Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Leetown, West Virginia » Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #318709
Research Project: Developing and Refining Technologies for Sustainable Fish Growth in Closed Containment Systems

Location: Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture Research

Title: Fish farming in land-based closed-containment systems

Author
item SUMMERFELT, STEVEN - Freshwater Institute
item CHRISTIANSON, LAURA - Freshwater Institute

Submitted to: World Aquaculture Magazine
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/26/2014
Publication Date: 3/1/2014
Citation: Summerfelt, S.T., Christianson, L. 2014. Fish farming in land-based closed-containment systems. World Aquaculture Magazine. 25:18-22.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: 'An International Summit on Fish Farming in Land-Based Closed-Containment Systems' was hosted by the Conservation Fund's Freshwater Institute, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF), the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), and Tides Canada (TC) at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV, September 4-6, 2013. The International Summit had 134 participants from 14 countries. Across the diverse participants, this catalytic meeting brought together a community of stakeholders and created a focused communication space critical for increasing the adoption of land-based closed-containment systems using water recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technologies. The 2-day Summit consisted of invited presentations highlighting the innovations and challenges surrounding food-fish production, particularly salmon and trout in RAS, including the following focus areas: salmon health and performance, eliminating off-flavor, denitrification and microbiology, assessment of alternate production systems, RAS project updates, lessons learned while engineering and building commercial RAS, design innovations and opportunities in RAS, creating value from the waste stream, and advances towards more sustainable alternative feeds. As a collective group, the Summit attendees are pioneering the technologies necessary to increase finfish aquaculture production in a manner that is more environmentally sustainable and economically viable. A major outcome was that emerging aquaculture technologies were highlighted for attending senior-level decision makers in government, industry, the financial community, and philanthropy.