RECENT PROGRESS ON HATCHERY PRODUCTION OF BLACK SEA BASS JUVENILES TO SUPPORT FINFISH MARICULTURE GROWOUT INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT IN THE EASTERN U.S.

Wade O. Watanabe*, Patrick M. Carroll, Md Shah Alam, and Christopher F. Dumas
 
Center for Marine Science, Aquaculture Program
University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW)
601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC 28403-5927
watanabew@uncw.edu
 

A critical variable cost in the development of a commercial marine finfish aquaculture industry in the US is the availability and price of fingerlings that can be grown to a marketable size in land-based or offshore aquaculture systems.  A reliable and affordable source of fingerlings alleviates the technical and financial burdens of a startup farmer to grow and market marine fish.  To support the development of the finfish mariculture industry in NC and the southeastern US, the NC Biotechnology Center has supported the establishment of a pilot commercial marine fish hatchery at the UNCW Center for Marine Science Aquaculture Facility (Wrightsville Beach, NC).  Goals are to scale up hatchery technologies for marine finfish, including the black sea bass Centropristis striata, evaluate economics of fingerling production, conduct research to reduce fingerling production costs, supply fingerlings to commercial mariculture companies on the US east coast for their pilot growout projects, and provide experiential opportunities for students and a business model to stakeholders.

Based on the operation of UNCW's pilot hatchery, an earlier economic analysis of a hypothetical commercial scale black sea bass hatchery posited that fingerling prices may be effectively and practically lowered by maximizing safe nursery tank stocking densities (no. fish per unit of rearing capacity) and shortening the duration of a rearing cycle (number of days per crop) to a transport-ready fingerling stage.  Research currently underway at UNCW supported by the NC Sea Grant has revealed that stocking of post-metamorphic stage black sea bass (~ 0.54 g and 47 days post-hatching) in nursery tanks at relatively high densities of 4.5 to 6.5 fish/L does not adversely affect survival, growth variation, and FCR, yielding robust, transport-ready fingerlings (~1.6 g mean weight) as early as 60 days post-hatching (see Carroll et al., these proceedings).   These results of recent biological research, as well as engineering and cost data from the operation of the pilot hatchery, will be used to inform updated economics analyses of hypothetical commercial scale black sea bass hatchery operations comparing the financial performances of alternative facilities that produce fingerlings of different ages and sizes.  By providing a source of affordable fingerlings, UNCW's pilot hatchery is enabling new farmers to establish growout technology and develop markets and is a foundational resource of finfish mariculture business and industry development, outreach, and education in NC and the eastern US.