Research & Development Division

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

NOTICE: In 2008 the non-profit Coonamesset Farm Foundation was created.  As a result, the Coonamessett Farm, Inc. Research and Development Division was deactivated. Please visit the foundation at http://www.coonamessettfarmfoundation.org for information on the foundation's current and future research projects.

Introduction to the Firm

           The Research Division conducts multi-disciplinary field projects on land and at sea in a variety of areas. Our plant production work, for example, has included demonstrating new growing technologies and plant propagation, different forms of using plant cultivars, pond management, and new approaches to integrated pest management and weed control. Research in aquaculture has ranged from small-scale, on-farm, fresh water culture systems, to large-scale marine approaches to mariculture, and resource enhancement.

             Our fisheries work has entailed exploratory fishing and conservation engineering/technology development. Services are provided to the MIT Center for Fisheries Engineering Research in conservation engineering. Coonamessett Farm personnel conduct model tests on fishing and aquaculture systems at the Navy's David Taylor Research Center in Maryland for clients around the country. Field work also includes the video taping of fishing gear using a towed underwater gear observation system (TUGOS).

Facilities and Resources

          Coonamessett Farm is a combination of a working farm and a research center, set up to function smoothly and efficiently into the 21st century. The farm, with its five greenhouses, field equipment, and water systems, provides the cornerstone to the operation. Our computer system network ties together the globally-based researchers that comprise our organization.

Coonamessett Farm has access to fishing vessels and facilities worldwide. We work closely with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Sea Grant, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Biological Laboratory and the Laboratory for Marine Animal Health at the University of Pennsylvania. We have an extensive network of supporting operations, including industrial contractors, environmental consultancies, economists, and equipment suppliers.

The following are listings of ongoing and completed projects, which have usually required, in addition to the technical expertise, federal and state permits, financing and coordination of many different groups.

Fisheries Projects

Currently Active Projects

Total Project Funding

Completed Projects

Total Project Funding

Sea Scallop Research TAC Set Aside

Sea Scallop Research TAC Set Aside

Sea Scallop Research TAC Set Aside

Sea Scallop Research TAC Set Aside

BIVAR S. A., Montevideo, Uruguay

Sparton of Canada Ltd., Ontario, Canada

Michigan Fishing Corporation, Fairhaven, Massachusetts

$395,500 ($225,000 federal grant; $173,000 match)

K & T Fishing Corporation, Fairhaven, Massachusetts

$168,220 ($134,820 federal grant; $33,400 match)

SER Enterprises, Fairhaven, Massachusetts

$141,381($101,048 federal grant, $40,333 match)

Westport Scallop Corporation, New Bedford, Massachusetts

$313,936 ($157,000 federal grant; $156,936 match)

Greenpeace International EC Unit, Belgium

International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, Madras, India

Massachusetts Environmental Trust

$70,000 ($23,000 grant: $47,000 match)

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

National Marine Fisheries Service

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

Agricultural Projects

Currently Active Projects

Total Project Funding

Completed Projects

Total Project Funding

Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture, Boston

$21,780 ($10,890 state grant; $10,890 match)

Barnstable County Cooperative Extension, Massachusetts

$31,490 ($15,080 state grant; $16,410 match)

Barnstable County Cooperative Extension, Massachusetts

$32,800 ($16,800 state grant; $16,000 match)

Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture, Boston

$40,600 ($18,600 state grant; $22,000 match)