Volume 20 Issue 4 JULY/AUGUST 2019
2019
RESEARCH
Female crabs carry their eggs externally, and each egg mass or “sponge” contains ~2 million eggs. Credit: Harriet Perry, senior research scientist, professor emerita, The University of Southern Mississippi (USM)
Researchers show promise for Blue crab farming
In the U.S., a blue crab hatchery at the University of Southern Mississippi is showing significant potential for diversifying the blue crab industry
BY BONNIE WAYCOTT
lue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) have played an important part in Mississippi’s history and economy for years. Consumers enjoy the species as appetizers and seafood products, but blue crab populations in the wild are declining, putting a strain on local fishermen. Established in the early 2000s, the University of Southern Mississippi’s Blue Crab Hatchery is working to make farmed blue crabs a reality. It’s hoped that these efforts will allow fishermen to supplement their income by developing fisheries based on cultured blue crabs.
B
“The idea took off when wild crab harvests in Chesapeake Bay were really low,” said Dr. Kelly Lucas, aquaculture director at the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. “The University of Maryland worked out techniques to mass-produce blue crab larvae to experiment with supplanting the wild harvest in the Bay. Our hatchery was established using protocols developed by the Maryland facility with modifications to those protocols, based on data gained from years of experimentation.”
continued on page 22
New RAS for salmon eggs opens in Norway A
fter just over 12 months of construction, Benchmark’s new land-based salmon egg production facility, SalmoBreed Salten in Sørfold, Norway, officially opened on May 22nd. The facility is touted by the company as the “most advanced land-based facility for the production of salmon eggs in the world.” Located in northern Norway, SalmoBreed Salten has the capacity to produce 150 million eggs annually, the equivalent of approximately half a million tonnes of harvested salmon. The land-based site is designed to hold stock from egg to final mature broodfish resulting in the highest standards of biosecurity in the industry.
continued on page 30
RAStech 2019 debuts as industry touts bright prospects for RAS BY MARI-LEN DE GUZMAN
ASHINGTON, D.C. – Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) and developments in biotechnology will help address the world’s increasing food supply challenges, said Sylvia Wulf, president and CEO of Aquabounty in her keynote address at RAStech 2019. “We have to be able to steward the environment in a different way moving forward,” Wulf told 275 attendees at the conference held in Washington, DC, on May 13 and 14. Sustainable food production through RAS will enable fish farming wherever the consumers are, Wulf said. Aquabounty’s AquAdvantage salmon is the first genetically engineered seafood that passed regulatory approvals from both Canada and the U.S. for commercial production. They have been developed to be raised in RAS environments, alleviating concerns about fish escapes that can impact wild fish populations, Wulf said. “In 30 years, we will have two billion more people to feed,” Wulf said in her keynote. “I believe a hundred per cent of seafood growth is going to come from aquaculture, and RAS is going to become increasingly important.”
W
continued on page 28 Publications Mail Agreement #PM40065710 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO 111 Gordon Baker Road, Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1