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In: aquaculture, Atlantic salmon, Chris Hartleb, fish farming, NADF, RAS-N, recirculating aquaculture, SAS2

Over the past three years, Wisconsin Sea Grant has been part of an innovative public/private network that is dedicated to building capacity for the U.S. recirculating aquaculture industry.

Known as RAS-N, the Recirculating Aquaculture Salmon Network involves many partners, from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility (NADF) in Bayfield, to the Maine and Maryland Sea Grant programs, to private companies in the United States and Europe, including Hixton, Wisconsin-based Superior Fresh.

This Atlantic salmon has been raised in water reuse systems at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility in Bayfield. (Photo: NADF)

Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are a water-efficient way of raising fish on land in a contained system; other positive attributes of this farming method include enhanced biosecurity and the ability to reduce the carbon footprint of food fish by building facilities close to markets.

The National Sea Grant Office announced funding for RAS-N in 2019. While that three-year grant is now winding down, the collaborative network it helped build is not going away. Rather, it is entering an exciting new phase with $10 million in funding from a U.S. Department Agriculture (USDA) program designed to enhance sustainability in agriculture.

Land-based water reuse systems, like the tanks shown here, can provide an optimal, carefully controlled environment for Atlantic salmon to thrive. (Photo: NADF)

The USDA support was awarded to the University of Maine Aquaculture Research Institute in collaboration with the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Wisconsin Sea Grant and NADF remain closely involved in this new phase of the work, dubbed SAS² (for Sustainable Aquaculture Systems Supporting Atlantic Salmon).

Specifically, NADF will investigate out-of-season spawning of Atlantic salmon to develop procedures that can be used by industry to produce eggs year-round.

Additionally, NADF staff, working with other aquaculture educators, will contribute their expertise in merging sustainable RAS science, community engagement and workforce development for the RAS industry.

This large vision encompasses a multitude of objectives involving technology transfer, incorporating RAS education at the high school and college levels and expanding NADF’s current internship program. SAS² will also work to increase public awareness of this growing industry.

Said Dr. Chris Hartleb, NADF director and a professor of fisheries biology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, “Through our facility, Wisconsin has been a key collaborator on the RAS-N project with expertise in RAS and salmon culture. As a further expansion of that project, SAS² continues Wisconsin’s pivotal role in the development and growth of Midwest recirculating aquaculture of the valuable and tasty Atlantic salmon.”

Tours of the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility educate the public about sustainable aquaculture. (Photo: NADF)

Indeed, Atlantic salmon remains one of the most popular choices for American seafood consumers, yet 96% of the salmon consumed here is imported, reflecting a dramatic trade deficit. By addressing bottlenecks and barriers affecting the growing salmon RAS industry, RAS-N and now SAS² are working to make the industry both economically feasible and environmentally sustainable.

To learn more about the RAS-N and SAS² networks, visit ras-n.org.

You can also read more about this work on the websites of the NADF, the University of Maryland Baltimore County and the University of Maine.

The post Collaborative network for recirculating aquaculture moves into next phase first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/collaborative-network-for-recirculating-aquaculture-moves-into-next-phase/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=collaborative-network-for-recirculating-aquaculture-moves-into-next-phase

Jennifer Smith

On:
In: aquaculture, burbot, Chris Hartleb, Fellows, Greg Fischer, NADF, Pat Blaufuss, Patrick Blaufuss, recirculating aquaculture systems, saugeye, UWSP NADF, walleye

Aquaculture, or fish farming, is a $21 million industry in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Sea Grant has a long history of nurturing the growth of aquaculture through research and public outreach. Coupled with Sea Grant efforts related to Great Lakes commercial fishing, these activities help Wisconsin producers offer consumers a sustainable, domestic alternative to imported fish and seafood.

A fresh chapter in this history is the Wisconsin Sea Grant Keillor Fellowship in Aquaculture, created in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility (NADF), where the position is based. The Bayfield facility is a national leader in aquaculture research.

Dr. Patrick Blaufuss (submitted photo)

The inaugural fellow, Dr. Patrick Blaufuss, began his two-year position in September. He holds a doctorate in animal physiology from the University of Idaho, where his research focused on nutrition and physiology in rainbow trout. He’s also a graduate of North Dakota State University and Southern Illinois University, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in zoology, respectively.

