Land-based aquaculture is a growing alternative that eliminates the risk of spreading waste, diseases or parasites in open waters. Closed containment systems do, however, share a key area of concern with their water-based counterparts, and that’s how many fish it takes to grow the larger ones that humans eat. System owners also have to filter out fish waste or develop markets for products like fish fertilizer.Building an intricate indoor system of tanks and tubes costs far more than growing Atlantic salmon in nets or cages in open waters. The technology, which helps conserve water resources on land, has been evolving for more than a decade, but few businesses have been able to make it financially viable says the report.
As a research facility, the Freshwater Institute isn’t aiming to sell salmon year-round. Its fish won’t hit the market again for another eight to 10 months, and previous salmon harvests have been donated to places such as the anti-hunger nonprofit D.C. Central Kitchen. In the meantime, institute director Joseph Hankins has opened the facility’s doors to aquaculture businesses and investors looking to adapt and scale up the recirculating aquaculture, or closed containment, technology.
The Freshwater Institute’s first batch of land reared Salmon was delivered to markets in Maryland and Virginia in late March and will be available through mid-May at area Wegmans seafood counters and on more than a dozen restaurant menus. That means Washington consumers can get the first taste of the only Atlantic salmon in the United States grown with this technology.
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This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd.