Fisheries Theme Team

Aquaculture

Large-scale marine and Great Lakes aquaculture in the United States dates back to stocking programs with cultured fishes and invertebrates that were initiated soon after the U.S. Fish and Fisheries Commission was established in 1871. Part of Spencer F. Baird’s incentive to lobby Congress for establishment of the Commission was his recognition that many of the nation’s commercial fisheries were in decline.

Within a few years of being appointed Commissioner, Baird established hatcheries on the east and west coasts as well as on the Great Lakes. Atlantic and Pacific salmon, shad, cod, walleye, lobsters, and various other species were spawned, hatched and stocked. In some cases eggs or larvae were shipped long distances, including across the country by rail for subsequent stocking. As a result, billions of aquatic animals were released in an effort to enhance existing fisheries or create new ones. Most attempts failed because larval feeds had not been developed for most of the species being cultured; thus, the animals were often released as newly hatched larvae and the survival rates are assumed to have been extremely low. Successful introductions included striped bass in California, along with common carp throughout the nation. Both carp and brown trout were introduced to the U.S. from Europe and rainbow trout were translocated from the western states to other regions having suitable water temperatures. Millions of Atlantic salmon fry were stocked on the west coast as were Pacific salmon on the east coast. No successful salmon introductions occurred until the 1980s when chinook and coho salmon were successfully introduced into the Great Lakes.

Enhancement efforts in marine waters, with the exception of salmonids, were curtailed in the early years of the nineteenth century. In the interim, particularly beginning in the 1960s, aquaculture technology has advanced to the point that significant numbers of fish and invertebrate species can now be successfully reared in hatcheries to sizes that have a much better probability of survival than was the case previously. Salmon ranching in Alaska and the planting of shellfish beds in many coastal waters are clear indications that enhancement programs can be effective. Apparent successes associated with enhancement programs targeting striped bass on the Atlantic seaboard and red drum in Texas provide additional evidence that enhancement deserves further consideration as one among several methods associated with attempts to recover depleted fish stocks.

Enhancement programs for marine and Great Lakes fishes and invertebrates would require facilities to hold and spawn broodstock, hatch eggs, and, in many cases, rear the larvae to sizes where the chances of survival are good. The size and precise type of those facilities would vary considerably depending upon the species to be produced and the number of individuals required to meet stocking program needs.

Any enhancement program in coastal or Great Lakes waters should involve an intensive series of studies to determine, at a minimum, the following:

• Ensure the maintenance of genetic diversity within cultured populations,
• Obtain broodstock from the same area where offspring will be stocked to avoid mixing genetically distinct stocks,
• Determine the carrying capacity of the environment for the introduced species (this would include determining that sufficient food resources exist for native and stocked organisms),
• Determine if stocked fish assume the same behavioral patterns as wild fish (this would include determining if stocked and wild fish interbreed),
• Determine the percentage of enhancement animals that recruit to the fishery.

The overall goals of an enhancement program would be to ensure that stocking is conducted in an environmentally sound manner. Programs that involve the stocking of aquatic species in state or federal waters should use only native species.

The Secretary of Commerce has announced a national policy on aquaculture and funding in support of research to address that policy has been appropriated beginning in the fiscal 2000 NOAA budget. An Aquaculture Theme Team has been active and has developed a brochure that outlines a research and outreach agenda for aquaculture. Included in that brochure is a discussion of enhancement, thus, there should be close interaction between any National Strategic Initiative that is developed for Fisheries and the one developed by the Aquaculture Theme Team.