Full title:
The Status of Striped Bass, Morone saxatilis, as a Commercially Ready Species for US Marine Aquaculture
About Aquaculture 2019:
At Aquaculture America 2019 in New Orleans, LA, aquaculture experts presented on March 10th on the “Status of Marine Finfish Species for US Aquaculture” for 18 species. This special session was hosted and organized by Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, USDA Agricultural Research Service, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and NOAA Fisheries. Each expert summarized the stage of the aquaculture industry readiness for a species and the research directions necessary to remove barriers for the species to become commercialized.
Abstract:
THE STATUS OF STRIPED BASS, Morone saxatilis, AS A COMMERCIALLY READY SPECIES FOR US MARINE AQUACULTURE
Benjamin J. Reading*, David L. Berlinsky, L. Curry Woods III, Ronald G. Hodson, S. Adam Fuller, Carl Webster, and Andrew S. McGinty
North Carolina State University, Department of Applied Ecology
bjreadin@ncsu.edu
Striped bass is an anadromous fish native to the North American Atlantic Coast and it is well recognized and regarded as one of the most important recreational fisheries in the United States. Decades of research have been conducted on striped bass and its hybrid (striped bass x white bass) and culture methods have been established, in particular for the hybrid striped bass, which is the fourth largest finfish aquaculture industry in the nation ($50 million). Domestic striped bass have been bred over many years and are available from the government for commercial fry production using recently developed hormone-free methods along with traditional hormone-induced tank and strip spawning. No commercial scale intensive larval rearing technologies have been developed at present and fingerling production is conducted in fertilized freshwater ponds. Striped bass can be grown out in marine (32 ppt) or freshwater (< 5ppt), however they require high hardness (200+ ppm) and some salinity (8-10 ppt) to offset handling stress. Juveniles must be 1-10 g/fish prior to stocking into marine water. Commercially available fingerling, growout, and broodstock feeds are available from several vendors. Striped bass may reach 3 lb/fish in recirculating aquaculture by 18 months and as much as 5 lb/fish by 24 months. Farm gate value of striped bass has not been determined, although seasonally available harvested striped bass are valued at $3.00/lb and cultured hybrid striped bass are valued at $3.84-$4.20/lb whole; the farm gate value for cultured striped bass may be as much as $5.00 or more per lb depending on demand. The ideal market size is between 3 and 6 lb/fish, which is considerably larger than the 1.5-2 lb/fish for hybrid striped bass. Other than common opportunistic pathogens, there are no major disease concerns at present aside from VHS in the Great Lakes region.
Table 1. Some strengths and weaknesses of striped bass as an aquaculture species.
Strengths
Culture conditions and protocols have been reported and described in detail
Euryhaline species that can be cultured in fresh to marine salinity water
Captive breeding protocols, both hormone and hormone-free have, been developed
Sperm cryopreservation protocols have been reported and described in detail
Domestic broodstock (fifth or sixth generation captive bred) are available in 2018
Genome sequence and genomic resources are available
Weaknesses
Reliable fingerling production is not commercially available at present
Commercial scale intensive larval rearing protocols are incomplete
Intolerance of warmer water temperatures after age 1 year (for earthen pond culture)
Are not permitted for offshore culture in the Gulf of Mexico (at present in 2018)
Economic feasibility analysis needs to be conducted for recirculating aquaculture
