Hard-earned skills are key to this family's blue economy success

Dan Hitchcock's first foray into the Blue Economy wasn't intended to be permanent. Instead, Hitchcock's summertime job, working on the Isle au Haut mailboat, was a way for the self-described ski bum, who grew up in western Maine, to earn enough money to get back to Colorado where he planned to live.

- BY ANDY WEBSTER

When he was offered a full-time, year-round job on the mailboat and urged to get his captain's license, Hitchcock thought, “Geez, all right, that actually doesn't sound too bad.”

Today, Hitchcock's day job is at Wesmac Custom Boats in Surry, where his title is Chief Financial Officer. The reality is that Hitchcock, like everyone else at Wesmac, does whatever needs doing as the company tries to keep pace with a never-ending demand for their rugged, lobster-style boats.

In his spare time, Hitchcock captains boat tours for Linda Greenlaw Charters, his mother-in-law's company, which operates out of Surry and Northeast Harbor. Between lobster, oyster, sunset, pirate, and custom tours, the company expects to run 250 to 300 tours this coming season.

The boat charter business led to another Blue Economy venture, small-scale oyster and scallop farming, which takes advantage of Greenlaw and Hitchcock's experience and skills.

As Greenlaw put it, “I had to buy oysters for my tours at a buck apiece. So now I’m supplying my own oysters. That makes my oyster tours more profitable, that helps.” And, Greenlaw added with a smile,” We get to eat a lot of them.”

Hitchcock added that making a living working in the Blue Economy “can take several jobs to survive. So that’s the idea behind the oyster farm, just a little supplement to what else we're doing.”