Digital library

  • Offshore Aquaculture in the United States: Economic Considerations, Implications & Opportunities

    Twenty years ago, offshore aquaculture – fish and shellfish farming in U.S. federal waters – was an emerging technology with tremendous potential. The United States and other countries were at the forefront of an engineering and technology revolution, much like the old race to the moon. Bit by bit, scientists, engineers, and researchers began to figure out the “how” for this type of aquaculture. They developed dependable cage systems, remote feeders, monitoring systems, and broodstock for species that would thrive in the open ocean environment. Every success fueled more interest. The potential for this type of seafood production was obvious – so were the challenges. Could this type of aquaculture be brought online safely as a way to complement wild harvest? Would it be economically viable? What about license to operate?

    Today, aquaculture in federal waters is among the most talked-about technologies associated with the future of seafood production in the United States. This recent wave of interest in the offshore has strong roots in Chapter 24 of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy’s September 2004 report to Congress, An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century. In its report, the Commission recommended that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) develop a comprehensive, environmentally sound permitting and regulatory program for marine aquaculture.

    In December 2004, the Administration responded to Commission recommendations with the President’s Ocean Action Plan. That plan specifically called for national legislation to allow aquaculture in U.S. federal waters. The Administration’s legislative proposal to establish a regulatory framework was submitted to Congress in 2005 and again in 2007. The latter proposal also calls for an expanded research program for all of U.S. marine aquaculture.

    The introduction of national legislation for marine aquaculture garnered attention in the media and spawned a useful and ongoing national debate about the role of domestic aquaculture in America’s seafood supply. That debate centers around a host of marine management, economic, environmental, conservation, health, social, and regulatory issues. It also includes the eventual design of aquaculture regulations for federal waters and associated federal programs. As the agency at the center of the debate, and the one that would likely be tasked with developing and implementing any new federal regulations, NOAA commissioned a study group composed of fisheries resource economists and business experts to address key economic issues associated with offshore marine aquaculture. That effort resulted in this report, Offshore Aquaculture in the United States: Economic Considerations, Implications & Opportunities.  

    Author(s): James Balsiger, Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Carlos M. Gutierrez, Diego Valderrama, Gina L. Shamshak, Michael Rubino, Colin E. Nash, Gunnar Knapp, James E. Kirkley, Di Jin, John Forster, James L. Anderson

  • Ocean nursery systems for scaling up juvenile sandfish (Holothuria scabra) production: ensuring opportunities for small fishers

    Cost-effective production of juveniles to release size (>3 g) is a primary objective in the culture of Holothuria scabra. Ocean nursery systems were developed to help overcome the space limitations of a small hatchery setup and shorten the rearing period in the hatchery. The growth and survival of first-stage juveniles (4–10 mm) in two ocean nursery systems—floating hapas and bottom-set hapa cages—were compared with those reared in hapa nets in a marine pond. Juveniles reared in these nursery systems were healthy and in good condition. Survival was not substantially different in hapa nets in marine ponds and floating hapas. However, growth in pond hapa nets was higher than in the two ocean nursery systems. Nonetheless, the estimated cost of producing juveniles in the floating hapa system is considerably cheaper compared with those reared in the other systems. Moreover, local community partners easily maintained the floating hapas and reared the juveniles to release size. Further, the effects of sand conditioning on juvenile quality were also investigated. The growth of sand-conditioned juveniles was higher than unconditioned ones in hatchery tanks, and more conditioned juveniles buried within the first hour of release in the field. From floating hapas, juveniles can be conditioned in sea pens for at least 1 week, or reared to bigger sizes for 1–2 months (>20 g) prior to release. However, whether this intermediate rearing procedure will be practical with large numbers of juveniles needs to be considered. Results show that ocean nursery systems are simple and viable alternative systems for scaling up juvenile sandfish production compared with hapas in marine ponds, which might not be available and accessible to small fishers.

