Aquaculture America 2023

February 23 - 26, 2023

New Orleans, Louisiana USA

NOVEL INTEGRATED MULTITROPHIC AQUACULTURE PROJECTS IN THE GULF OF MAINE, GULF OF MEXICO, PUERTO RICO, AND THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

Michael Chambers1, Erich Berghahn1, Mike Doherty1, Gunnar Ek2, and Arron Jones3

1 University of New Hampshire, School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering, Morse Hall Rm 164, Durham, NH 03824 USA

 

2 DBD Drive PR, Inc. 3 Duncan Way, Kittery Point, Maine 03905 USA

 

3Alaska Sea Grant, 218 O’Neill Building, PO Box 755040, Fairbanks, AK 99775-5040 USA

 



Interest in integrated multitrophic farming technologies is growing in the US, Caribbean, and Pacific. This type of aquaculture incorporates lower trophic species that extract inorganic and organic nutrients from a fed species. This technique has been demonstrated by the University of New Hampshire with steelhead trout, blue mussel, and sugar kelp from a floating sea structure called the AquaFort. This small-scale farming approach reduces nitrogen to the environment and produces additional species to be sold thus increasing the economic viability of a farm.  Currently, several fishing groups in Maine are exploring IMTA sites to diversify their income due to concerns with the future lobster fisheries. The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission has funded an AquaFort project near Dauphin Island, AL to culture red drum, oysters and gracilaria. Other projects are being considered in Puerto Rico with tropical species such as conch, lobster, mangrove oyster, and ulva. More recently, interest is emerging in Micronesia near Saipan to adopt IMTA practices to culture rabbit fish, pearl oysters, sea grapes and sea cucumbers. A status of these projects will be provided during the IMTA session.