INTRODUCTION

        As one considers fish culture in Massachusetts, the first impulse is to divide the topic by environment:  freshwater versus saltwater, and -- within the marine environment -- the warmer waters south of Cape Cod versus the colder waters north of the cape.  The fact that the cape serves as a boundary between two biogeographic provinces is both good news and bad news.  The good news is that there is a wider variety of marine species that can be cultured in waters of two provinces (i.e., both warmwater and coldwater species).  The bad news is that culturing species in waters near the limits of their ranges means that the waters may not be optimal for growing fish during some months of the year (i.e., too hot in summer for some, too cold in winter for others).
        The culturist, therefore, needs to consider whether culture of particular species in Massachusetts’ open waters makes sense from the standpoint of growth of the product (let alone regulatory problems).  What are the major species that we need to consider?  North of the cape, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), Atlantic salmon, and Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) are actual or potential marine fish candidates.  South of the cape, summer flounder and tautog (Tautoga onitis) are still just potential candidates at this point.  In the freshwater environment, trout, hybrid striped bass, and tilapia are presently grown in Massachusetts.
 

ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS

        As natural stocks of commercially important species decline, tremendous pressure will build to culture many of those species and to employ out-of-work fishermen in such culture.  Several “reality checks” must be put into place in dealing with that pressure.
        The first reality check is economics.  Fish culture in Massachusetts will be (and is) expensive.  Costs of land, labor, and regulatory issues are higher than they are “down south.”  By “down south,” I mean the Delmarva peninsula, the Carolinas, and beyond to Latin America.  The farther south one goes, the lower the costs for fish production.  The Massachusetts fish culturist who produces a filleted product for the retail market may very well find that the market price for that species is actually determined by the supply from lower-cost southern producers.  For example, it is by now well known that the price of Atlantic salmon in the United States is primarily determined by production in Chile.  In order to be safe, the culturist should try to produce a product whose price cannot be determined by Latin American competitors.  One product that foreign growers cannot economically export to the United States is live fish for the Asian market, so production for that market ought to be high on the list for examination by anyone wishing to enter the Massachusetts finfish culture industry.
        The second “reality check” regards the number of jobs created in an aquacultural venture, and, more specifically, how many of those jobs might be filled by unemployed fishermen.  I am aware of a few companies in which about one-to-two-dozen people can produce approximately 1 million lb of fish per year.  While many of those jobs might be performed by former fishermen, several require specific training or skills not likely to be possessed by fishermen.
 

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

        Technical issues in finfish culture fall into two basic areas:  biological and engineering.  Biological issues may be subdivided into hatchery-phase aspects and growout aspects.  In the hatchery phase, broodstock fish must be managed in such a way that eggs can be obtained as often as possible, preferably throughout the year.  If the goal of the operation is to bring a consistent product to market throughout the year, then a consistent supply of eggs should be going into the production pipeline.  For commercially important marine fish species, rearing of larvae into juveniles is often the “bottleneck” because of high mortality associated with that stage (even in natural oceanic populations).  Growth of sea bass, sea bream, cod, turbot, and halibut industries in Europe required solution of many problems (e.g., food, nutritional requirements, swim bladder inflation, etc.) in the hatchery phase.  Once the fish move to the growout phase (including a “nursery” phase for hatchery-to-growout transition), focus of problems usually shifts to nutrition, disease, and system operation (including effluent management).  Growout phase is the most expensive and risky.  Feed costs usually account for about one-half of production costs, and the growout period usually takes more than 1 yr.
        Engineering issues can also be subdivided; in this case, into those associated with coastal net-pen facilities and those associated with land-based, flow-through or recirculation facilities.  Net-pen facilities require mechanical engineering expertise, so that pens can withstand physical stresses of an ocean environment.  Recirculation facilities require chemical or process engineering expertise, so that proper water chemistry can be maintained through the production tanks and biological filters.
        For reasons mentioned above, especially water temperature and regulatory problems in the coastal environment, I believe that the soundest strategy for finfish culture in Massachusetts is development of land-based recirculation systems.  The high-tech, high-(fish)-density, aquacultural system developed at AquaFuture, Inc., in Turners Falls is a model for aquaculture’s success.  According to the owners, they can produce as much hybrid striped bass in a 45,000-ft² facility as is produced in 400 acres of farm ponds “down south.”  If New England aquaculturists are to succeed, they need to develop appropriate technologies (including development of new hybrids or genetically improved species) for a high land cost, high labor cost, difficult regulatory environment.
        Beginning in 1990, the Universities of Rhode Island and Massachusetts collaborated to demonstrate that summer flounder exhibited potential for commercial aquaculture in a land-based recirculation system.  This high-value species can be induced to spawn throughout the year with hormonal injections, larvae can be raised using techniques similar to those for turbot in Europe, and fish can grow to about 10 inches within the first year of life and to market size within 2 yr.  Although research on this species continues, a Northeast Fishing Industry Grant has assured that a commercial-scale demonstration project will begin this year and will likely create a new industry, since interest from the private sector is high.
 

CONCLUSIONS

        U.S. agriculture owes its success in large part to government-conducted and government-funded research, followed up with technology transfer to the private sector via a strong cooperative extension service.  In New England, we are currently in the research phase and entering the technology transfer phase.  NMFS is to be lauded for its support of research in culture of commercially important species.  The USDA and states must now ensure that the New England cooperative extension network is adequate to the task of serving the fastest-growing, food-producing sector of the U.S. economy -- aquaculture.

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