Halibut Aquaculture Production

Offshore Aquaculture 101: Concepts and Species important to the North Pacific

Michael B. Rust Northwest Fisheries Science Center NOAA- Fisheries Seattle, WA Outline Do we need more fish? Aspects of net-pens Why move off-shore? World Farmed Halibut Production and Technology World Farmed Cod Production The Sablefish story Summary Do we need more fish?

Predicted World Seafood Supply and Demand • Demand for seafood and other marine products is increasing – Population – Per Capita Consumption • The capture fishery is fully tapped and many stocks are depleted • Aquaculture, especially marine aquaculture, is the only way to increase the supply of seafood Intensity of aquaculture systems

Kg/ha Low High 100-15,000 4-600,000 Ponds Tanks & Net-pens Recirc. Raceways Tanks Advantages of Net-Pens •Low energy use •No land use beyond service needs •Non-consumptive of water •A lot of fish in a small area Offshore Cage Types

Submersible type cage Gravity type cage Why move Off-shore?

• More Space • Better Effluent Assimilation Capacity – Solids settle to the bottom-impact depends on current, depth and management practices.

– Dissolved N, CO2 and P carried away in current – Impacts more likely to be positive Impacts of Nutrients on Benthos

Bay

Open Ocean Benthic Organisms

Nutrients Similar processes occur in water column Cage impacts on the bottom: Effects of currents

Weak Current

Strong Current Cage impacts on the bottom: Effects of water depth

Shallow

Deep Why move off-shore?

• View issues History of Halibut Aquaculture research in Norway

• 1934 Gunnar Rollefsen made in vitro fertilization and described early development.

• 1980 The first two halibut larvae were fed through metamorphosis at Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Flødevigen (Øiestad, V. and Haugen, A.S. 1980; Blaxter, J.H.S., Danielsen, D., Moksness, E. and Øiestad, V. 1983)

• 1983 Silos developed at Austevoll

• 1985 The first two halibut juveniles were produced at IMR, Austevoll.

• 1983-1995 Austevoll developed the first production line for juveniles

• 1987-present Sea-cages for halibut growout, Diet, genetics, health and other areas expand Torrissen et al 2003 Halibut Aquaculture Production

2500

2000

Norway 1500 Other Countries (UK, Iceland, Canada, Chili) 1000 Total

500

0 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 Year Halibut Aquaculture Juvenile

1000 Production

900

800

700 Norway 600 Other Countries (UK, Iceland, 500 Canada, Chili) 400 Total

300

200

100

0 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 Year Lifestages

Eggs Yolk sac larvae Start feeding Grow out

10 d 40 d 50 d 1500 d

Metamorphosis Torrissen et al. 2003 STRIPPING OF PRODUCTION OF BROODSTOCK

JUVENILESILO HALIBUT FOR KEEPING YOLK SAC LARVAE • Complex process

• Shifting from semi- EGG INCUBATION intensive feeding to intensive feeding

Productionof

halibut ilohksacS youveniljalibut rve) el Brodstc k strip

Egg incubation

Semiprotartfedin-intesv dukjo g Saltkr()ArtemiaIntesivproduAikinksjonGrøtva(miklge)

i Kveitlaristllepstpore tanksrHjulfilterGjødse KveitlarikarlD emning

StrømsNaupliiCoeddetrPlank: iter

EnrichmentIntensive production Artemia Micro algae START FEEDING Semi-intensive production Hjulfilter Kveitelarver i store tanker eller plastposer Gjødsel Demning

van der Meeren, T., 2003 Plankton Hatchery Incubator

T=6 C L=dark

Harboe, T., 2003 Incubator – Yolk sac larvae

T= 6 C L= dark Syncronised hatching=light/dark

18 days

18 days

van der Meeren, T., 2003 60 days Semi-intensive larval rearing system Intensive larval feeding tanks

t= 12 C Light aeration

Harboe, T., 2003 Juvenile production in Norway

700 Semi-intensive Intensive 600

500

400

300 Numbers 1000) (in 200

100

0 1 2 7 8 9 0 3 4 5 6 9 0 1 2 9 7 8 9 00 00 00 99 9 99 99 99 99 9 99 1 2 2 2 98 98 99 99 1 1 1 1 98 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Kristiansen, T. And Harboe, T., 2003 Halibut Aquaculture in the US? • Only Atlantic Halibut at this point - Pacific Halibut is a different species. • UNH offshore aquaculture project – 1200 juveniles from a Canadian hatchery grown in Sea Station cage off of New Hampshire coast – Also testing Haddock, Cod and Summer Flounder – http://ooa.unh.edu/ Cod Production Estimates

200,000

150,000

100,000 Intrafish Analysis (Norway 2002 Production only) Cod Hatchery Manager A is about 1,500 MT (Norway only) 50,000 Cod Hatchery Manager B (Norway only) SNF report (Norway only)

0 Lozowick Market Research 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 (UK only) Year Note: Halibut is just now at 1500 MT annual production despite a much longer commercial history. Advantages of Cod over Halibut • Easier Seed production – Less than a week as eggs then hatch and start feeding. – No long yolk sac phase - no need for silos – Quick growth to the juvenile stage – More robust larvae • No need to modify salmon net-pens for grow-out • Traditional market is larger

6 months The Sablefish Story

• Early life history mirrors halibut – Complex and expensive to produce seed, however methods already developed for halibut work for sablefish. • Grows well in salmon net-pens • More efficient with feed than salmon • No swimbladder - can be raised in cages without access to the surface Development of Sablefish farms

• Commercial hatcheries in BC – 1 existing - production growing from about 100 fish in 1999 to 40,000 in 2002, perhaps 180,000 next year. Destroyed 1.2 million larvae due to a lack of market ($CN 5-7 each). – 1 existing that has never produced more than a few thousand – 1 new that plans on producing up to 250,000 next year. Development of Sablefish farms

• Grow-out of Sablefish in BC – About 20 salmon lease holders have permits to grow sablefish, but only 3-4 actually have. – Very limited production (perhaps 50 MT) but expected to grow over the next decade. Summary • Off-shore aquaculture has benefits and costs associated with it relative to other fish producing activities. • Most of the development of species important to the north Pacific is for the Atlantic counterparts. Little work on Pacific species. • Halibut production is stalled, but could pick-up in the next few years • Cod is coming - perhaps in a big way. Technology is not an issue, however financing is. • Sablefish production is low and mostly experimental, but the technology is available from the Halibut industry. • Development outside of the US on these species and technologies will continue even if there is little activity within the US