SBIR-STTR Award

The east coast of the United States has a prospering and growing shellfish aquaculture industry with over 1000 small farms producing $45 million annually in dockside revenue. However there are currently no marine finfish aquaculture operations outside of limited salmon operations in the state of Maine. This is partially due to difficulty in securing permits for finfish operations and partially due to the difficulty in growing a fish in New England waters year round. With coastal water temperatures that can fluctuate in excess of 20 degrees Celsius there are very few options in terms of species of fish to grow and places to grow them. The future expansion of the Massachusetts aquaculture industry is dependent on developing alternative strategies to diversify farms within a highly developed marine ecosystem. This project will demonstrate the economic and environmental viability of a novel grow-out strategy for farming steelhead trout by utilizing existing marina infrastructure in the winter offseason from October to May. This will yield farmers a high-valued off-season crop for aquaculture operations increasing the profitability and production of the farm. Netpens are less likely to receive negative stakeholder feedback if sited in commercially established marina locations in the winter offseason. The netpens will be surrounded by eastern oysters and bay scallops in lantern nets and lines of sugar kelp to incorporate an integrated multi-trophic design. The addition of filter feeding shellfish and nutrient retaining kelp will decrease the environmental impacts while increasing the economic viability of the system by adding new crops to the farm.