Rockland, . With vigorous tide currents, the site has long been in use for fishing and aquaculture. Bringing to the table, the skills of a marine biologist, a seafood salesman, and a sustainability expert the effort was to prove that Maine could provide a sustainable source of aquacultured sea vegetables. SBIR funded soon after founding the firm, the idea was provide a test lab for sustainably grown sea vegetables that could be duplicated at other locations along the coast - providing a new local food source and an alternative to the wild seaweed harvest
