HARBOR BRANCH - OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

THE PROMISE OF A BLUE REVOLUTION: A FLORIDA AND CARIBBEAN AQUACULTURE CONNECTION

FT. PIERCE, Fla. -- Jan. 16/06 -- Florida and the wider Caribbean use and enjoy the resources of one of the world's most diverse and productive marine ecosystems. However, both human and natural activities are increasingly threatening those resources. Expanding aquaculture efforts offer the potential to reduce some threats by reducing the commercial harvest of fish and shellfish, while also meeting growing economic needs.

On Wednesday, January 18, at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m., Kenneth Riley and Megan Davis, two scientists in Harbor Branch's Aquaculture Division, will discuss their ongoing work to identify the marine species that offer the greatest potential for commercial aquaculture ventures and subsistence farming for Florida and the Caribbean. They will also discuss several research projects starting later in the year that could help expand aquaculture in the region.

Helping the aquaculture industry expand has always been a key goal of the Harbor Branch Aquaculture Division. Besides training skilled workers in the industry through courses at Harbor Branch and at Indian River Community College, Harbor Branch scientists have a long history of successful collaboration with entrepreneurs, commercial businesses, governments, and other organizations. Through such work the scientists have helped groups assess the feasibility of various potential aquaculture programs in different regions of the Caribbean, including parts of Central and South America. Through an ongoing project, the Aquaculture Division has also developed a system for ranking various aquaculture species to determine which offer the greatest potential for growth and economic development.

For Florida, the Harbor Branch study has identified pompano, cobia, striped bass, and red drum as good candidates for Florida fish farmers. Harbor Branch has for several years, in collaboration with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, been developing methods for farming pompano, black sea bass, and flounder. As Riley and Davis will explain, the institution will also be branching into work with cobia this spring when 2,000 cobia will be brought to the institution's Aquaculture Development Park to begin a new project. Cobia are currently being raised commercially in offshore cages in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, but offshore cage aquaculture faces a number of severe regulatory hurdles. Very little work has been done to explore farm-raising cobia at land-based facilities. Harbor Branch researchers will be working to develop methods for growing cobia in indoor production facilities.

Riley and Davis will also describe the implications of feasibility studies in the Caribbean. They will explain why some familiar species such as conch, lobster, and grouper offer promise in the region, but they will also discuss growing potential for farming species not as commonly considered for aquaculture, namely seaweed and sponges.

Seaweed has a number of uses most people are not familiar with. For instance, in the Caribbean some species are used to produce a drink considered an aphrodisiac by locals. More substantial applications include using seaweed in water filtration systems.

The uses of sponges are familiar enough, but natural sponge use in past years has been rare, both because of the introduction of synthetic sponges in the 1970s, and because of overharvesting. But growing interest in natural and organic products has fueled new interest in natural sponges, opening possibilities for farm raising them profitably. This year, Harbor Branch will be starting new research on techniques for raising sponges that produce chemicals with biomedical potential and this work will likely lead to results applicable to growing sponge farming interests.

Riley and Davis's talk, "The Promise of a Blue Revolution: A Florida and Caribbean Aquaculture Connection," will be held in the auditorium of the Johnson Education Center on the Harbor Branch Campus, 5600 US 1 North, Ft. Pierce, Fla. at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18. High-res photos and b-roll are available to the media upon request. Please direct press inquiries to Mark Schrope at 772-216-0390 or schrope@hboi.edu. General questions about the series should be directed to the Marine Education Office at 772-465-2400 ext. 506 or education@hboi.edu. All talks in the Ocean Science Lecture Series are free to the public and followed by a meet-the-speaker reception.

Kenneth Riley has worked in the field of aquaculture and marine fisheries for a decade. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. His goal at Harbor Branch is to develop and transfer to commercial producers cost-effective and environmentally sound culture techniques for high-value aquatic species. He is responsible for teaching and developing course materials for aquaculture training workshops, specialized short courses, and community college classes taught at Harbor Branch's Aquaculture Center for Training, Education and Demonstration, where graduates have 100% employment within the industry.

Megan Davis has worked in aquaculture for 25 years. She co-founded a conch farm in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where she developed commercial applications for culturing queen conch from the egg to juvenile stage. In her current position as director of the Harbor Branch Aquaculture Division, she supervises education, training and research programs focused on a variety of species. Her research specialties include conch and lobster. She also develops feasibility and business plans for potential new ventures in the Caribbean. Davis received her Ph.D. in biology from the Florida Institute of Technology.

For additional information, please contact Mark Schrope - Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
772-216-0390 - schrope@hboi.edu

HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution was founded in Ft. Pierce, Fla., in 1971 to support the exploration and conservation of the world's oceans. The institution has held to this mission and grown into one of the world's leading oceanographic institutions with a 500-acre campus, over 200 personnel, and a fleet of sophisticated research ships and submersibles.