On:
In: Alex Gregory, aquaculture, Cory Vines, Dong-Fang Deng, Emma Hauser, Erin Ross, Jack Patterson, Kayden Knudsen, Kyle Freimuth, Louis Benard, Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, Raatbek Baizakov, Rachel Virnig, Ryan Figueroa, Sharon Moen, Tyler Gregorski, Wyatt Slack, yellow perch, zebrafish

Some people revel in the dog days of summer, but for a dozen aquaculture interns, the season was all about fish.

In partnership with Wisconsin Sea Grant and funded through a grant from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin, the interns were stationed at aquaculture facilities across the state, working alongside mentors to get hands-on experience raising and caring for fish. According to Wisconsin Sea Grant food-fish coordinator Sharon Moen, who led the project alongside aquaculture specialists Emma Hauser and Dong-Fang Deng, the purpose of the internships was to build awareness of fish farming and offer training opportunities for young people.

“We couldn’t be happier with the way this first-time program unfolded,” said Moen. “The students and mentors gained so much during a short 10 weeks.”

Raising fish was not the only new skill the interns acquired. They learned how to manage projects, work on a team, and — importantly — embrace the many utilitarian wonders of PVC pipes and power tools.

Here’s a snapshot of some of their projects.

Yellow perch, aquaponics, and renewable energy at Northey Farms

Aquaculture intern walks with a net of yellow perch

Rachel Virnig transports yellow perch at Northey Farms. Credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

University of Wisconsin–Madison undergraduates Jack Patterson, Erin Ross, and Rachel Virnig interned at Northey Farms in Deerfield, Wisconsin, a fish farm that uses both outdoor ponds and a recirculating aquaculture system to raise yellow perch. Under the supervision of Kyle Freimuth, a University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences graduate student, the team of interns learned how to monitor water quality, clean tanks, and care for more than 27,000 yellow perch.

Freimuth got a crash course in farm management. He developed a system for interns to track daily water quality, allocate tasks, and communicate with the farm owner. “I feel good about the work,” said Freimuth. “I was able to see all the little things that we were able to do to better care for the fish.”

For Patterson, Ross, and Virnig, the biggest project of the summer was building an aquaponic system in an outdoor hoop house. When it wasn’t being burglarized by racoons, the plant-and-fish production system supported bluegill and yellow perch alongside tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, basil, and tomatillos. The interns also constructed — from scratch and with no directions! — a mini wind turbine to power the whole system. The project was a point of pride for the team, who enjoyed creating a functioning, self-sufficient food system and learning new, practical life skills.

“I didn’t know how to use power tools before this internship, and that became a daily skill,” said Ross. “That was huge for me as a young adult.”

Research, education, and outreach at Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility

aquaculture intern, Wyatt Slack, stands in a black t-shirt in front of a green field

Wyatt Slack. Credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like most of the interns, Wyatt Slack was largely unfamiliar with aquaculture prior to this summer. Fast forward two months, and he was teaching others about what he learned.

Slack, an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, worked at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility in Red Cliff, Wisconsin. The facility supports aquaculture research and showcases the latest techniques and technologies while also educating others about the industry. As an intern, Slack got to do a little bit of everything.

“Some days we spawned salmon. Others, we took blood samples from lake trout or set up another experiment,” said Slack. “No day looks exactly the same.”

One task remained constant, however, and that was cleaning. Slack used a windshield wiper attached to a PVC pipe to clean the circular walls of the fish tanks. It was a funny but utterly functional tool that was, in a lot of ways, emblematic of the ingenuity of fish farmers.

“PVC pipes are the lifeblood of these systems,” he laughed.

Slack also practiced communicating the science of aquaculture to different audiences, from kids to adults. He gave tours to visiting groups, showed kindergartners big fish, and made art at Kid’s Fishing Day. His last assignment was serving walleye he helped raise to about 150 people at an event in Houghton, Michigan. During the event he talked to participants and a reporter about aquaculture in the Upper Midwest.

“Outreach was definitely one of the most fulfilling parts of this internship,” he said.

Raising zebrafish at the Morgridge Institute for Research

aquaculture intern Raatbek Baizakov holds a plastic tanks used for breeding zebrafish

Raatbek Baizakov explains zebra fish breeding tanks at the Morgridge Institute. Credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While aquaculture often produces fish for food, fish farms also raise fish for bait, stocking and, as University of Wisconsin–Madison student Raatbek Baizakov learned, research.

Baizakov spent his summer interning at the Morgridge Institute for Research, a biomedical research facility in Madison, Wisconsin. Originally from Kyrgyzstan, Baizakov grew up helping his dad raise trout.

“I had experience with game fish. I didn’t really have experience with research fishes,” he said. “It’s not really similar at all.”

Instead of trout, Baizakov worked with zebrafish, a small striped fish with the unique ability to regrow damaged body parts like fins, heart tissue, and spinal cords. Researchers at Morgridge study the fish for this reason, hoping to find ways to heal similar injuries in people.

Working with a small team, Baizakov provided daily care for 2,250 tanks of zebrafish, which involved feeding and flushing tanks. He also enjoyed learning about the system that pumps and recirculates water through the tanks, which he described as “genius.”

“As a mechanical engineer, I appreciated this so much,” he said.

Lab research at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences

a hand holds a small net filled with tiny sturgeon

Baby sturgeon at the UW–Milwaukee School for Freshwater Sciences. Credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another set of interns kept busy learning about fish care and nutrition in the lab of Wisconsin Sea Grant aquaculture outreach and extension specialist Dong-Fang Deng.

Though not all were funded by the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin, Louis Benard, Kayden Knudsen, Alex Gregory, Cory Vines, and Tyler Gregorski worked side-by-side cleaning tanks, sorting fish, and pursuing individual projects, which ranged from the effects of microplastics on fish growth to incorporating novel ingredients like black soldier fly oil and soy cake into fish food.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said high school senior Knudsen, who investigated the impacts of microplastics on yellow perch. “Working at UWM has been a really good experience for developing ideas about my future.”

Mapping Wisconsin fish farms

Aquaculture intern Ryan Figueroa holds up a fish at the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility

Ryan Figueroa visited the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility as part of his internship. Submitted photo.

Unlike the other interns, Ryan Figueroa didn’t work at a fish farm, but he did get a bird’s-eye view of the aquaculture industry across the state. Figueroa, an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin–Superior with an interest in GIS, worked with Moen to revamp the Eat Wisconsin Fish food fish maps to show the location and features of aquaculture and commercial fishing operations in Wisconsin. The goal was to make aquaculture visible and accessible to those wanting to buy locally raised fish.

“Maps help connect people to local food systems,” said Figueroa. That certainly was the case for him. He visited several fish operations to collect geospatial data and enjoyed eating some of their wares. He also appreciated having Moen as his mentor for the summer.

“She’s the best,” said Figueroa. “I really want to emulate what she does. I loved seeing how she works and how she communicates with people. She’s been a huge help for me.”

To learn more about the interns’ experiences, check out this video made by aquaculture outreach specialist Emma Hauser.

***

The University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center administers Wisconsin Sea Grant, the Wisconsin Water Resources Institute, and Water@UW. The center supports multidisciplinary research, education, and outreach for the protection and sustainable use of Wisconsin’s water resources. Wisconsin Sea Grant is one of 34 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in coastal and Great Lakes states that encourage the wise stewardship of marine resources through research, education, outreach, and technology transfer.

The post Summer students learn the ropes of fish farming first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/summer-students-learn-the-ropes-of-fish-farming/

Jenna Mertz

On:
In: aqua, Charlotte Easterling, Chris Hartleb, coloring book, Emma Hauser, Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility
three copies of wisconsin aquaculture coloring and sticker activity book

The Wisconsin Aquaculture Coloring and Sticker Activity Book is a first-of-its-kind publication that invites kids to learn about fish farming. Photo: Wisconsin Sea Grant

When Chris Hartleb, director of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, was brainstorming ways to get kids excited about locally raised fish, he joked that a scratch-and-sniff sticker book might do the trick.

“Every single employee at NADF said, ‘Do not make that as scratch and sniff.’”

While the fragrance of fish did not make the final cut, the stickers did. The final product, the “Wisconsin Aquaculture Coloring and Sticker Activity Book,” features fish stickers as well as full-page illustrations of different aquaculture systems used to raise fish in Wisconsin.

The Sea Grant-funded book is the first of its kind and is part of a study on how the Great Lakes aquaculture industry could expand through value-added products like fish dips, pre-seasoned fillets and ready-to-eat foods like fish sticks. Hartleb, who co-led the research team, said one goal of the coloring book was to raise awareness of aquaculture products for kids.

“We’re trying to introduce them to the concept of farm-raised fish,” Hartleb said. “Not all fish come from the ocean. A lot of fish are farmed.”

The book illustrates different species raised in Wisconsin, such as walleye, yellow perch, Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout and tilapia, and provides overviews of the aquaculture systems used to raise them. Kids can then take the fish stickers and, in subsequent pages, “stock” them into the aquaculture systems that best suit the fish.

Emma Hauser, aquaculture outreach specialist at NADF and Wisconsin Sea Grant, helped develop content for the book.

“There’s a lot of misconceptions about aquaculture. So, if you are teaching students earlier and earlier on about what aquaculture means in the United States or even more locally, like in their state, they grow up realizing what it is,” she said.

 

Balancing detail with design

A coloring book page featuring fish form the salmon family with markers scattered around.

Illustrator Charlotte Easterling’s favorite pages featured fish from the salmon family. Photo: Wisconsin Sea Grant

As an outreach specialist, Hauser often gives tours at NADF and is used to explaining complex systems to different audiences. But developing a coloring and sticking book for kids? That was a new challenge.

“I don’t write children’s books, and it’s really hard to take something that might be very specific and kind of hard to understand and build it in a way that children can understand and relate to,” she said.

Enter Charlotte Easterling, a graphic designer and illustrator and the owner of Creative Vixen Design. She didn’t know much about aquaculture, but NADF staff quickly brought her up to speed with a virtual tour of the facility.

“It was fascinating to learn all the different ways that this is done and seeing the technology,” Easterling said. She worked with Hauser, Creative Manager Sarah Congdon and Editor Elizabeth White to tailor the content for a younger audience. The biggest challenge was getting the technical details right, like the positioning of the equipment or the plants in a pond.

As an artist, Easterling also had an eye toward stylistic consistency throughout the 16-page book.

“Am I being too cartoony with this one compared to the realistic illustration we have of this fish over here? So, trying to just maintain a sense of style throughout that wouldn’t feel like it was done by two different people,” Easterling said.

Her favorite illustration is of the Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout, which are swimming in a circular tank with cold, fast-moving water. “It’s a full-page spread, and it kind of has, like, the sparkly water up above,” she said. “You can feel the movement.”

 

Reeling in a future workforce

Hauser hopes that the book’s fun illustrations and stickers also invite kids to see fish in their futures — not just on their plates, but as a possible career.

“One of the major bottlenecks to aquaculture expansion is finding an educated and skilled workforce,” said Hauser. “A lot of students that might go into this for a career just don’t really know about it.”

A hand lifts a sticker of a rainbow trout from the aquaculture coloring and sticker book

Rainbow trout stickers. Photo: Wisconsin Sea Grant

The book features illustrations of real-life people who work in the industry and touches on the different skills farmers and other aquaculture professionals need. There’s also a map showing the locations of fish farms across Wisconsin, which Hauser hopes will encourage folks to visit nearby farms and learn more about how they raise fish. 

“A lot of our farmers are very open to tours and really want to show what they’re doing,” she said.

So far, the book has been a hit. Hauser hands out copies of the book to kids who visit NADF, but as she has learned, it’s best to do so after the tour.

“The kids get very excited about it and want to take the stickers out and start putting them all over,” she said. “We try to get them out of the facility before they start opening them.”

Hartleb has also distributed the books at events, and he’s noticed that it’s not just kids who are interested. Parents have returned to his table to ask for copies for themselves.

“The whole process was a lot of fun, and so far, we’ve gotten great feedback and great response,” he said. “I hope that continues.”

You can order a copy of the Wisconsin Aquaculture Coloring and Sticker Activity book via the Wisconsin Sea Grant publications library.

