BELFAST — For years Maine lobster fishermen have felt caught in a system governed by big seafood processors in Canada. Maine Maritime Products is not expecting that to change overnight, but the Belfast company is hoping to offer some of the same services locally and is seeking state funding to help do it.

On Tuesday, the Belfast City Council endorsed a letter of interest on behalf of Maine Maritime Products seeking $500,000 from the Maine Community Development Block Grant Economic Development Program to fund half of a proposed $1 million-dollar expansion of the company's facility in the Belfast Business Park.

George Delaney, president of Maine Maritime Products, said a large portion of that funding would go toward buying a high pressure processing system that would allow the company to de-shell lobster, shrimp, clams and other seafood much faster than hand picking, and yield slightly more meat.

The system, manufactured by Avure Technologies, exposes the sea creatures to 40,000 pounds per square inch of pressure in a sealed water tank. The force detaches the membranes connecting the muscle to the shell, yielding basically all of the meat undamaged. A photo in Avure's company literature shows the meat of a full lobster arranged as it would be if the shell had been waved away with a magic wand.

Once packaged, the product is pressurized a second time at 80,000 psi, killing any bacteria. The process substantially extends the shelf life of the meat and is used widely in the food industry for products ranging from beef to guacamole. More importantly, Delaney said, it's what the Canadian processors use.

Maine Maritime Products opened in Belfast three years ago, moving into the building previously occupied by Young's Shellfish. The facility started as a distribution center for the Massachusetts-based parent company Ipswich Marine Products, serving points north of Portland.

Delaney said his company has traditionally shipped raw shellfish to Canada for processing, then brought it back through Belfast for distribution.

"We feel as though we're touching the raw product and we're touching the finished product, so we're constantly looking for links in the chain to keep that process within the state and within [our] four walls," he said.

The company has gradually expanded beyond distribution into seafood processing, hiring seasonal workers to hand-pick shrimp, clams and lobster.

Today MMP has five full-time staff members and employs 12-16 part-time workers for seasonal hand processing. As a requirement of the grant, the company would have to create one full-time job for every $30,000 of grant money received, within 18 months of the award. For MMP that would mean 19 new jobs.

How Delaney plans to do this sheds some light on a job-creation equation that's more complex than simply filling seats at the shucking table.

On Tuesday night he handed out a packet to members of the City Council, including a photo of the piece of equipment he hopes to buy: the Avure QFP 100L-600 High Pressure Processing System. Next to the gleaming stainless steel machine, a single worker in a white lab coat operates a touch screen with one hand. It was a classic depiction of a labor saving device.

Which it will be.

Delaney said he would need 120 workers picking shellfish by hand to match the volume he expects from the new equipment and the 20 workers he envisions managing the production line.

Twenty full-time jobs would be a substantial addition to the Maine Maritime Products payroll. And while 120 jobs might sound better, Delaney said the traditional model of hand picking shellfish wouldn't stand a chance against today's high-tech processors.

"Those 120 jobs are not coming back to Maine," he said.

Belfast Economic Development Director Thomas Kittredge said the MMP proposal will be competing alongside a request approved earlier this month on behalf of window manufacturer Mathews Brothers for funding from a statewide fund of $2.7 million.

Kittredge gave a timeline for the application process and said if the proposal wins grant funding, the earliest date of reimbursement would be July 1.

In other business, the Council: 

• Approved a first reading of a contract re-zoning ordinance related to a proposed expansion at Front Street Shipyard. The current proposal deals with marine improvements related to the addition of a 380-ton travel lift. The Shipyard has proposed adding a new building to its waterfront complex, but that aspect of the plan has yet to be discussed. The current proposal does not involve the transfer of any city property.

• Approved spending $3,300 from a reserve account to replace old and broken audio and video equipment for documenting city meetings.

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com.