Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - View Single Post - I am seriously thinking about starting a small sandworm farm

Mr. Sandman · 01-31-2006, 08:27 AM

I read some of the work he did in England and I think the key to really turning a decent profit is to keep your overhead as low as possible. Heating salt water to grow a worm involves $...waste heat is the key. I think the ideal place to pursue this in a large scale is at the exhaust end of a Nuke Power plant located south of SC. Initially I am not trying to make a profit; I just want to see if I can do it. So I am going to try it on a small scale first and perhaps lease some space in an existing facility that is not being fully used at the moment. This will cost me money. If it looks good I may try to expand it but lets see if I can grow them first. If it looks promising, I know I can get whatever resources I need expand to whatever scale is necessary. So for now I am considering more of a hobby then any kind of business.

It does not look to me like his US commercial expansion dreams have materialized. Several years ago I spoke with him and he was expecting great expansion plans within the next year...that was several years ago. Last year his stuff was hard to get and only a few selected shops had them and they were spotty. A year or so ago I asked him what the problems were and it sounded like $ issues more then anything technical but he was not really clear on that.

I know the worm diggers in Maine don't like the idea of worm farming as they make up to $1000/week digging worms and there are over 1000 lic's issued for worm digging. Then you have the boxers, wholesales, shippers and weed guys too. It is a small industry in Maine and has been for a long time. What really upsets them is the state is helping this guy commercialize the business for a potential of 50 jobs...while putting the diggers out of a job. (NPR did a blurb on this a couple years ago)
The big benefit of farming with warm water over digging is the growth rates are MUCH faster in 65-70 deg water then in the cold Maine waters, also you can feed them optimum growth foods and get them to breed much more frequently.

Lets just see if I can do it as a hobby first.

01-31-2006, 08:27 AM	#9
Mr. Sandman Registered User iTrader: (0) Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 7,649	I read some of the work he did in England and I think the key to really turning a decent profit is to keep your overhead as low as possible. Heating salt water to grow a worm involves $...waste heat is the key. I think the ideal place to pursue this in a large scale is at the exhaust end of a Nuke Power plant located south of SC. Initially I am not trying to make a profit; I just want to see if I can do it. So I am going to try it on a small scale first and perhaps lease some space in an existing facility that is not being fully used at the moment. This will cost me money. If it looks good I may try to expand it but lets see if I can grow them first. If it looks promising, I know I can get whatever resources I need expand to whatever scale is necessary. So for now I am considering more of a hobby then any kind of business. It does not look to me like his US commercial expansion dreams have materialized. Several years ago I spoke with him and he was expecting great expansion plans within the next year...that was several years ago. Last year his stuff was hard to get and only a few selected shops had them and they were spotty. A year or so ago I asked him what the problems were and it sounded like $ issues more then anything technical but he was not really clear on that. I know the worm diggers in Maine don't like the idea of worm farming as they make up to $1000/week digging worms and there are over 1000 lic's issued for worm digging. Then you have the boxers, wholesales, shippers and weed guys too. It is a small industry in Maine and has been for a long time. What really upsets them is the state is helping this guy commercialize the business for a potential of 50 jobs...while putting the diggers out of a job. (NPR did a blurb on this a couple years ago) The big benefit of farming with warm water over digging is the growth rates are MUCH faster in 65-70 deg water then in the cold Maine waters, also you can feed them optimum growth foods and get them to breed much more frequently. Lets just see if I can do it as a hobby first.