Caviar and Snook
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Academic
MOTE Researchers Developing a Model that Allows More Aquaculture Farms to Meet the Growing Demand for Seafood, while Restoring Native fish Populations in Florida and Reducing Dependence on Large-scale Commercial Fishing
Mote started its search to find a better solution in the early 1980s, focusing its first aquaculture efforts on reversing the decline in snook populations. After the division had outgrown a small space on Mote Marine's main campus on City Island, the laboratory in 2001 bought a massive sod farm at 12300 Fruitville Road, close enough to its primary support hub but also far enough east to show aquaculture can be done at inland facilities. The farm began raising sturgeon one year later. Now, researchers are testing the methods it has developed with five species of fish ? snook, red drum, Florida pompano and flounder.
The facility
Mote's aquaculture research and development facility is the largest in the U.S. It has seven air-conditioned rooms for raising fish, in circular tanks that are 6-feet deep and that range from 15 feet to 20 feet in diameter.
Each room has its own filtration system, egg collector and controls for temperature and lighting. To encourage reproduction, the tanks are designed to replicate the fish's natural habitat. Researchers even shift the conditions ? such as water temperature and amount of light ? to mimic the four seasons.
"We can grow them faster because we create the ideal environment," Main said.
High survival rate
Most species spawn millions of very small eggs, only a very small percentage of which would survive in nature. That hatch rate grows dramatically under Mote's care, because the fish are protected from predators and fed the right nutrients.
About 5 percent of Mote's snook eggs will be hatched and raised. That figure rises to nearly 25 percent for other species. By comparison, less than one-tenth of a percent of all eggs survive in nature, Main said.
Main is using the research to develop better practices for raising similar fish on a full-scale commercial farm. She's even using hydroponics to grow two kinds of edible plants for possible future sale.
Protecting the environment
To lessen its effects on the environment, the Mote facility grows wetland plants, such as mangroves and salt marsh grass, to help naturally filter its water. Solar panels help supply electricity. And the water flows through the various tanks and filters using gravity, avoiding all but a little bit of electrically powered pumping.
The water also is recycled, to curb the amount of potentially harmful discharge. A gallon of water in Mote's aquaculture tanks lasts five to seven days, compared with an average life of five to seven minutes in most commercial operations. This reduces total water usage by about 2,000 percent.
"We're always looking at ways we can improve the efficiencies of a system like this," Main said. "Sometimes you don't see the final result until 10 years down the road."
The research operation is funded through a mix of state grants, federal earmarks and private donations amounting to $450,000 to $500,000 a year, Mote said.
Producing caviar
Mote's commercial caviar business is its best-established operation.
On the same farm as the research lab, Mote workers are now growing 60,000 sturgeon ? equal to about 150 metric tons of fish ? in fresh water tanks holding 950,000 gallons of fresh water.
Using the same methods developed by its researchers, the Mote caviar business is the second-largest of its kind in the nation. Approved and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the caviar is cleaned, lightly salted and packaged on site.
"The idea is to demonstrate on a large scale that sustainable aquaculture can be done away from the coastline ? in a way that's economically sound and environmentally safe," said Nadine Slimak, a Mote spokeswoman.
Mote starts its caviar process with fertilized eggs imported from Europe. After the eggs hatch and the fish begin to grow, they are moved from tank to tank and kept with fish of similar in size and age. Mote scientists developed a new system that allows them to test the gender of the fish at an earlier age, saving money by reducing resources used to grow males.
The males are sold for their filet meat. The females are grown longer, for five to seven years. Their eggs are harvested for caviar, and their meat is sold on the filet market.
The operation produced 1.7 tons of caviar in 2013, which was sold to restaurants and retailers around the globe. The product, which has received rave reviews in publications such as Bon Appetite, retails for $55 to $65 an ounce.
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