Recirculating Aquaculture
There are three recirculating aquaculture facilities:
The Virginia Tech Aquaculture Center
The Virginia Tech Aquaculture Center was established in October, 1989. The purpose of this innovative facility is to provide comprehensive education and research programs focusing on the development of commercial recirculating aquaculture systems nationwide.
"Recirculating Aquaculture" refers to a method of growing fish at high densities under controlled conditions in indoor tanks. The water used to grow fish is cleaned and reused. New water is added only to replace losses from evaporation, splash out, and solid waste removal. This "fish factory" concept is analogous to poultry production in broiler houses or pork production in swine confinement barns. Recirculating aquaculture minimizes the amount of water and land needed, and greatly expands the opportunities to grow fish in geographic areas that are normally unsuitable (too cold, too dry, too hot, etc.) to grow fish outdoors year-round.
The Virginia Tech Aquaculture Center is the largest and most sophisticated facility in the United States dedicated exclusively to research and development of commercial recirculating aquaculture systems. This facility consists of a two building complex with more than 8500 square feet of floor space.
Click here for more information on the facility. Click here to visit the Center's home page.
The Southwest Virginia Aquaculture Research and Extension Center
The
Southwest Virginia Aquaculture Research and Extension Center in Saltville,
Virginia is dedicated to supporting sustainable recirculating aquaculture
and high value alternative horticulture opportunities in southwest Virginia
through research, extension, and education programs. It is the culmination
of decades of Virginia Tech research in the area of aquaculture. Researchers
have been working to design systems that will be productive in our variable
climate, to identify and breed high-value species that are fast-growing and
stress-tolerant, to reduce the incidence of disease and develop veterinary
treatments for fish stocks, and to limit water usage and waste.
Unlike research-scale systems, the Center will operate as a business, yielding real world data for analysis and the development of economic models. This type of data is crucial, enabling investors and lenders to consider the true potential of a recirculating aquaculture venture. The Center is the first facility of its kind, enabling detailed study of a commercial operation, without the proprietary limitations that are encountered in studies of private firms.
Plans are underway to expand the facility to include gardens. The site already has greenhouses. Click here to see the site's plan.
Visit their website at http://www.vaes.vt.edu/saltville.
The Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center
The
Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center's mission is to
provide education, scientific and technical guidance, support, and leadership
to the seafood and aquaculture industries throughout Virginia and the United
States, thereby helping them to remain competitive economically on a global
scale. Multi-disciplinary research and public service (driven by industry
needs such as food science and technology, mariculture, economics, waste management,
seafood engineering, and business planning) help accomplish the Center's mission.
Core research and extension programs at the Center focus on seafood safety and quality of wild caught and cultured animals and products, business marketing and plans for the commercial and aquaculture industries, engineering and thermal processing, intensive saltwater recirculating aquaculture, and education/outreach.
The Seafood Center currently functions as a regional Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) training center. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has implemented a mandatory seafood inspection program based on HACCP principles. HACCP is a preventive system of food control that requires a hazard analysis be conducted on the product and process and that Critical Limits (CLs) are set at each Critical Control Point (CCP) of the process. HACCP allows focusing of resources, money, people and equipment on the essential elements of a food control system.
Recirculating aquaculture research and extension efforts focus on summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) production. Ozone injection and biological filtration methods control and eliminate potential incoming pathogens on the fish. Research efforts also focus on fish reproduction (a 180 day spawning cycle to ripen fish is used), larval rearing techniques, and live food production (e.g., algae, rotifers, copepods and artemia).
Visit their website at http://www.vaes.vt.edu/seafood
