Wednesday, February 2, 2011

First closed-containment fish have been put in project tank

The first fish are in the water at the Middle Bay Sustainable Aquaculture Initiative (MBSAI) closed-containment project and the excitement is spreading.

Roughly 50,000 chinook salmon smolts, about 15 centimeters (six inches) in length, were poured into the new 3,000-cubic-meter solid-wall tank floating in Middle Bay last Friday evening. That marked the beginning of an 18 to 20-month experiment to raise the Pacific salmon to roughly four kilograms in size.

"It's so exciting," said Rob Walker, of Agrimarine Industries, partners in the initiative. "It's hard to stop smiling because it's such a huge moment for us, the first tank in the water and then the fish following. We're on to a whole new world again, rearing fish in this closed-containment system. "The fish always take a little while to adjust to their new environment. They're doing very well. We're quite pleased. They're feeding well. They're schooling. They're doing all the right things."

The fish were trucked in tanks from the Omega Pacific Hatchery at Great Central Lake near Port Alberni. The trucks were driven onto a barge at the Marine Link terminal and towed to the Middle Bay tank for offloading. Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.

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