History of DEI
The collaborative effort that grew to become the Downeast
Institute began in 1987 on the clam flats of six Washington County
communities. Clammers and town officials, concerned about declines in
soft-shell clam harvests, teamed up with Dr. Brian Beal, a professor of
marine ecology at the University of Maine in Machias. They created the Beals Island Regional
Shellfish Hatchery (BIRSH) - a facility where wild clams were spawned, clam larvae and juveniles reared on diets of cultured algae, and seed clams produced for planting on the depleted
municipal flats.
BIRSH, as the program came to be called, opened the doors to its 1,600 square-foot-facility on a wharf overlooking Moosabec Reach in May 1987. It was Maine's first public shellfish hatchery.
Over the next 16 years, the former clam shucking shed produced hundreds of
millions of seed clams for more than 40 Maine coastal towns and a handful of
communities in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Shellfish production efforts
and the accompanying applied research were conducted under Dr. Beal's
direction by a mix of UMM work study students and staff paid with public and
private grants. BIRSH developed techniques for growing, overwintering, and
seeding clam flats, passing along those technologies to municipal shellfish
committees, clammers, and the scientific community through published articles in a number of research journals.
In 1996, BIRSH organized as a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. Its Board of Directors includes residents of Maine's
coastal communities as well as specialists in marine resources, education
and economic development.
In 2000, the Board changed its name from BIRSH to the Downeast Institute for
Applied Marine Research and Education (DEI) to more accurately reflect its
mission.
During the summer of 2003, DEI moved from its home at Perio Point (Beals Island) to Black Duck Cove (Great Wass Island) with the goal of renovating a 9,600 square-foot building used primarily for temporary storage of lobsters into a shellfish production facility. In addition, the DEI board had its sights on creating the easternmost marine research laboratory and education center in the US.
Lobster holding facility at Black Duck Cove
(Great Wass Island, Beals, Maine) in June 2003
Original wharf at Black Duck Cove
(a lobster-buying station) in June 2003
In March of 2006, with help from the Trust for Public Land, support of Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and
Susan Collins, and the Maine Technology Institute, DEI used federal and state
grant funds to purchase eight and a half acres and associated buildings at Black Duck Cove.
The site has more than 2,000 feet of deep water frontage and two working
lobster pounds. The Institute has converted the property's former lobster
tank building to a production/research shellfish hatchery and running
seawater laboratory.
In 2003, the lobster holding facility was converted to
a working shellfish production facility
Mass algal culture system at DEI
Recently, DEI has been able to complete one of its goals toward becoming the easternmost marine research laboratory and education center in the US. With grant funding through the Maine Technology Institute's Maine Technology Asset Fund and the National Science Foundation grant through the Partnerships for Innovation program, a state-of-the-art marine education center was constructed at DEI. This 1,000-square foot structure is well-equipped for classroom teaching, laboratory research projects, and other non-traditional classroom uses. It has running seawater, freshwater, white boards, and drop-down electrical boxes for microscopes, PC projectors, and other appliance needs. With an extensive floor drainage system, there is no limit to what organisms can be brought into the classroom, or what projects can be done. The classroom has enough seating for 30 people. The marine classroom/education center was designed by Sealander Architects (Ellsworth, Maine), and built by Pizzagalli Construction Company (Portland, Maine). It was opened in December 2010.
DEI's Marine Education Center under construction (July 21, 2010)
DEI's Marine Education Center under construction (August 20, 2011)
DEI's Marine Education Center (April 2011)