Northeast Aquaculture Conference Meets in Portland

by Fishermen’s Voice Staff

Aquaculturalists with interests ranging from seaweed to salmon to science gathered at the Northeast Aquaculture Conference held in Portland, Jan. 14-16. Featured were exhibitions, seminars and field trips to regional aquaculture facilities. Attendees came from the length of the coast, from Virginia to the Canadian Maritimes. The event was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sea Grant, the Northeast Aquaculture Center, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center. Exhibits and seminar topics included site selection, eel culture, finfish disease diagnostics, ocean planning, green crabs, and how to get started.

One all-day workshop featured recirculating aquaculture systems for land-based finfish aquaculture operations. These closed containment systems filter waste, feed and contaminants and reuse the water continuously, reducing the need for the antibiotics and pesticides used to combat disease and pests in ocean-environment-based operations.

The Maine Aquaculture Association’s Sebastian Belle said one of the most significant differences this year (the conference has been held semi-annually since 1999) was the large number of young people attending who have an interest in being involved in aquaculture. Belle said some high schools have used aquaculture as a platform for teaching basic math and marine science. He said Maine is one of the epicenters for the growing momentum for aquaculture development, for reasons that include Maine’s clean cold water and marine science research centers, including the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research in Franklin, the Darling Marine Center in Walpole and the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center at the University of Maine in Orono, which have developed aquaculture programs over the last two decades. The Fish Vet Group, a world market leader in the supply of applied biotechnology to aquaculture, agriculture and the food supply chain has opened offices in Portland, Maine, their only office in the United States. Their other offices are in Thailand, Norway, Scotland and Ireland. In September of 2014 marine aquaculturalists met at the 10th International Sea Lice Conference held in Portland, Maine.

Land-based systems have been getting the attention of some aquaculturalists for a range of reasons. Critics of the marine finfish aquaculture industry say it is making a profit by passing on operating costs to the public by using the public’s clean water and leaving its wastes in that water. Land-ased systems reuse the water, collect the wastes and dispose of them. Ed Aneshansley of conference exhibitor Pentair Aquatic, a land based marine fin fish systems manufacturer, said the most important aspect of land-based aquaculture is water conservation and the control of effluents. They can also treat water before it is reused and engage bio-security measures that reduce the need for pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Mussels and oysters clean the water as filter feeders. These shellfish are seen as a part of a process for restoring some of the coastline’s essential habitat for a number of species, including groundfish.

NOAA Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard discussed aquaculture as a growing part of seafood production; he said production will have to increase as wild stocks decline. Bullard said the growing value of the aquaculture industry in the past four years is equal to the annual value of the wild ground fishery. According to Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center executive director Chris Davis, the distribution of acreage in finfish aquaculture compared to the acreage for shellfish aquaculture is about equal. Revenue from finfish aquaculture is about $60 million and shellfish is at $6 million.