The North Central Regional Aquaculture Center (NCRAC) is one of the five Regional Aquaculture Centers mandated by the US government to advance and enhance viable and profitable commercial aquaculture production in the US for the benefit of producers, consumers, and the US economy. Since its establishment in 1988, NCRAC has supported several aquaculture projects that aim to advance and sustain the aquaculture industry in the North Central Region (NCR). However, there has been little analysis of the effectiveness and impacts of NCRAC-funded projects. A review of all NCRAC-funded projects between 1988-2019 was conducted to identify each project’s objectives, procedures planned, anticipated benefits and impacts, outcomes accomplished, benefits and impacts reported, and recommended follow-up activities. Information obtained from the funded projects was used to develop a survey instrument to identify which project outcomes and impacts were of benefit to aquaculture producers in the NCR.
Results showed that NCRAC spent approximately $14 million on 125 aquaculture projects between 1988 and 2019. Those projects attracted an additional $12.1 million in leveraged funding support from other federal agencies, universities, and other industry stakeholders. The funded projects focused on advancing the production of nine fish species (yellow perch, walleye, sunfish, salmonids, tilapia, crayfish, baitfish, largemouth bass, and hybrid striped bass) in the NCR and other aquaculture-related topics such as Extension/education-related projects, conferences/workshops/symposia, new animal drug applications, aquaculture drugs, nutrition/diets, aquaponics, waste effluent, white papers, and economics and marketing. NCRAC has contributed to the development of human capital resources in the US by supporting the education of 41 graduate students through its funded projects. High percentages of survey respondents who participated in NCRAC-funded Extension meetings and used NCRAC-funded Extension materials found the information presented to be applicable and had adopted recommended practices on their farms. Futhermore, high percentages of respondents who raised yellow perch, walleye/hybrid walleye, sunfish, trout, tilapia, and baitfish were familiar with information on culture technologies of the species they raised and had adopted the recommended culture technologies. Growth in yellow perch and walleye farming in the NCR in the last two decades can partly be attributed to NCRAC’s investment in yellow perch and walleye farming methods. Overall, finding revealed that through NCRAC-funded projects, NCR producers had gained awareness of a number of issues, had adopted NCRAC project recommended practices, and those practices had contributed positively to improve production efficiencies and profitability of their businesses. While no one research effort is ever entirely responsible for adoption of new technologies and their impacts, NCRAC has successfully leveraged other funding, such as Sea Grant, USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and veterinarian services on environmental quality, disease, and other issues.