    Author(s): Tirso O. Catbagan, Christine Mae A. Edullantes, Rafael Junnar P. Dumalan, Glycinea M. de Peralta, Marie Antonette Juinio-Meñez

  • Ocean Forests: Feeding the World with Floating Artificial Reefs

    The U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) funded our team to grow seaweed-for-biofuel inexpensively and sustainably. We also found a way to feed the world with shellfish and finfish grown on huge floating flexible reefs without using fishmeal and while simultaneously growing seaweed. I'm Kelly Lucas, Director of the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, at the University of Southern Mississippi. I will :

    • Introduce our team

    • Explain our aquacultural revolution

    • Describe how nutrient cycling sustains the revolution

    • The features of the reef designed for the Department of Energy

    • Benefits of the revolution and the

    • Economics.

    Author(s): Capron, Mark Kelly Lucas, Reginald B. Blaylock , Michael D Chambers, Jim Stewart, Steven F. Dimarco

  • Ocean Deoxygenation in a Warming World

    Ocean warming and increased stratification of the upper ocean caused by global climate change will likely lead to declines in the dissolved O2 in the ocean interior (ocean deoxygenation) with implications for ocean productivity, nutrient cycling, carbon cycling, and marine habitat.

    Ocean models predict declines of 1 to 7% in the global ocean O2 inventory over the next century, with declines continuing for a thousand years or more into the future. An important consequence may be an expansion in the area and volume of so-called oxygen minimum zones, where O2 levels are too low to support many macrofauna and profound changes in biogeochemical cycling occur. Significant deoxygenation has occurred over the past 50 years in the North Pacific and tropical oceans suggesting larger changes are looming. The potential for larger O2 declines in the future suggests the need for an improved observing system for tracking ocean O2 changes.

    Author(s): Ralph F. Keeling, Arne Kortzinger, Nicolas Gruber

  • Ocean Acidification: Flourishing seaweed

    This summary includes a link to the original article by Johnson et al., (2012).  You will need an account to access the full article on Wiley. (The date supplied here is the publishing date of the original article.)  This summary was published July 2012.

    Author(s):

  • Ocean Acidification Refugia of the Florida Reef Tract

    Ocean acidification (OA) is expected to reduce the calcification rates of marine organisms, yet we have little understanding of how OA will manifest within dynamic, real-world systems. Natural CO2, alkalinity, and salinity gradients can significantly  alter local carbonate chemistry, and thereby create a range of susceptibility for different ecosystems to OA. As such, there is  a need to characterize this natural variability of seawater carbonate chemistry, especially within coastal ecosystems. Since  2009, carbonate chemistry data have been collected on the Florida Reef Tract (FRT). During periods of heightened  productivity, there is a net uptake of total CO2 (TCO2) which increases aragonite saturation state (Varag) values on inshore  patch reefs of the upper FRT. These waters can exhibit greater Varag than what has been modeled for the tropical surface  ocean during preindustrial times, with mean (6 std. error) Varag-values in spring = 4.69 (60.101). Conversely, Varag-values on offshore reefs generally represent oceanic carbonate chemistries consistent with present day tropical surface ocean  conditions. This gradient is opposite from what has been reported for other reef environments. We hypothesize this pattern  is caused by the photosynthetic uptake of TCO2 mainly by seagrasses and, to a lesser extent, macroalgae in the inshore  waters of the FRT. These inshore reef habitats are therefore potential acidification refugia that are defined not only in a  spatial sense, but also in time; coinciding with seasonal productivity dynamics. Coral reefs located within or immediately  downstream of seagrass beds may find refuge from OA.

