Project BriefOpen Competition 2 - BiotechnologyOvercoming an Impediment to Marine Fish Hatchery Culture: Zooplankton Harvesting and Mesocosm CultureDesign and evaluate systems for harvesting wild zooplankton (small marine animals), establish mesocosm culture methods, and develop isolates for use as live foods for marine fish larvae thereby overcoming a major obstacle to farming of these species for human consumption, reducing pressure on wild fish stocks and reducing the balance of trade deficit for seafood. Sponsor: Kona Blue Water Farmsc/o Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii1 Keahole Pt. Rd. Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
Most U.S. fish farming is limited to freshwater or anadromous species. Most marine species are difficult to raise because, during the first week of life, a hatchling's mouth is too small to eat standard live fish foods such as rotifers and brine shrimp. A natural diet of smal-sized zooplankton would solve the problem if economical, reliable systems could be developed for harvesting or culturing these small animals. Kona Blue Water Farms plans to design and evaluate technology for reliable harvesting of wild zooplankton that could be used as live food for marine fish larvae. In a three-year project, the company will test two harvesting systems: moored offshore platforms and land-based systems that filter water brought ashore through pipelines. The plankton will be separated by size and either directly evaluated as live food or grown in the presence of microalgae as a semicontinuous open culture or "mesocosm." Optimal feeds will be identified by videography of hatchlings and analysis of their stomach contents, and the best food species will be cultured. A prototype harvester will be built and various design elements (e.g. design of pumps and filters) will be evaluated. After prototype trials, three full-scale units will be deployed in Hawaii and the Marshall Islands for further testing of direct feeds and mesocosm cultures. ATP funding, which will enable the company to pursue a comprehensive rather than piecemeal research effort, is necessary because the project is at too early a stage to attract private investment. If successfully developed and commercialized, the new technology would catalyze an expansion of U.S. marine aquaculture of food fish, helping to meet the increasing demand for sustainable sources of protein for human consumption while also reducing the seafood component of the nation's trade deficit, now exceeding $10 billion annually and growing. In addition, the technology could provide the $1 billion U.S. aquarium industry with domestically raised fish, reducing today's heavy reliance on catching of fish in the wild, a practice that depletes stocks and damages coral reef environments.
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