[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5643]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOGNIZING OCEAN FARM TECHNOLOGIES

 Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, for the past month, the U.S. Senate 
has been considering legislation to reauthorize the critical Small 
Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, program. SBIR fosters an 
environment of innovative entrepreneurship by directing more than $2 
billion annually in Federal research and development funding to the 
nation's small firms most likely to create jobs and commercialize their 
products. I wish to recognize the achievements of Ocean Farm 
Technologies, a small business in Searsmont, ME, which has utilized the 
SBIR program to revolutionize the aquaculture sector through innovative 
new products.
  Today, aquaculture supplies over 45 percent of the world's fish 
supply, and Ocean Farm Technologies is at the cutting edge of improving 
the sector's productive future. The company's founder Steve Page has 
over 30 years of experience as an organic farmer and entrepreneur. 
Prior to founding the company in 2005, Mr. Page acted as the 
environmental compliance officer for Atlantic Salmon of Maine, an 
aquaculture company that farmed salmon in Machiasport.
  One of Ocean Farm Technologies' most creative innovations is the self 
propelled and eco-friendly ``AquaPod'' containment system that allows 
for an unprecedented diversity of marine species to be safely and 
sustainably cultivated at sea. Marine aquaculture has been restricted 
to calm coastal waters where stationary fish farms can be sheltered 
from ocean currents and storms. This has limited the variety of 
cultivatable species and has raised environmental concerns regarding 
effluent pollution.
  Determined to overcome these constraints, Mr. Page obtained a 
$250,000 grant from the Maine Technology Institute to design a system 
capable of surviving rough open ocean conditions. The resultant 
``AquaPod'' is an award winning and patented spherical fish pen made of 
reinforced polyethylene, steel, and mesh netting. It is submersible, 
self-propelled, environmentally friendly, and safe from marine 
predators.
  In 2008, the ``AquaPod'' was successfully tested by researchers from 
the Massachusetts Institute for Technology off the coast of Culebra, 
Puerto Rico. It is the first self-propelled open ocean aquaculture pen 
in the world. Additionally, it is the winner of the Maine Technology 
Institute's Development Award, and has been deployed in places as 
divergent as South Korea and Mexico.
  Furthermore, Ocean Farm Technologies was the recipient of a Tibbetts 
Awards from the U.S. Small Business Administration earlier this year. 
The award is presented to small businesses and individuals judged to 
exemplify the best in the SBIR program, and promote its mission and 
goals. It is named for Roland Tibbetts, acknowledged as the father of 
the SBIR program. This award is a distinguished honor, and I am proud 
of Ocean Farm Technologies for earning this high recognition.
  Ocean Farm Technologies embodies the bright future of aquaculture, 
which is critical to my home State of Maine, and indeed the true spirit 
of American entrepreneurship. I wish Steve Page and everyone at Ocean 
Farm Technologies the very best, and thank them for their ingenuity and 
considerable accomplishments.

                          ____________________