Title : Culture of the marine Florida pompano, trachinotus carolinus, in low salinity environments: A 20-year retrospective
Abstract:
Marine finfish species are highly prized and sought after in the United States. The coastline of the United States has been estimated as 153,646 kilometers, which includes the Hawaiian Islands and Alaska. Despite the large area and expansive Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the United States still continues to import 70-85% of its seafood leading to a seafood trade deficit reported in 2020 to be $17 billion. Utilization of inland low-salinity areas for the production of euryhaline species would help alleviate this deficit.
In 2001, The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service initiated a program to develop technologies for rearing marine finfish in inland low-salinity environments. A number of species were investigated. In 2004, the program refocused on evaluating Florida pompano, Trachinotus carolinus, a high-value species. The work reported here embodies 20 years of research in low-salinity production of the marine euryhaline Florida pompano.
It was anticipated these technologies could find application for rearing euryhaline marine fish throughout approximately 2/3 of the United States where low salinity groundwater is available. This approach was anticipated to reduce the need to be located near expensive coastal land, reduce the volume of saltwater effluent, and reduce the carbon footprint of marine finfish production.
The advances gained over the last 20 years include life stages that range from egg to market, and areas of research that include production, novel engineering concepts, economics, marketing, physiology, larviculture, disease resistance, reproduction, energy utilization, nutrient dynamics, metabolism, internal and external microbiomes, genomics and transcriptome adaptation to low salinity.
