Aquaculture 2022

February 28 - March 4, 2022

San Diego, California

BUILDING CAPACITY OF ATLANTIC SALMON Salmo salar RAS PRODUCTION IN THE U.S. USING AN INDUSTRY DRIVEN STAKEHOLDER NETWORK (RAS-N): ENGAGEMENT AND EXTENSION EFFORTS

 

Catherine Frederick*, Yonathan Zohar, John Stubblefield

 University of Maryland Extension

 Baltimore, MD, 21202

  cfrederi@umd.edu



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 ).