Transcript Slide 1

New Technologies and Opportunities for Marine
Aquaculture Using Best Practices Management for
Sustainability
Dr. Phil McGillivary, USCG PACAREA & Icebreaker Science Liaison
Welcome to my world: a homeland security view of US
fisheries and aquaculture
• After oil & autos, US fish imports=3rd largest contribution to US
trade deficit: 20007 US fish exports@$4B/yr, imports $12B/yr (top
3=shrimp, salmon & clams), so fish=$8B/yr trade deficit. In 2008,
imports= $14.2B…w fish byproduct imports, total fish trade deficit
2008 = $28.5B (NOAA, 2009) . US aquaculture mostly salmon,
oysters, mussels, shrimp = 1.5% US supply = $200M in 2008.
• Hawaii case: exports 33 million lbs, consumes 55 million, local
aquaculture only 0.6 million lbs (2007) worth $37M
• National economic security issue, also food security..&..
• 84% US seafood is imported, 50% is farmed, w top 3 countries for
farmed seafood = China, Thailand, Indonesia. China produces 90%
of farmed seafood. Do you think there are water quality issues?
• Introduced disease an issue to DHS not so much a matter of human
health (although a concern), but also of putting US fisheries and
aquaculture at risk.
Welcome to my world: a homeland security view of
international fisheries & aquaculture…instability &
overuse of land resources…international & Africa case
• Worldwide 45% fish consumed today from
aquaculture, 48 million tons
• By 2030 UN FAO says additional 38 million tons
aquacultured fish will be needed to support
population increase
• Case study: Ghana offshore over-fishing affects
political instability of west African nations and
marine mammal & sea turtle by-catch
• Also effecting ‘bush meat’ over-harvest in
national parks & reserves, endangering 41 sps.
Welcome to my world: a homeland security view of
international fisheries & aquaculture…Pacific Climate
Effects of Ciguatera
….Called in for UN FAO Ciguatera Conf in 2010…
Re: UNESCO July 2000 Climate Workshop: Climate
Variability & Change and their Health Effects in Pacific
Island Countries
“Algal blooms occur more frequently with
unusually warmer or cooler water temperatures.
…Some of these algal blooms cause disease in
humans, but the most frequent case of human
illness caused by a marine toxin is ciguatera.
The toxin is eaten by herbivorous fish, and then
becomes more concentrated up the food chain.”
How Can Climate Affect Ciguatera?
South Pacific SSTs: red=warmer, Blue=colder,
El Nino periods on left; La Nina periods on right
ENSO effects on SST and ciguatera are NOT the same
everywhere! (Rongo et al., 2009).
Annual incidence of Ciguatera in Polynesia 1979-83 as
cases per 100,000, showing Tokelau has greatest
incidence of ciguatera, followed by French Polynesia
&Northern Cook Islands
(from N. Lewis, 1986)
Welcome to my world: a homeland security view of
international fisheries & aquaculture…Pacific Climate
Effects of Ciguatera
• Tahiti and Tokelau:
@80% of fish are now
inedible due to
ciguatera. Rule is if
5% of fish are found
with ciguatera they
are not allowed to be
sold. The low % due
to chronic effects: you
never lose ciguatera.
• Hawaii: 20% fish are
now inedible due to
ciguatera, and
additional species are
added annually. Now,
the introduced pest
fish ta’ape cannot be
eaten, increasing
problem of removal &
threat to natives.
The Long View:
Upper panel: Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) 1930-2000
Lower panel: PDO 1000-1900 (-2000 in brackest)
Purple=ciguatera So.Cooks; Green=N.Cooks/Fr.Polynesia.
Note major PDO shift @1450A.D. in lower panel
(Rongo et al. 2009)
Welcome to my world: a homeland security view of
international fisheries & aquaculture…Climate Effects
on Ciguatera
• ENSO effects don’t correlate w/ long climate shifts
• Inter-decadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) effects across entire Pacific
are similar to Pacific Decadal Oscillation effects in the North Pacific
• ENSO and IPO are of @ = strength in terms of effects on location of
SPCZ, but vary independently
• South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) affects SoPac latitudinal
SST distribution and has varied in phase w/ IDO since 1890s
(Folland et al., 2002), therefore…
We CAN use IPO surface pressure data to
predictively model latitudinal changes in SSTs
and probable changes in Ciguatera locations
ENSO & IDO effects on Ciguatera
Nunn’s 1991 “Feeling the hand of God”
hypothesis…
Environmental climate variations are as
important as human environmental effects on
human marine resource availability and use.
