AgEnergy

Aquaculture

The demand for fish and seafood is increasing faster than natural fish stocks can reproduce leading to increased prices. Strong steady demand for fish has spurred the growth of intensive fish culture. In the Great Lakes area, yellow perch and sunfish are in high demand for weekly fish fries. Open pond culture has been the traditional cultural method in the Midwest but environmental regulations and restrictions on pond building is forcing the use of water recirculation system. These systems are compact and can be located near or within urban areas where markets exist. Recirculation systems have the advantage of being able to control the environment to optimize growth, eliminate predator issues, conserve water and reduce disease transmission from wild fish. The disadvantage of recirculation systems is that they are energy intensive because water is continuously being pumped to remove waste and supply oxygen.

Air Lift Pumps
A centrifugal pump is the standard method for moving water in recirculation systems. An airlift pump can be used in place of a centrifugal pump for low head pumping of water. The airlift pump works by using the buoyancy produced by entraining air bubbles in a water column to lift and move water. An airlift pump also serves several other functions including aeration (adding oxygen to the water), carbon dioxide removal and foam fractionation (removal of dissolved particles). Energy costs for using an airlift pump for pumping and aeration are about thirty-five percent less than the cost of a conventional pumping system. The capital costs for an air lift pump of similar capacity are significantly less. The pump column is made mostly of PVC plumbing components and the air is supplied by a fractional horsepower air compressor for a small system. The photo shows an air lift pump system for an 800 gallon growing tank.

Resource and additional information for airlift pumps can be found at http://www.uwex.edu/uwmril/rural_energy/aquaculture.htm.

Links

Aquaculture Resources Associations
Wisconsin Aquaculture Association - http://www.wisconsinaquaculture.com/
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - Aquaculture, pond building and environmental information - http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/cea/assistance/aquaculture/
Aquacultural Engineering Society - http://www.aesweb.org/
Aquaculture Center for Training, Education and Demonstration - http://www.aquaculture-online.org/
Aquaculture Network Information Center - http://aquanic.org/
North Central Regional Aquaculture Center - http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/aquanic/ncrac/index.htm
North Central Aquaculture Regional Extension Facilitator - http://www.ncaref.org
World Aquaculture Society - http://www.was.org
United States Aquaculture Suppliers Association - http://www.aquaculturesuppliers.com
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute - http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu

College Aquaculture Programs
University of Wisconsin Aquaculture Program - http://www.wisc.edu/foodsci/aquaculture/
Cornell University Aquaculture Program - http://www.aben.cornell.edu/extension/aquaculture/
SUNY-Morrisville Aquaculture Science Program - http://www.morrisville.edu/academics/ag_natural%20resources/aquaculture/index.htm
SUNY-Cobleskill Fisheries and Aquaculture Program - http://www.cobleskill.edu/Programs/AG/AGBU/FishAqua/Fish-BT/
Virginia Tech Aquaculture Center - http://www.fw.vt.edu/fisheries/Aquaculture_Center/main_page.htm
Malaspina University, British Columbia, Canada- http://www.mala.ca/calendar/BSCFISH.ASP
UC-Davis, Biological & Agricultural Engineering - Aquaculture Engineering - http://bae.engineering.ucdavis.edu/Research/aquaculture.htm
University of the Virgin Islands Aquaculture Short Course - http://www.uvi.edu/pub-relations/uvi/home.html

High School Class Room Resources
Infusing Aquaculture into Traditional High School Curriculums - http://www.freshwaterinstitute.org/pdf/aquaculture%20in%20high%20school.pdf
University of Arizona - Aquaculture in the Classroom - http://ag.arizona.edu/azaqua/extension/Classroom/home.htm
   http://ag.arizona.edu/azaqua/azhighs.html
South Carroll High School Aquaculture website (Maryland) - http://www.angelfire.com/md2/schs/
Liverpool High School Aquaculture Center (New York) - http://www.liverpool.k12.ny.us/LHS/bero/lhsaquaculture.html

Commercial Vendors
Ken's Fish Farm - http://www.kens-fishfarm.com/
Aquatic Eco-Systems, Inc - http://www.aquatic-eco.com/
Stoney Creek Equipment Co. - http://www.stoneycreekequip.com/
Polytank, Inc - http://www.polytankco.com/polytank.html
Aquaculture Index of Catalogs and Companies online - http://darc.cms.udel.edu/catalogs.html
http://aqua.ucdavis.edu/links/links01nf.html

If you have information you think would be useful to this site please contact
Scott Sanford, Senior Outreach Specialist, University of Wisconsin, sasanford@wisc.edu.