MassDevelopment.com: Press Room: MassDevelopment Issues First Loans to Area Aquaculturists Under Red Tide Program

MassDevelopment Issues First Loans to Area Aquaculturists Under Red Tide Program
December 2, 2005

Contacts:
Adam Bickelman, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086
Jeannine Marshall, Coastal Community Capital, 617-790-2921

MassDevelopment today announced the closing of two loans, one to David A. Slack, owner of the Slack Sea Farm in Orleans, and one to Wentzle Ruml, IV, owner of Wellfleet Sea Farms Inc. in Wellfleet. These loans, which total $40,000, are the first to close under MassDevelopment's Aquaculture Loan Program which was created earlier this summer. Part of the agency's long-standing Seafood Revolving Loan Fund, the new program is administered by Coastal Community Capital and was instituted in response to the Red Tide natural disaster. Red Tide results from an overabundance of toxic algae in coastal waters, and last summer, it shut down shell fishing beds from mid-Maine to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard during the height of the shell fishing season.

Aquaculture companies grow shellfish rather than harvest them from the natural environment, and were ineligible for federal assistance under the Small Business Administration's disaster relief guidelines.

"Aquaculturists are considered farmers, and therefore under the federal statute, they cannot benefit from the loans available to many fishermen who lost income when the Red Tide closed shellfish beds in New England," said Richard Neitz, CCC president. "The Aquaculture Loan Program provides capital loans up to $25,000 to businesses that desperately need support."

Based in Centerville, Coastal Community Capital is a decade-old, community development financial institution promoting economic development through small business growth. CCC provides loan capital and technical assistance to foster job creation and businesses development. Its core activities include management of the region's small business loan fund through Coastal Community Capital and entrepreneurial support through the EntreCenter. The EntreCenter is the central point of contact linking entrepreneurs interested in growing their businesses with free resources.

"Our finance team saw a need and knew it required a timely response," said MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver. "We'd worked with CCC before, and knew the organization had the ability to get the information and help out to the shellfish farmers."

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, partners with businesses and local officials to stimulate growth across the Commonwealth. In fiscal year 2004, the agency arranged financing for or managed 201 projects statewide totaling more than $1.25 billion. These projects supported the creation of more than 5,500 jobs and 2,445 housing starts.