 

 

 

 

The post Coloring and sticker book teaches kids about fish farming first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/coloring-and-sticker-book-teaches-kids-about-fish-farming/

Jenna Mertz

On:
In: Apostle Islands Grand Cruise, Bayfield Peninsula, Big Bay Town Park Madeline Island, Bill Bodin, Eat Wisconsin Fish, Emma Hauser, Friends of the Apostle Islands, Hoop's Fisheries, Jeff Rennicke, Melonee Montano, Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, Sharon Moen, Wave Watch Buoy Project, Zhaagawaamikong Neyaashi

Members of the Wisconsin Sea Grant communications team look into an aquaculture tank at the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility while Emma Hauser looks on. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Each summer, our communications team goes out in the field to see Sea Grant projects firsthand and to spend time with each other. This year’s learning trip took us to the Bayfield Peninsula and northern Wisconsin.

Emma Hauser shows off one of NADF’s aquacultured salmon. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

Highlights on the first day included a visit to the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility in Red Cliff, where Sea Grant’s Emma Hauser helped us get up close and personal with some salmon. For dinner, we got even closer to fish as we ate Lake Superior whitefish caught by Hoop’s Fisheries in Bayfield.

Lake Superior whitefish (and chips) caught and cooked by Hoop’s Fisheries. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

On Day Two, we learned about the Wave Watch Buoy Project in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore from Jeff Rennicke, director of the Friends of the Apostle Islands. These University of Wisconsin–Madison data buoys allow boaters to access wind and wave information online, making for more safe boating.

Jeff Rennicke (right) with the Friends of the Apostle Islands talks about the group’s projects while Sea Grant’s Natalie Chin (left) and Moira Harrington (center) listen on the Bayfield City Dock. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Next, we toured Bodin’s Fisheries where Bill Bodin showed us how Lake Superior fish are processed after they’re caught. Afterward at a shore lunch hosted by Eat Wisconsin Fish’s Sharon Moen, we dined on Bodin’s whitefish, cooked over a charcoal grill.

Bill Bodin in his fish store. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Lake Superior fish caught by Bodin’s Fisheries. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Sated, we caught the ferry to Madeline Island where we walked through a drizzle on the Big Bay Town Park boardwalk and learned more about the park’s unique lagoon, which is surrounded by a floating fen mat and, on the other side, a beautiful Lake Superior beach.

We caught the ferry back to the mainland only to board another boat for a grand cruise on the Apostle Islands. During the hourlong ride, we learned about the rich history of human interaction with these islands in Lake Superior. We saw lighthouses and sea caves cut into the island sandstone by the lake. We also waved to one of the Wave Watch buoys as we motored past.

Devil’s Island, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

On the final day of our field trip, we drove to Superior, Wisconsin, where we met with Melonee Montano, one of the leads for a project that is investigating how  Anishinaabe people connected to and homesteaded the lands of “Zhaagawaamikong Neyaashi” (Minnesota and Wisconsin points) and how they used fire to manage the landscape. She took us to both points and discussed the differences in habitats and uses.

Communications summer student Abigail Brown takes a photo of Melonee Montano on Minnesota Point for a video about her project. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

When the trip was over, I, for one, felt like my head was heavier from all the knowledge imparted by our speakers and experiences. These “crash courses” help greatly with our work to interpret Sea Grant research and outreach projects by providing us with vital background information. Plus, it’s not every day I get to watch a colleague hug a 20-pound salmon!

Editor Elizabeth White gets personal with a salmon at NADF while Emma Hauser looks on. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

 

 

The post Sea Grant communications team gets crash course in aquaculture, Lake Superior fish, buoys, bogs, islands and fire first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/sea-grant-communications-team-gets-crash-course-in-aquaculture-lake-superior-fish-buoys-bogs-islands-and-fire/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: aquaponics, Atlantic salmon, Emma Hauser, Hixton Wisconsin, Kyle Woolever, Marie Zhuikov, Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, recirculating aquaculture systems, Sam Heward, Sharon Moen, Superior Fresh

Sea Grant staff learned more about aquaponics from a tour of the Superior Fresh facility in Wisconsin. Here they stand in front of some Atlantic salmon being readied for market. From left to right: Sharon Moen, Jenna Mertz, Marie Zhuikov, Emma Hauser. Image credit: Kyle Woolever, Superior Fresh.

Superior Fresh knows what it takes to raise fish on land and plants in water.

