AN OPEN LETTER TO PERSONS INTERESTED IN
RECIRCULATING AQUACULTURE
Proposed Fund for Rural America Recirculating Aquaculture Center Grant

Please forward this information to others who may have an interest in recirculating/reuse aquaculture systems and technologies from a research, education, extension and commercialization perspective. Your input and guidance to develop a strategic plan for this proposed Center are requested. A proposal for this Center will be developed for submission to USDA/Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service for funding consideration under a competitive peer review process exclusively for successfully funded Center planning grant proposals such as this one. Please direct any information to the contact person listed.

Recently Virginia Tech received a Center Planning Grant from the USDA, under the Fund for Rural America to plan a Recirculating Aquaculture Center. The primary goal of the Planning Grant is to develop a strategic plan for the Center.

The purpose of this communication is to explain the planning grant; our hopes and aspirations for the Center; and most importantly to request input and guidance.

In developing the Center, we wish to complement efforts and work cooperatively with other organizations and individuals who also have an interest in recirculating aquaculture systems. We intend the Center to be a facilitating organization, working nationally, not regionally, focusing on recirculating aquaculture.

The key features of the proposed Center would be:

1. To establish a national recirculating aquaculture Center that would provide a coordinated approach to the commercialization of technology for rural America.

2. To establish an administrative Center through which funding is funneled to solve scientific, technical and economic problems.

3. To provide research, education and extension activities associated with recirculating aquaculture for finfish and shellfish species, warm and cold freshwater species as well as saltwater species.

The Center will follow the classic Land-Grant Research/Extension model and will be patterned after the highly successful USDA Regional Aquaculture Centers.

Research results will be disseminated to producers, large and small, by various methods, including using producer web sites; contributing to association newsletters; and engaging in scientific and trade association meetings. Information technology will shorten the feedback loop from researchers to producers and vice-versa.

The scientific program of the Center will be multidisciplinary and the research priorities will be established using well known methodologies. To be successful in the long term, we will work toward continuing the funding after the federally funded period has ended.

To further our efforts with planning the Center, we are actively compiling a national list of people who are interested in recirculating aquaculture, and can give us their views on the most critical issues facing recirculating aquaculture. Any suggested contacts for the list would be greatly appreciated, as well as other views on the Center proposal.

A meeting was recently held with representatives from industry, government and academia to identify potential program priorities for the proposed Center with respect to competitiveness and sustainable growth. Programs which received the highest priority are listed below in decreasing order of importance.

Competitiveness (short term)

1. Refine recirculating aquaculture system’s technologies to improve:

• Operational costs
• Capital costs
• Reliability
• Feed

2. Centralize information networking through:

• Extension workshops
• Recirculating aquaculture system’s database
• Start-up operation information
• Procedural manuals with checklists
• Web site’s design and maintenance.

3. Develop appropriate operating models for:

• Vertical integration
• Cooperatives
• Successful marketing
• Successful production systems

4. Improve waste management for:

• Effluent

-Water quality guidelines by species
-Small and large scale techniques

5. Provide realistic economic information for farmer and community, including model business plans

6. Ameliorate biosecurity and health management, including disease control

Sustainable Growth (long term)

1. Improve best management practices, management strategies and technology for:

• Optimum conditions for each species (new and existing)
• Personnel training
• Waste treatment
• Crop management
• Automation
• Diversified research and development funding
• Quality control standards for the product

2. View Agriculture as an ecological sound industry for:

• Multi-industry collaboration
• Energy re-use
• Solid and waste water management
• By-products utilization and re-use

3. Develop marketing strategies for:

• Global usage
• Product and market development
• Promotional programs
• Horizontal integration among producers to sustain markets
• Partnerships
• Commodity groups

4. Improve fish domestication and genetics

5. Increase public perception/education for:

• Environment impacts and stewardship
• Consumer tastes and preferences
• Animal rights
• Youth involvement

6. Reduce diseases for both fish and human health through:

• Vaccine development
• Disease free stocks

We would welcome your reaction to this list of priorities and your suggestions for any other areas of work that are needed to improve recirculating aquaculture. Please respond to Heather Heaton by mail, fax (540-231-9293) or e-mail ( on or before December 31, 1997.

Sincerely,

Robert Q. Cannell
Associate Dean for Research
Director, Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station
Virginia Tech (0402)
Blacksburg, VA 24061