    Author(s): Derek P. Manzello, Ian C. Enochs, Nelson Melo, Dwight K. Gledhill, Elizabeth M. Johns

  • Occurrence and pathogenicity of Pythium (Oomycota) on Ulva species (Chlorophyta) at different salinities

    Pythiumspecies are ubiquitous organisms known to be pathogens to terrestrial plants and marine algae. While sev-eralPythiumspecies (hereafter,Pythium) are described as pathogens to marine red algae, little is known about thepathogenicity ofPythiumon marine green algae. A strain of aPythiumwas isolated from a taxonomically unresolvedfilamentousUlvacollected in an intertidal area of Oslo fjord. Its pathogenicity to a euryhalineUlva intestinaliscollectedin the same area was subsequently tested under salinities of 0, 15, and 30 parts per thousand (ppt). ThePythiumisolatereadily infectedU. intestinalisand decimated the filaments at 0 ppt. Mycelium survived onU. intestinalisfilaments for atleast 2 weeks at 15 and 30 ppt, but the infection did not progress. Sporulation was not observed in the infected algal fila-ments at any salinity. Conversely,Pythiumsporulated on infected grass pieces at 0, 15, and 30 ppt. High salinity retardedsporulation, but did not prevent it. OurPythiumisolate produced filamentous non-inflated sporangia. The sexual stagewas never observed and phylogenetic analysis using internal transcribed spacer suggest this isolate belongs to the cladeB2. We conclude that thePythiumfound in the Oslo fjord was a pathogen ofU.intestinalisunder low salinity

    Author(s): María-Luz Herrero , May Bente Brurberg, Darío I. Ojeda , Michael Y. Roleda

  • Occurrence and Growth of the Commercially Important Red Algae in a Fish Culture Pond at Mandapam

    The red algae Gracilaria edulis, Hypnea valentiae, Acanthophora spicifera and Sarconema indica have been observed to occur and grow in a culture pond. Over a period of eight months, the algae grew to 104 kg in the pond of 800 sq m. The hydrological conditions in the pond are compared to those in the sea containing natural beds of these algae during the period of observations. This occurenceand growth may open up the possibility of growing  thses algae in culture ponds providing the requisite hydrological and nutrient conditions.

    Author(s): P. Bensam, N. Kaliaperumal, V. Gandhi, A. Raju, v.s. Rangasamy, S. Kalimuthu, J.R. Ramalingam, K. Muniyandi

  • Observations on the grazing phenomenon of the cultured seaweed, Gracilaria edulis by fish in Minicoy lagoon (Lakshadweep)

    The seaweed Gracilaria edulis is a fast growing agarophyte and its distribution is confined to Tamil Nadu, Andaman-Nicobar islands, Lakshadweep group of islands and Chilka lake along the Indian Coast. In Lakshadweep, it has been reported growing abundantly in the islands of Agatti, Kavaratti, Kalpeni and Kadamath while in Minicoy it was totally absent till recently. In 1990 this seaweed was transported from Mandapam (Gulf of Mannar) and Kavaratti islands (Lakshadweep) to study the feasibility of its establishment and colonizing in the lagoon in Minicoy.

    Author(s): Chennubhotla, V S Krishnamurthy, Nasser, A K V, Kunhikoya, K K, Anasu Koya, A , Rajagopalan, M S

  • Observations on the Chromosome Numbers of Porphyra (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) Populations from Long Island Sound to the Canadian Maritimes

    As part of an ongoing investigation into the species delineation and distribution of Porphyra from Long Island Sound to the Canadian Maritimes, cytological investigations are being undertaken. A variety of methods have been attempted and of the techniques used, DAPI fluorescent-dye staining was found to be most preferable. Three different Porphyra purpurea (Roth) C. Agardh populations were found within this geographic range, each with different chromosome numbers or arrangements. Different populations of P. leucosticta Thuret in Le Jolis were also delineated using this cytological method. The use of chromosome counts as an aid to traditional taxonomic methods has proved useful in this species-distribution investigation of Porphyra in the Northwest Atlantic.

    Author(s): Yarish, Charles Grant Gregory Mitman, Robert J. Wilkes

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