{"id":1244,"date":"2012-12-15T11:24:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=1244"},"modified":"2024-09-18T14:10:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T18:10:21","slug":"aquaculture-science-working-for-the-economy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/aquaculture-science-working-for-the-economy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"AQUACULTURE: Science Working for the Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Jay Styron has an audacious mission: To provide high-quality half-shell oysters to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s a pretty bold notion for someone who raises oysters in a mere 500 cages floating in estuarine waters off Cedar Island in Carteret County. “I like to think big,” he tells you with a sly grin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don’t be too quick to call him a dreamer. There are those who would call him a visionary \u2014 one who sees the role marine and freshwater aquaculture collectively must play to provide healthy and sustainable seafood for a global market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, about half the fish consumed around the world is produced by aquaculture, explains Marc Turano, North Carolina Sea Grant mariculture and blue crab specialist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Based simply on projected population growth, consumer demand for seafood will continue to rise. Aquaculture must grow to meet future needs, especially in the face of declining wild-caught fish populations,” Turano points out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to statistics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, close to 90 percent of all seafood is imported in the United States, with about half of that coming from aquaculture products. American fish farming supplies only about 5 percent of the seafood Americans consume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In North Carolina, aquaculture accounts for only a small fraction of the annual total agriculture industry revenue, according to the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, or NCDA&CS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, as Turano sees it, the potential for North Carolina’s aquaculture is strong because current and prospective fish growers don’t have to go it alone. In fact, anyone looking for a working definition of science and technology transfer need look no further than the state’s aquaculture industry and its network of partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 1989 N.C. Aquaculture Development Act provides a framework for partnerships that connect industry practitioners with university researchers, field faculty, and N.C. Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant specialists, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, and NCDA&CS marketing experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“These partnerships provide a great exchange of information,” Turano points out. “The open dialogue enables us to collaboratively identify issues and look for solutions. It’s about trying to make science work for the industry.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Styron knows firsthand how research partnerships help fine-tune the efficiency of growing oysters for the half-shell trade. His business, Carolina Mariculture Co., occupies two acres of a family-held, 10-acre traditional oyster bottom lease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Sea Grant-funded project is helping Styron zero in on the best strain of oyster for local waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is among growers testing North Carolina oyster seed that researchers hope will grow better than the more common Virginia-sourced lines. Ami Wilbur, director of the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s shellfish hatchery, leads this work, funded by the N.C. Blue Crab and Shellfish Research Program that is administered by Sea Grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n