The current “Tipping Point” hypothesis…
Human activities combining increased nutrient
runoff ocean acidification and alien species
introduction will act in concert with climate
variations causing marine ecosystems to cross a
tipping point, leading to long-term shifts in
marine resource availability and use.
Quick guide to paleo-climate
changes:
AD 750-1300: warm, rising temps
& Sea Level, increasing aridity,
the “Little Climatic Optimum”
AD 1270-1475: rapid temp drop in
many places& SL drop up to 1m,
initial precipitation increases, the
“Transition Period” but in Southern
Cooks, temp increased1-1.5oC
Indications of ciguatera from other
archaeological sites:
Indicators of ciguatera:
1)
2)
3)
Shift to smaller, safer reef
fish
Shift to more pelagic fish
Shift to less fish in diet
Cautions about data
interpretation:
1) Not all sites are comparable
even on one island
2) Care must be made to
consider high and low island
effects
3) Sites differ with ciguatera
susceptibility, increasing at
low latitudes where warming
has greatest effect
Food Security in the Pacific: An
Ocean of Change
Conclusion to date: More and more careful
analysis of paleo-data on both climate and fish
use would be required to document ciguatera
induced changes in Polynesian migrations!
The fish you eat today may not be available
tomorrow…and aquaculture may be susceptible
as well.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history
• 1970s: Grow up in Philippines during Vietnam war… see milkfish
aquaculture in Subic Bay and Sulu Sea fishponds. Return US East
coast, discuss aquaculture of FW clam pearls to save clam species
• Early 1980s: Grad school at Skidaway Inst. Oc. Savannah, shellfish
aquaculture Ken Tenore’s group
• Watch offshore deepwater Golden crab harvest to near extinction
within 18 months of discovery before NOAA regulation
• Attempt sturgeon restoration in So Atl rivers, sturgeon aquaculture
• Jamaica Lindberg Grant ($10K) w Brian LaPointe, Tom Goreau:
fisheries restoration by backreef Gracilaria line culture using pulsed
phosphate fertilization over backreef nitrate/nitrite-rich springs.
Handed over to locals in 1 year, profitable second year, reef
fisheries rebound in 4 years.
• Late 1980s: Post-docs UCSB & Monterey: striped bass and
stomatopod culture in Calif., and eval of Pacific Island options;
growth hormone effects ‘discovered’ at Hopkins Marine Station by
Denny Powers.
An Innocent abroad: a personal aquaculture history
1990s: Molokai, the most aquaculture intensive society in the world,
110 fishponds, a ‘fat’ land. Kupeke Fishpond, 800 years old, 25 acres
for mullet, clam, crab, reef fish, tuna and stomatopod aquaculture, with
its’ own mini-hatchery.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history
Lysiosquilla maculata, 12-18” and all tail…@$150-200 ea in market.
Males eat fish by spearing, females shellfish by smashing. And they
come when called…
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history
Kupeke Fishpond…learning from & restoring the past
• Back-reef springs the
contributor to productivity,
as in Jamaica
• Concept: demonstrate to
native Hawaiians how to
restore their own culture
• Culture highest value
species to maximize profit
• Start by removing
500,000 mangroves: alien
species the kiss of death
due to anoxic waters
• Repair wall tsunami
damage to ensure flow
• Repair ‘makaha’ = gate
• Restore depth due to
sedimentation
• Remove barracuda
• Restore macroalgal
culture
• Involve locals, esp. HS
• Restore fishing gods,
fish-calling site, traditions
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Kupeke Fishpond…learning from & restoring the past
Lesson One: Lunar cycles are
essential factors
The Kapu nights of Kanaloa
[the Ocean God] are centered
during the 23-27th nights of the
lunar month. This is when fish
gates are open in spring, and
juvenile fish enter ponds,
and/or can be caught by throw
net nearshore & put in ponds.
When male stomatopods feed
on schooling goatfish, and
females fatten reproductive
lipids by feeding on shellfish.
The Kapu Nights of Kanaloa:
Kaloa Ku Kahi, Kaloa Ku Lua
& Kaloa Pau
(24-26th nights of lunar month)
The three nights of Kaloa are
good nights for fishing.
Makaloa and `ole shellfish
(drupes, terebras) plentiful.
• Fishpond work begins @11pm,
runs through 2am or later.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Kupeke Fishpond…learning from & restoring the past
Lessons Two: Vary food with
the lunar cycle
• Stomatopod males feed only
the three nights of the month
when goatfish school over their
burrows, which are always
directly under these fish
aggregation sites, both on
Molokai, and also in Moorea,
Tahiti, where they have been
studied for a long time by UCB.