The aquaponics business, located on 800 acres of rolling woodland and prairie in Hixton, Wisconsin, has been raising Atlantic salmon and growing salad greens in its indoor facilities since 2017. The business reports it’s the largest of its kind in the world, producing 1.5 million pounds of salmon per year plus organic-certified salad greens. 

It’s a big operation, and one I had the chance to tour in late October with a small group from Wisconsin Sea Grant that included Sharon Moen, food-fish outreach coordinator; Emma Hauser, aquaculture outreach and education specialist with Wisconsin Sea Grant and the UW-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility (NADF); and Marie Zhuikov, fellow science communicator.

It was good opportunity for me, a newcomer to Sea Grant and the world of aquaculture, to learn more about fish farming and Superior Fresh’s recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Wisconsin Sea Grant supports aquaculture research, including Hauser’s work in outreach, education and workforce development at NADF. Many of the interns NADF hosts go on to work at Superior Fresh—a fact evidenced by all the friendly faces Hauser recognized during our tour.

After pulling plastic coverings over our shoes (which required some artful hopping on my part), we followed Kyle Woolever, director of operations and a UW-Stevens Point graduate, as he showed us around the facility, which recently experienced a 60,000-square-foot expansion. He explained that the building houses half a million fish, all of which are reared in and transferred between tanks based on fish size and stage of lifecycle. Salmon are raised from egg to market size—which is about 10 pounds in just over two years.

All those fish, of course, require a constant flow of water. Gesturing toward the big tanks, Woolever talked about the water footprint of the facility.

“Two small wells are raising all of what you’re going to see on 50 [gallons per minute],” he said. (Residential wells pump between five and 10 gallons per minute.)

How does Superior Fresh raise salmon using relatively little water? The answer is their RAS, which includes high-tech equipment and monitoring to effectively clean and recycle the water throughout the facility. This water is also used in the greenhouse, where leafy greens further remove the nutrients they need to grow. The water then returns to the fish, and the cycle restarts.

Superior Fresh captures all wastewater from the production system by irrigating over 50 acres of native grasses and alfalfa, while operating with zero wastewater discharge. The grasses and alfalfa are cut and baled several times annually and are used by local farmers for cattle bedding. The business also uses other regenerative farming practices, such as creating a soil amendment from digested fish manure, which can be injected into fields before planting.

After touring the aquaculture facility, Woolever led us to the greenhouse, where the thrum of churning water faded to the quiet sound of plants photosynthesizing. It’s here where the nutrient-rich fish water fuels the growth of Superior Fresh’s organic salad greens.

Entering the greenhouse was an arresting sight. Rows of white rafts filled with lettuce, kale, mustard, arugula and sorrel floated in long tanks of water. Sam Heward, greenhouse manager, explained how plants make a linear journey from one side of “the pond” to the other. Baby greens spend about three weeks on the water before harvest.

The greenhouse is warm and bright and, we joke, the perfect place to be in winter. And it’s not just plants and humans that enjoy the summer-like conditions.

“It’s a perfect environment for plants,” said Heward, “which makes it also a perfect environment for [plant] diseases.”

The team is vigilant about watching for root disease and will change varieties or flush the tank if problems arise.

By the end of the tour, it was clear that Superior Fresh is working so that Atlantic salmon don’t have to be airfreighted across oceans from Chile or northern Europe—they can come from your local community—and greens don’t have to be grown thousands of miles away in sun-soaked states. In other words, they’re successfully forging another way to eat Wisconsin fish (with a side of salad).

The post A peek inside Superior Fresh first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/a-peek-inside-superior-fresh/

Jenna Mertz

On:
In: A Taste of Wisconsin Waters event, Bodin Fisheries, Charlie Henriksen, Emma Hauser, Henriksen Fisheries, Ho-Chunk Nation, Hoop's Fish Market, Marlon White Eagle, Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, Preston Cole, Rock Springs Free Spring water, Sharon Moen, Steve Summerfelt, Superior Fresh, United Nations Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

A Wisconsin Sea Grant event held in Madison this fall celebrated Wisconsin’s water, from drinking water to water on which businesses rely for their livelihoods. These include commercial fishing and aquaculture operations.

