WELLS, Maine — The new Wells Harbor Shellfish Lab at Wells Harbor is an educational and research center that recently opened thanks to two $40,000 grants from Velux, a window manufacturing company that specializes in roof windows, skylights, and sun tunnels.
"There are a few things the community was looking at: volunteering, education factor, and sustainability. Those are the three big impacts when we make our decisions on where money is going to go," Matt Petri, engineering manager at Velux, said.
Michael Yorke is the harbor master in Wells. For many years, he has been pushing for this lab in an effort to teach everyone, especially the younger generations, about ecosystems and biodiversity in our coastal waters, how climate change is affecting our waters and the species that live in it, and invasive species like green crabs.
Yorke said one of the main projects inside the lab is a big clam tank with 12 silos all filled with baby clams that are being raised there during the summer. He also said they have green crabs to show people.
"Green crabs are having various negative impacts on the Gulf of Maine, including contributing to the loss of eelgrass and salt marsh habitats as well as heavily preying upon young soft-shell clams," he explained.
The tank is raising 500,000 clams this summer.
"We put them under nets to protect them from the green crab," Yorke said, adding the goal is that those clams will be 2 inches and ready to be dug in two years.
"By raising these clams here, we're hopefully going to be able to maintain the population of soft-shell clams around here," Olivia Hardy, shellfish aquaculture technician at the shellfish lab, said.
Hardy loves explaining to everyone who walks in about what they will find in the lab and the touch tank, which includes sea stars and hermit crab. Both species are found right outside the lab in the harbor.
"When you have that connection with what's in your local community, you are inspired to take care of it," Hardy explained.
She said she hopes people young and old can leave the lab with a wider appreciation of the animals that call Maine's coastal waters home. By touching and learning hands-on through the many stations found at the lab, she hopes it could inspire teens to take part and maybe find a career connected to our working waterfront and coastal waters.
"They learn to remember that there are many other things that call our ocean home. So there can be a balance," Hardy said. "We can enjoy the ocean and this local marine life can enjoy the ocean as well."
"I'd like to see more kids out there clamming, I think the average age is probably in the 50s and 60s. That's why I would hope if kids got involved in high school, maybe they go back to it at some point and go reek or harvest what they seeded," Yorke said.
"Just trying to get more and more youth involved, because I feel like we see less kids out hunting, fishing, and doing all of these conservation things. So if we can spark an interest in that, that would be all I could ask for," Ken Lowell, facility manager for the town of Wells, said. Lowell was a big helping hand making the shellfish a reality.
Another aspect of the lab is Yorke allows junior lobstermen to sell their lobster at the lab on weekends, as a way for the teens to learn the retail end of things. When they have lobster to offer, it will be posted in advance on the Wells Harbor Shellfish Lab's Facebook page.
"We don't really want to lose the fact that this is a working harbor, and there's a lot for everyone to enjoy, regardless of what you are into," Lowell expressed.
The lab is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day but Monday.
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