The symposium will focus on the development and advancement of an aquaculture industry based on raising high valued fin fish species in off-shore cages. This technology has been proven to be very successful and has a low impact on the environment.
According to Charles Helsley of the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, an increasing demand for seafood products has collided with a decreasing supply from depleted fishing grounds worldwide.
For instance, Hawaii’s seafood consumption rate is three times that of the U.S. mainland and, despite its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii imports 75 percent of the fish it consumes. This is when open cage culture steps in.
Efforts to examine the biological, environmental, and economic feasibility of offshore aquaculture in the Pacific region led to America’s first successful demonstration of offshore culture of a tropical marine fish species in a single, commercially sized cage under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-funded Hawaii Offshore Aquaculture Research Project.
To give an overview of this technology, several experienced presenters from the fields of science, technology and business will be present at the symposium.
Featured speakers include: Simon Ellis (Marine and Environmental Research Institute, Pohnpei), Antoine Teitelbaum (aquaculture officer, Secretariat of the Pacific Community), Randy Cates (founder, Hukilau Foods, Hawaii), Neil A. Simms (co-founder, Kona Blue, Hawaii), John Brown (Guam Aquaculture Development and Training Center), Todd Low (Hawaii Aquaculture Development Program) and Michael Ogo (aquaculture specialist, Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service).
These speakers will present peer-to-peer information on the future development of aquaculture in the Pacific Basin.
Presentations will be as interactive as possible to give participants the opportunity to share knowledge or concerns on aquaculture research, environmental impacts, regulatory issues and business investment opportunities.
Ogo said aquaculture is a relatively new development in the CNMI.
He said the CNMI currently has 19 aquaculture farmers and that the industry may be another step forward to relieve some of the islands’ dependence on imported goods.
The two-day symposium is sponsored by NMC-CRESS and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.
Prior to the event, members of the public are asked to sign a registration form (see http://crees.org/forms/52.pdf). The form should be faxed to Mark Flores at 234-0054 by Dec. 22. For more information contact Mark Flores at 234-5498 ex. 1706