A centerpiece at the Taste of Wisconsin Waters event featured a floating candle, cranberries and rocks. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

This first-ever, invitation-only event was organized by Sharon Moen, food fish outreach specialist. She got the idea from conducting a needs assessment with commercial fishermen and fish farmers in Wisconsin.

“They told me what they would really like Sea Grant to help them with was articulating the importance of their industries to decision-makers,” Moen said. She incorporated that into the event by inviting state legislators and natural resource professionals. Two other objectives were to celebrate Wisconsin Sea Grant’s 50th anniversary and the United Nations’ Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture.

“The U.N. really took a bold stand on supporting local fishing communities and what they bring to society,” Moen said. “Certainly, aquaculture and fisheries in Wisconsin could be considered artisanal compared to some of the big operations.”

A Taste of Wisconsin Waters featured a water bar where event-goers could sample nine waters from around the state and vote for their favorite. Same for a fish spread table, which featured eight spreads donated by commercial fisherman and fish farmers throughout the state.

The favorite Wisconsin water was Rock Springs Free Spring water from a natural spring near Madison. The favorite fish spread was a tie between Bodin Fisheries and Hoop’s Fish Market. Both are located in Bayfield, Wisconsin, and used whitefish as their base ingredient.

An event participant samples Wisconsin water from the water bar. Credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

“People had a good chance to network with each other and taste some appetizers made out of the fish and listen to some speeches,” said Moen. “I was really pleased that Preston Cole was able to join us. He’s the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources in Wisconsin, and then Marlon White Eagle, the president of the Ho-Chunk Nation was able to join us, too. So, it was really great to have dignitaries and scientists and fish producers all mingling together and to hear those conversations.”

Speeches were also offered by Wisconsin Sea Grant Director Jim Hurley; Steve Summerfelt, chief science officer for Superior Fresh, an aquaponics business that raises Atlantic salmon and grows leafy greens in Hixton, Wisconsin; and Charlie Henriksen of Henriksen Fisheries.

Cole outlined current challenges facing water systems in Wisconsin. “There’s a lot of places in the state of Wisconsin that people don’t have surety when they turn on their tap that they’re going to have clean fresh drinking water,” he said. “A lot of the circumstances are lead laterals in some of our older cities. I think there’s probably about 100 communities still in Wisconsin spread all across the state that still have lead laterals. And for children, there is no safe level for lead. We know that emerging contaminants like PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] in our drinking water do serious harm where we’ve been finding legacy contaminants from firefighting foam.”

Cole also shared some thoughts on a “Taste of Wisconsin Waters.”

“I think this is awesome. For folks in this room tonight, from commercial fishermen, to researchers, to restauranteurs, people who count on that fishing industry, people who count on the research that’s occurring – I met a couple of those researchers this evening – and I think it’s a wonderful way to look forward by relishing how far we’ve come in the past and providing clean water and research around our water systems.”

Summerfelt with Superior Fresh was also impressed by the event. “I’m ecstatic that Sea Grant put this together to recognize how Wisconsin uses water for food and brought in aquaculture. Sea Grant has not only helped educate consumers about eating Wisconsin seafood, which is so good for them because there’s nowhere else you can get omega-3s, which are good for your brain and heart, like you can get it from seafood. And then, Wisconsin Sea Grant has also been instrumental in funding research that’s helped the technology develop that’s used in Superior Fresh.”

Depending on funding, similar events may happen in the future, and they may be open to the public.

Preston Cole. Credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Many of the outcomes will take a while to manifest, but Moen explained that one connection was made right away. “A thousand arctic char from the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility that is operated through the University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point, got homes. One of the fish producers, because he heard about them being available, came and collected them and took them back to his farm for growing out as an experiment. So that was a big plus,” Moen said.

She also said that networking among the event-goers led to site visits to research and education facilities and that she’s received invitations to host similar events in two other Wisconsin communities. Moen and Emma Hauser, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s aquaculture and education outreach specialist, recently met with staff from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to discuss working together to support the food-fish industry. “This happened as a direct result of the Taste of Wisconsin Waters,” Moen said.

The post A Taste of Wisconsin Waters first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/a-taste-of-wisconsin-waters/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-taste-of-wisconsin-waters

Marie Zhuikov

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