One of his greatest satisfactions, said Blaufuss, is seeing laboratory research provide useful results for fish farmers. “I’m excited to get experience with the aquaculture industry in the Great Lakes region… and to get more experience with commercial producers and the commercial setting, helping them refine what they do. Applying what we do in the lab out in the real world is very important,” said Blaufuss.

One of his top priorities will be analyzing data from past and current NADF projects and preparing manuscripts for publication in scientific journals.

Said Greg Fischer, NADF assistant director and research program manager, “Having Patrick on board as our new Sea Grant fellow will directly impact getting our completed research projects analyzed and published in a timely manner, which allows us to share results with the aquaculture industry and scientific community more rapidly, and to move aquaculture forward with confidence.”

Dr. Chris Hartleb, a UW-Stevens Point professor of fisheries biology and NADF co-director, echoed those thoughts. “Pat’s background and knowledge will assist us with completing past projects, restructuring current projects and expanding our ability to provide assistance to many aquaculturists with new projects.”

Blaufuss’ prior experience includes restoration aquaculture work with burbot in Idaho, where that species was almost extirpated from the Kootenai River watershed due to the operation of a dam that led to increased water temperatures (burbot need very cold water to spawn successfully). The recreational burbot fishery there had been closed since 1992. As part of the restoration work, Blaufuss served as a consultant to the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, which runs a commercial-scale fish hatchery. Employing results from University of Idaho lab research, Blaufuss helped the tribe with its first season of burbot aquaculture. Subsequent years of restocking efforts by the Kootenai Tribe have succeeded in restoring burbot populations to a level that recreational fishing is once again possible for anglers.

Commented Blaufuss, “I came out there [to the tribal hatchery] regularly throughout their first season, since there are multiple steps in burbot culture, and you have to be aware of them.” Burbot are extremely carnivorous, so cannibalization can be an issue, and they also have a longer larval rearing period compared to some other species. “It was very fulfilling to help them through each stage of the culture, and to see how our smaller-scale research data could be applied to a full-size commercial setting.”

Blaufuss kayaking on Lake Erie near Gibraltar, Mich. (submitted photo)

Currently, Blaufuss is writing a manuscript about previous NADF work on commercial diets for larval walleye and saugeye (a walleye-sauger hybrid that also occurs in the wild). “It’s so important that producers know the best diet to feed these larval fish,” he said. (Wisconsin Sea Grant funded this research in its 2018-20 grant cycle; read more about it here.)

He’s also working on a nanobubble oxygenation project, a novel way of introducing oxygen into aquaculture systems. “We’re looking at how it affects fish health, growth and other parameters,” said Blaufuss. The National Sea Grant Office is supporting the nanobubble work; read more about it here.

While much of his work is remote at the moment due to the ongoing pandemic, Blaufuss said that the two-year commitment at NADF gives him a good chunk of time to work with fish species and aquaculture systems that are new to him, as well as boost the facility’s research output.

It’s all part of Sea Grant and NADF’s broader goals to train professionals—from undergraduate students to postdoctoral fellows like Blaufuss—and support sustainable aquaculture that is backed by cutting-edge science. When the public health crisis abates, said Hartleb, Blaufuss will be able to get out to conferences, workshops and farms to enhance connections and share NADF information.

Said Fischer, “Wisconsin Sea Grant has been a great partner in all that we do, and we look forward to the future and continued partnership and cooperation.”

The post Sea Grant aquaculture fellow begins two-year position in Bayfield to boost research capacity first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/sea-grant-aquaculture-fellow/

Jennifer Smith

On:
In: aquaculture, Chris Hartleb, Emma Wiermaa, fish farming, Greg Fischer, NADF, Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, RAS, saugeye, UW-Stevens Point, UWSP, walleye

Research at UW-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility focuses on out-of-season spawning

Nothing says “Wisconsin” quite like a Friday night fish fry with all the trimmings: rye bread, cole slaw, French fries, and perhaps a cold beer or brandy Old Fashioned. For many people, the star at the center of the plate is crisply battered walleye.

Yet most of the walleye served in restaurants or purchased in grocery stores actually comes from Canada, including a sizable amount from the Canadian waters of Lake Erie, where it is netted by commercial fishermen.

These walleye, raised in a recirculating aquaculture system at the UW-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, are about a year old. (Photo: UWSP NADF)

One way to increase the availability of this popular fish year-round and have it come from U.S. sources is through aquaculture, or fish farming. Research conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility (NADF) and funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant is helping fish farmers get closer to being able to raise walleye year-round in indoor recirculating aquaculture systems.

