Another team member Nixon inherited from the facility’s previous owner is Merrymeeting’s hatchery manager, Jake Torok. Six employees from Nixon’s other business, Bath-based Muddy River Farm Aquaponics LLC, also help run the Harpswell operation.

“The team is fantastic,” Nixon said. “When we get to full capacity, we’ll be one of the largest hatcheries on the East Coast.”

One of the team’s first tasks was to replenish the Harpswell facility’s supply of microalgae, the sole food source for oyster larvae. The microalgae are cultured in tall glass tanks that are transparent to allow light penetration, which is necessary for photosynthesis.

The hatchery’s location on the coast is essential for providing the tiny oyster larvae with a constant supply of fresh seawater to keep them growing. Nixon and Torok said it takes about 45 to 60 days from when the larvae spawn until they’re large enough be sold to oyster farms along the East Coast.

The larvae start out tiny and move around freely in the water like plankton. They remain in that stage for about two to three weeks, during which they are fed algae in controlled conditions to encourage growth and survival. It’s a critical stage in which the larvae need adequate nutrition and optimal water conditions to thrive.

Once they are sufficiently developed, the larvae are encouraged to settle by providing suitable substrate, such as shell fragments, to which they can attach. The transition from larva to juvenile oysters, or “spat,” usually occurs three to four weeks after fertilization.

After settling, the spat continue to grow in nursery systems where conditions such as water flow, temperature and food supply are carefully managed to optimize growth. That phase can last a few weeks until the oysters are robust enough for transfer to farms, where they will grow until they reach market size.

“We’re one of only three oyster hatcheries in Maine,” Nixon said. “When you eat an oyster, there’s a one-in-three chance it came from us.”

To produce the larvae, Merrymeeting cross-breeds local oysters with a special line of disease-resistant oysters developed at Rutgers University in New Jersey. The hybrid offspring are hardier and less susceptible to common diseases that have devastated oyster populations in the past.

“Every (hatchery) buys the Rutgers line because they resist diseases and pathogens,” Nixon said.

In January, the Harpswell Select Board approved a five-year lease agreement with Merrymeeting for the 1.1-acre, town-owned parcel on which the hatchery stands. The company pays just under $1,100 a month in rent, with a planned 3% annual increase and an option to renew the lease up to three times, with future rates to be negotiated later.

Before the hatchery changed hands in January, it had been an open secret that Running Tide, a venture capital-backed firm focusing on ocean carbon removal, had been planning to leave Harpswell. The company, which leased the Mitchell Field site in December 2018, announced in October 2022 that its previously announced plans to expand in Harpswell had been put on hold.

Running Tide had an option to lease a nearly 4-acre plot of town land for the construction of a new building but said it wanted a year “to evaluate a number of business issues” before deciding whether to exercise the option. Ultimately, it never did.

In January, Adam Baske, Running Tide’s vice president of coastal markets and restoration, said Nixon’s venture was a worthy successor for the Harpswell hatchery, which Running Tide converted from a dilapidated building.

Nixon is a doctoral candidate at the University of Maine and is credited with designing the world’s first 3D-printed, closed-loop oyster-farming tank made from sustainable materials.

The Topsham entrepreneur has expressed a desire to continue to help the region’s aquaculture industry grow. He said the Mitchell Field hatchery would further his goal of “taking down one of the roadblocks to expansion.”

Nixon also has plans to expand and improve the Harpswell facility itself. He intends to replace its temporary structures with permanent ones, including a facility with bathrooms, offices and a break room.

He also hopes to build an onshore pump house for the seawater intake pumps — what Nixon calls the lifeblood of the operation — which are currently in the water and therefore more difficult to service.

Nixon said he plans to add a septic system and leach field with “actual flushing toilets,” because the team currently has to make do with a portable toilet behind the hatchery. He also wants to add a solar array to help supply more reliable power, because the site loses power a lot.

The hatchery will focus primarily on oyster seed production for the next three years, after which Nixon has said he may diversify to mussel seed as well. He expects the hatchery to be up to full capacity by the fall, which will help meet the region’s seemingly limitless consumer demand for shellfish.

“It’s an industry that never stops growing,” Nixon said. “We have a severe seafood deficit in this country.”

Have a comment or news tip? Email J. Craig Anderson at craig@harpswellanchor.org.