• Feeding on a lunar cycle
requires at minimum two, and
usually three food types.
• Recall females need lipid-rich
foods to reproduce, and do so
according to lunar cycles.
• If you feed the same food all
the time, organisms will grow
and gain weight for a while, but
then weight gains become
erratic, and they lose weight.
• It is essential to alter 2-3 types
of food with the lunar cycle to
sustain growth, varying lipid,
carbo and protein content.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Kupeke Fishpond…learning from & restoring the past
Lesson Three: Fish Calling
• As a child I was taught to call
animals by both sides of my
family, from snapping turtles in
the South by slapping pond
surfaces, to our family tradition
of dolphin-calling similarly
• In Hawaii bamboo stamping
tubes or ka’eke’eke are used
to call fish. Frequencies are
150-300Hz, depending on tube
length.
• In 2004: filmed shark & turtle
calling in American Samoa
• Even tuna can be called
directly up onto the beach
using the correct frequencies,
those of feeding and breeding
(circular swimming)
• Light also works...
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
He’eia Fishpond…learning from & restoring the past
He’eia Fishpond,
Oahu, grows
Graciliaria (ogo),
various fish and
stomatopods
under community
management.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Other Hawaiian Aquaculture sps…Opihi (Limpets)
• Opihi, or limpets, of which
there are 3 species in Hawaii
are all endangered. To meet
food demand Hawaii imports
@12 tons/year from Ireland.
They are both a traditional and
medicinal food.
Aquaculture of opihi had been
tried for years but never
succeeded. Rob Toonen
(UH/HIMB) and colleagues
succeeded by raising them on
turf green algae, which suits
them just fine.
It is hoped that aquaculture will
take pressure off local stocks
which are severely overharvested on all islands except
Kaho’olawe, the former Navy
bombing range, where they are
also at risk. They fetch a good
price and their culture is easy
once you know how to do it!
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Other Hawaiian Aquaculture sps…Corals and Reef Fish
• Reef fish culture is not often
economically viable, but is for
some species, eg uncommon
species from remote areas, for
which transit costs & demand
are high, e.g. the Flame Angel,
Centropyge loriculus. It occurs
in Hawaii also, but colors there
are not as intense: the market
wants Micronesian specimens.
They are not hard to culture.
• Indonesian Banggai
Cardinalfish (Pterapogon
kauderni) are protected now
due to over-harvesting & are
also being cultured: also easy.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Other Hawaiian Aquaculture sps…Corals and Reef Fish
Michael Moore got his PhD at UCB
& post-doc’d at UCSD. Both were
in Indonesia, where dynamite
fishing in Indonesia’s Bunakin Reef
Reserve was rampant due to war
in Aceh, whose locals arrived
desperate & w no stake in local
fisheries. The locals were furious
their fishing was being ruined and
wanted action. Michael started
Ecoreefs, and a program w US AID
funding to restore reefs there &
elsewhere from ship groundings.
Units are fastened into sand or reef
to prevent storm damage. It works.
• Competitor Reef Balls, doesn’t: get
alien species & ciguatera.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Other Hawaiian Aquaculture sps…Corals and Reef Fish
•
•
•
•
30 years ago growing corals for
the aquarium trade was
considered impossible
15 years ago 50% of aquarium
corals were cultured & rising
Challenge remains culture of nonbranching (“brain” or “massive”)
corals. Secret is lunar cycles,
maybe stress to cause polyp
shedding.
20 years ago Tom Goreau reestablishing corals in polluted &
damaged areas growing on metal
frames w a low current & anode:
it worked, they grew 5X as fast,
and survived in polluted waters
where they otherwise died.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Electric Clams, Electric Oysters: Still TBD
• Tom Goreau tried several
times to culture clams in cages
using his electric method off
Cape Cod. However people
kept coming and disconnecting
the cables going into the water.
After several efforts, since he
didn’t live locally, he gave up
and stuck with coral
restoration, which is his main
thing anyway.
• Disappointed with Tommy’s
failure to try the electric
method on shellfish, and being
well aquainted with the
Tomales Bay oyster growers
(the Bay is north of SF, CA), I
tried to start a trial program
there. They claimed they
would never be able to
negotiate the maze of NOAA
and other permits, and
declined to make the attempt.
• STILL TBD!
