Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 9 May 2017

Researchers seek better ways to farm popular Pacific fish

PHUONG LE son, executive director of chester Research Station,
Associated Press the Fishing Vessel Own- across Puget Sound from
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. ers’ Association, a Seattle- Seattle. “The big problem is
(AP) — The dark gray fish based group that repre- allaying the fears of people
prized for its buttery flavor sents about 95 commer- that you can have both.
live deep in the ocean, so cial fishermen in Alaska, You can have both of those
researchers keep their lab Oregon, Washington and things working, particularly
cold and dark to simulate California. because this fish is such a
ideal conditions for sable- In 2015, fisherman harvest- high-value product.”
fish larvae. ed about 35 million pounds In recent years, NOAA Fish-
A biologist shines his dim (16 million kilograms) of sa- eries scientists have worked
red headlamp and uses an blefish worth $113 million in to reduce potential bar-
ultrasound to scan the belly the United States, all along riers to sablefish aquacul-
of an anesthetized sable- the U.S. West Coast. ture. They have developed
fish about the length of his In this photo taken March 28, 2017, Bill Fairgrieve, a fisheries re- Of that, nearly two-thirds, techniques to produce all-
forearm to tell if it’s female search biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric or about 23 million pounds female stocks of sablefish
and has eggs to collect. He Administration, holds a sablefish at a research facility in Man- (10 million kilograms), were that grow faster and much
gently squeezes out hun- chester, Wash. caught in Alaska, with bigger than males in about
dreds of tiny, translucent Associated Press smaller amounts in Oregon, 24 months. Ideal market
eggs into a glass beaker. aquaculture as a solution Fishermen along the U.S. Washington and California. size is roughly 5 ½ pounds
After the eggs are fertil- to feed a growing demand West Coast, mostly in Alas- Nearly half of the sablefish (2 ½ kilograms).
ized externally, they’ll grow worldwide for seafood. ka, catch millions of pounds caught in the United States They’ve also studied dif-
in large indoor tanks and People are consuming of wild sablefish each year is exported, with a majority ferent ways to reduce the
some in floating net pens in more fish than in previous but no commercial sable- going to Japan. costs of feeding juvenile
Washington state’s Puget decades, with average fish net-pen farming exists “Our fear is that sci- fish, increase larvae survival
Sound to be used for re- worldwide per capita con- in the U.S. ence isn’t going to stay in rates and decrease defor-
search. sumption hitting 43 pounds Sablefish, also known as the U.S., and it will be ex- mities.
At this federal marine re- (20 kilograms) a year, ac- black cod or butterfish, ported to a Third World One research project is re-
search station near Seat- cording to the Food and are long-lived species that country where people work placing more expensive
tle, scientists are studying Agriculture Organization is native to the northeast for a few bucks a day,” Al- algae with clay that is used
sablefish genetics and in- of the United Nations. Fish Pacific Ocean and highly verson said. “They’ll raise it to help sablefish larvae
vestigating ways to make it consumption is expected valued in Asia for its benefi- with low-valued labor and better find their prey. An-
easier and more efficient to to grow even more in com- cial nutrients and delicate use our science to under- other looked at finding the
commercially grow the fish. ing years. flavor. The fish are grilled, cut our commercial fishery optimal temperature to in-
It is part of a larger effort NOAA says aquaculture smoked, poached, roasted and coastal communities.” crease larval growth.
by the National Oceanic can relieve pressure on fish- or served as sushi. Alaska law prohibits finfish Wild fish are caught off
and Atmospheric Admin- ing populations and pro- Michael Rubino, who di- farming. the Washington coast and
istration to support marine mote economic growth. rects the NOAA aquacul- Rubino and others say wild used to develop captive
ture program, noted that harvests and aquaculture brood stocks, or mature fish
practices for farming fish in can complement each that are used for breeding.
the U.S. meet very strict en- other, particularly during At the facility, the fertil-
vironmental regulations. months when there are ized eggs grow in silos in
But some critics worry large- lower catch limits for wild dark, cold rooms before
scale farms could harm sablefish. being moved to other in-
wild fish stocks and ocean “You always have this yin- door tanks where they’re
health, and some commer- yang problem between fed a steady diet of brined
cial fishermen worry about fisheries and aquaculture,” shrimp and other food.
potential competition. Rick Goetz, who leads the Large circular tanks hold
“This would be a big threat marine fish and shellfish bi- fish in different growth
for us,” said Robert Alver- ology program at the Man- stages.q