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Let’s imagine our ideal future for Oregon’s mariculture sector and work together to make it happen.
Join us in Coos Bay at Southwestern Oregon Community College on November 12-13th, 2025 to envision ways of advancing Oregon’s mariculture sector. Oregon has a small yet mighty oyster farming industry and we’re seeing emerging practices like urchin ranching and onshore dulse cultivation, but our mariculture efforts are largely underdeveloped compared to our neighbors and our full potential.
There are multiple reasons for this lack of development, and many reports have detailed the situation. However, a concise summary of these reasons points to benign neglect. Oregon’s mariculture sector has simply never grown to a level that truly captures the attention of investors, consumers, legislators, or the general public.
Ecotrust and the Oregon Coastal Mariculture Collaborative are working to change that. We want to advance mariculture in Oregon and build widespread awareness and enthusiasm for this vital work. We want to explore all the forms of mariculture from traditional practices to restoration to commercial enterprise. To achieve this, we are hosting a forum to explore what’s truly possible. Instead of dwelling on the past reasons for our low development, we want to set our sights firmly on the future. We aim to envision what mariculture could look like in Oregon in the next 1, 5, 30, or even 50 years. We’ll discuss how we’ll get there, and highlight the foundational work we’re doing now to build towards that future. Our Mariculture Future Forum is a celebration of Oregon’s immense potential in this field.