The completion of a substantial expansion to a Mi’kmaq-run fish hatchery in Aroostook County has been delayed until at least June of 2026 because of the U.S. government shutdown this fall.
The 9,000-square-foot hatchery, which is primarily funded through a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant, was slated to be completed this month, Mi’kmaq Farms Manager Mike Smith said.
But the shutdown delayed the release of federal funding, and as the Caribou-based farm waits for that money, construction has stalled.
“You’ve just got to play the game with the government,” Smith said. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”
When finished, the facility will quadruple the tribe’s footprint to raise brook trout from its current 3,000-square-foot hatchery. The expansion will feature four roughly 20,000-gallon tanks, a significant step up from the two 16,000-gallon tanks in the existing space.
It will also allow the Mi’kmaqs to explore selling their trout in national and — potentially — international food markets.
Smith hopes the hatchery expansion will allow the Mi’kmaqs to grow their sales of harvested trout to markets such as Boston, and explore the possibility of tapping into foreign markets. The farm is also working on producing value-added trout products, including smoked fish and smoked fish dip.
Mi’kmaq Farms began in the early 2000s as a community garden adjacent to the tribe’s government office in Presque Isle, an effort aimed at promoting food sovereignty in the Mi’kmaq community.
It expanded to a much larger property along Route 1 to farm larger volumes of produce, and in 2015 added the hatchery to its offerings.
The hatchery reached full capacity in 2018, annually producing up to 12,000 pounds of brook trout. Its harvested output goes back to the Mi’kmaqs and other Wabanaki Confederacy tribes in Maine or is sold to local restaurants, grocery stores and fish markets in the state, such as the Harbor Fish Market in Portland.
A significant portion of the fish raised at Mi’kmaq Farms is also sold to soil and water conservation districts and others throughout Maine to stock lakes and ponds used for recreational fishing.
The tribe’s plan to construct the new hatchery was announced in late 2022, with the intent for construction to be completed in 2023. The project was delayed after increased costs drove the price tag from $3.9 million to $5.5 million and the Mi’kmaqs needed to raise additional funds, Shannon Hill, the tribe’s environmental health director, said in 2024.
Now, because of the most recent delay, the total cost is expected to increase further.
“We’re going to end up with overruns on that,” Smith said. “Delays actually cost money.”
When the hatchery is completed, it will not only allow the Mi’kmaqs to produce more trout, but to do so more efficiently.
“It might sound weird, but I can actually raise more pounds of fish with less fish,” Smith said. “I can raise them bigger and raise them quicker.”
It takes 18 to 24 months to fully raise a trout in the existing hatchery, Smith said. The new building, and the expansive tank space it brings, will shorten that timeframe to 15 to 18 months.
There’s no doubt in Smith’s mind that the expansion will grow the tribe’s revenue from the venture, but it’s too early to say by how much.
“I can’t sell a product until I have a product,” Smith said.
And because of the shutdown, even beginning to raise the trout to produce those products is still at least seven months away.