NOAA Sea Grant has funded a national collaborative project consisting of research institutions, industry, and government agencies across the US . Efforts of the Recirculating Aquaculture Salmon Network (RAS-N ) are supported by research, education, extension, and industry partners from the Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes and Northeast regions of the U.S. (WA). The overarching goal of RAS-N is to build capacity for Atlantic salmon RAS in the U.S by addressing the barriers and needs of industry for successful growth, stability, and economic feasibility. In the first year, a holistic hub was established with formal founding partners from across each region. A main objective of the RAS-N hub is to gather stakeholder input which includes guidance, concerns, ideas and other input regarding industry needs, thoughts on extension, outreach approaches, workforce development, optimal use of available federal/state funding, and other topics.
The first RAS-N workshop was hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, which provided initial stakeholder input on industry barriers and needs. In the first year (2019-2020), working groups were formed to focus on priority areas and a concept paper was developed to outline current and future research concerning technical and biological barriers as well as non-technical needs (economics, workforce development , etc). These barriers and needs were the focus of the most recent workshop hosted by the University of Maryland Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology. A RAS-N Priorities survey was also designed to formally prioritize industry needs. The survey was first shared with in-network stakeholder partners and affiliates and initial results were shared with members of the RAS-N Internal Steering Committee and the Research Working Group. The survey was then successfully extended to industry stakeholders outside of the network, both nationally and internationally.
This presentation will highlight RAS-N workshops, its efforts to build and expand capacity-building, results from the RAS-N Priorities Survey, remaining RAS-N activities, including development of a road map, and the foundation that RAS-N played in continuing Extension and Engagement with Atlantic salmon RAS industries in our next major USDA project: Sustainable Aquaculture Systems Supporting Atlantic Salmon (SAS 2 ).