Step 1: Environmental Best Management
Practices
We have identified 8 goals of environmental best management
practices for aquaculture (McGillivary, Troy and Spencer, 2007):
• (1) an effective system of monitoring and record-keeping
• (2) methods which avoid or minimize impacts to natural stocks
• (3) methods which avoid disease and minimize interactions with wild
stock
• (4) methods which minimize impacts on the ecosystem as a whole
• (5) methods which minimize interactions with wild predators and
avoid or minimize losses due to escape
• (6) methods which sustain optimal water quality
• (7) methods which minimize other ancillary risks, eg risks to
navigations; and, finally,
• (8) methods which include fully conceived and readily implemented
contingency plans.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Back to Hawaii: Open Ocean Aquaculture
• Land-based aquaculture in
Hawaii includes Spirulina
culture for astaxanthin using
upwelled water at NELHA
(Natural Energy Lab Hawaii
Authority) in Kona. Abalone
culture efforts also ongoing.
• US open ocean aquaculture
started 2001 in Hawaii w
Randy Cates (Cates, Intl.)
culturing moi (aka threadfin,
Polydactylus) off Oahu, and
2005 Neil Sims (Kona Blue)
culturing yellowtail (aka
kampachi, Seriola riviolana) off
Big Island in shallow (30-90m)
Ocean Spar cages.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Other than Hawaii: Open Ocean Aquaculture in NH & Puerto Rico
• Similar efforts with Ocean Spar cages
are tried by UNH personnel in Gulf of
Maine, and a tethered group
successfully over-winters, see video:
http://vislab-ccom.unh.edu/~schwehr/ForPhilM/
• Off Puerto Rico, in late 2000s Dan
Benetti (U.Miami/RSMAS) uses
Aquapods to successfully grow cobia
(Rachycentron canadum), and also
develops concept of self-propelled
cage along with Cliff Goudey (MIT),
and tests these at sea successfully
(c.f. Benetti, et al., 2010).
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Back to Hawaii: Open Ocean Aquaculture
• Hawaii Oceanic Technology (HOT)
starts 2008 to culture tuna in a new
kind of open ocean cage,
OceanSphere: a Buckminster
Fuller dome that can be much
bigger than spar cages and
assembled on site by divers.
Mindful of problems w benthic
changes and parasite migration
from shallow cages, HOT cages
are un-tethered, satellite directed
to productive waters. Goal is to
reduce use of baitfish by calling
krill & squid w sound/light, use
enzymes in feed to digest plant
food & feed grubs instead of
baitfish to get same fatty acids.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Back to Hawaii: Open Ocean Aquaculture
Other innovative aspects of HOT:
• State licensed parasitologist
and virologist on Board since
Day 1
• Native Hawaiian cultural expert
on Board since Day 1
• Use of macroalgae for fish
medicine instead of antibiotics
• Inclusion of shark in cages to
eat diseased fish before
disease can spread
Status: now only company in US
w permit for 247 acre (1km2)
deepwater site (Oct.23,2010)
Cost: 3 years, @$2M.
Some lessons learned:
• Aquaculture business needs
about $500K to start, and a 3
year plan
• Have good business partners,
and a plan if not
• Permits take 3 years average
• Begin site data collection asap
• Keep meticulous records;
make quarterly Board reports
• Ensure a good marketing plan
• Re: Mexican tuna culture
operation sells $2B/yr to
California w moving cages due
to red tides & sewage plumes.
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Back to the Big Picture: Green Fuel Aquaculture
• Macroalgal culture for green
fuel is the new hot ticket. Navy
and AF want biofuel, and
biofuel from the sea
specifically.
• Biofuel from seaweed plays
nicely with offshore wind farms
• Biofuel from seaweed can
combine CO2 from power
plants w sewage, including
from cruise ships, etc.
• Korea is in, Denmark is
in…bag culture a la NASA:
OMEGA bags
• Tests are beginning now in
California and Korea
An Innocent abroad…a personal aquaculture history:
Back to the Big Picture: Wind Farms, Shellfish Aquaculture & Alaska
• Wind farms offer one new
alternative for shellfish
aquaculture. They have the
advantage of fixed moorings,
and restricted waters.
• Shellfish being considered for
such sites are: oysters,
mussels, clams and scallops.
• Mussels are grown on ropes.
• Oysters and clams in bags
hung either vertically or
horizontally.
• Scallops are grown on
vertically hung culture ‘plates.’
What might Alaska do?
• Start trying some kinds
shellfish aquaculture in
Chukchi and Bering Sea
working with Native Alaskans
as an educational project. Try
bag culture at various
locations, eval predation,
growth, etc. Let locals manage.
• Try electric oyster culture
working with Tom Goreau.
• Consider some kelp or fucus
bag culture projects for biofuel
• Plan some future interface with
ocean energy projects.