Said Chris Hartleb, NADF Director and Professor of Fisheries Biology at UW-Stevens Point, “For the past eight years, Wisconsin Sea Grant has provided funding to tackle some of the challenges” related to domesticating walleye (Sander vitreus) and making it suitable for farming. Previous research has examined whether walleye can be raised in tanks and, if so, what the optimal density in the tank is for the fish to thrive, as well as starter feeds for walleye and saugeye, a naturally occurring hybrid of walleye and sauger.  

Hartleb and Greg Fischer, NADF Assistant Director/Research Program Manager, are the lead investigators on a new project funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant in its 2020-22 project cycle.

The project will focus on making walleye eggs, fry and juveniles available year-round through out-of-season spawning triggered by photothermal manipulation. This means carefully controlling the amount of light and the temperature to which the fish are exposed. That way, multiple crops of fish could be produced throughout the year, as opposed to the single time per year that happens in the wild.

Other key players in conducting the research are NADF Foreman Kendall Holmes, an advanced fish technician, and fellow technician Jared Neibauer. Aquaculture Outreach Specialist Emma Wiermaa will communicate research results to the fish farmers who can use them.

For the study, some fish will be exposed to an early “spring” in early February 2021, through warming water and more light. “And then hopefully those fish will be triggered to spawn, and we’ll get eggs by the end of February. And so, if it works, we’ll get juvenile fish probably around April or early May,” said Hartleb.

A control group of fish will spawn on the normal cycle that wild fish would—sometime in April—and a third group of fish will have an extended “winter” (again, due to light and temperature) and spawn late.

While this plan may sound straightforward, it is not guaranteed to work in practice. “It sounds simple enough, since those are the two main triggers for fish to spawn: light and temperature,” said Hartleb. “But some studies have shown”—such as work by Sea Grant’s other aquaculture specialist, Fred Binkowski, involving yellow perch at UW-Milwaukee—“that if you rush them or if you delay them, sometimes the embryos, the offspring, turn out not be viable.”

And not only may embryos die, so may juveniles or early adults, so that’s why it is crucial to grow the fish in the study out to a marketable size of 1 to 1.5 pounds.

Because the NADF team will need to keep producing batches of walleye, they’re working with a range of public and private partners to help them grow the fish out to full size. Those partners include the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in northern Illinois and Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon, which is starting an aquaculture program. Northside Enterprises, a fish farm in Black Creek, Wisconsin, will also participate, and several other farms throughout the state have also expressed interest in raising the young walleye to market size.

Earlier walleye outreach at NADF has addressed topics like showing farmers how to feed-train walleye to consume a commercial diet from hatch. (Photo: UWSP NADF)

Said Fischer, who has worked with walleye in a variety of systems for about three decades, “The capability to spawn walleye out of season in a controlled aquaculture setting is paramount to bringing commercial walleye production to fruition in the U.S. We have got to have eggs year-round for this to be commercially acceptable. This newest project will allow us to move this species into the commercial aquaculture production sector in the Midwest.”

As with other NADF projects, outreach is a key component, with Wiermaa—whose position is jointly supported by Wisconsin Sea Grant—leading efforts to share NADF research with fish farmers throughout the state.

Said Wiermaa, “Making our projects results accessible and presenting them in ways that are useful to farmers is just as important as the research results themselves.”  This can take a number of forms, including fact sheets, manuals and videos.

Aquaculture Outreach Specialist Emma Wiermaa holds a walleye at the facility in Bayfield, Wis. (Photo: UWSP NADF)

Wiermaa has noted high interest among Midwest fish farmers looking to raise walleye commercially as a food fish. “To respond to these requests for assistance, the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility recently completed a technical video series on raising walleye intensively in water reuse systems. The series compiles nearly a decade of research, and it is accessible online. Results from this newest project will be added to this video series and other outreach tools.”

Ultimately, the NADF team hopes that the research will result in more Wisconsin- and U.S.-raised fish on diners’ plates, and help expand Wisconsin’s aquaculture industry, which is currently a $21 million business that represents about 500 jobs.

“Every time we’ve concluded one of our projects, there’s just tremendous interest [from fish farmers] throughout the Upper Midwest. I think people realize that walleye are a great-tasting fish. And it’s a high-value fish, so it gets a good price on the market,” said Hartleb.

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/new-walleye-study-at-uwsp-nadf/

Jennifer Smith