{"id":13152,"date":"2020-12-07T15:49:16","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T20:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=13152"},"modified":"2023-12-04T11:09:44","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T16:09:44","slug":"breakthroughs-position-striped-bass-for-commercial-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/breakthroughs-position-striped-bass-for-commercial-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Breakthroughs Position Striped Bass for Commercial Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Immediate Release<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contact:
\nKatie Mosher, kmosher@ncsu.edu<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Scientists from NC State University have developed a method for farming striped bass more efficiently and less expensively than ever before. Unlike previous methods, the new process does not rely on hormones for breeding striped bass in captivity.<\/p>\n

NC State\u2019s Benjamin Reading says the method has enabled his team to produce 5 million larvae from a single spawning event with captive striped bass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat yield is the equivalent of what used to take the time and resources of an entire season\u2019s effort for our team,\u201d says Reading, who also serves as program coordinator for StriperHub, a National Sea Grant initiative to advance the commercialization of marine striped bass. \u201cIt\u2019s a revolutionary change, and it suggests high potential for scaling up to commercial levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NC State<\/a>
NC State researcher Linnea Andersen with farm-fresh striped bass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Researchers at North Carolina Sea Grant and NC State University are collaborating with experts along the Atlantic Seaboard on StriperHub, and Reading says a growing striped bass industry will help address a $16 billion seafood industry trade deficit.<\/p>\n

\u201cNine out of 10 seafood products that Americans consume are imported,\u201d says Reading. \u201cBut there\u2019s a significant untapped demand for marine striped bass \u2014 and this project can help to satisfy those consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both striped bass and its hybrids find eager consumers at markets, restaurants and sushi bars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe early reception from consumers and servers of traditionally wild-caught striped bass shows they love the farm-fresh taste, too,\u201d Reading says.<\/p>\n

Since the 1980s, scientists at the Pamlico Aquaculture Field Laboratory in Aurora, North Carolina, have been domesticating hybrid striped bass, a species bred from white bass and striped bass.<\/p>\n

Reading, who began working at the field lab in the early 2000s, says researchers probably would have raised domesticated striped bass from the start, instead of hybrid striped bass, if they had possessed the knowhow. When scientists did begin breeding captive striped bass, they had to rely on hormones to induce spawning.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur new method simplifies the whole process,\u201d Reading says. \u201cYou don\u2019t need two species on site. You also don\u2019t need the hormones, which are expensive, require a prescription from a veterinarian, and are much more technically difficult to work with. Compare all that to just putting fish in a tank and letting nature go to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

In collaboration with David Berlinsky at the University of New Hampshire and others, Reading and his colleagues researched the effects of injecting half a sample of domesticated striped bass with hormones and found that doing so instigated the others to spawn. In addition to saving half the money and hassle, the team learned critical information: that hormone-free fish could spawn in captivity.<\/p>\n

Later, the scientists determined that when they simulated the conditions under which wild striped bass spawn, the domesticated striped bass also spawned \u2014 even without administering any hormones whatsoever to any of the fish. The researchers say no one had reported accomplishing that feat with captive striped bass.<\/p>\n

\"Striped<\/a>
Consumers of traditionally wild-caught striped bass love the farm-fresh taste, too, and MarinersMenu.org offers a popular recipe for striped bass tacos with creamy guacamole. Photo by Vanda Lewis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cStriped bass typically migrate from cold, salty estuary waters in winter and head upstream into warmer and fresher waters in springtime, when they spawn,\u201d Reading explains. \u201cWe learned that when we mimic these changes \u2014 if we dial up the temperature and drop the salt content in our tanks \u2014 then boom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading\u2019s team spent years refining and optimizing the process to increase production, determining that bringing 25 males and 25 females into a large tank could generate 5 million striped bass larvae in a single spawning. Two new research articles in the journal Aquaculture<\/em>\u00a0describe their findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe process has come a long way,\u201d says co-author Linnea Andersen, a Ph.D. student at NC State. \u201cIt\u2019s become so standard for us, but when I first started on the project in 2017, we were developing this brand new approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the hybrid striped bass industry reaps $50 million annually, the implications of a simpler and cheaper means of producing striped bass larvae are significant. Reading says the new, hormone-free method could seed the whole industry with as few as six or seven spawning events annually.<\/p>\n

Not only does the new production method cut costs and reduce challenges, he adds, farm-raised striped bass can weigh in at 3 pounds apiece, twice the size of domesticated hybrid striped bass.<\/p>\n

Frank L\u00f3pez, North Carolina Sea Grant\u2019s extension director, says such breakthroughs often require a long-term commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, North Carolina Sea Grant has been supporting striped bass aquaculture research and extension, including hybrids,\u201d says L\u00f3pez, who also serves as StriperHub\u2019s principal investigator. \u201cThrough StriperHub, we\u2019re disseminating new findings like these about state-of-the-art production techniques and tips. We\u2019re also developing education and training programs, clarifying permitting and licensing procedures, and promoting outreach and visibility among producers and consumers of striped bass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading believes many farmers will see the value of diversifying their crop by also raising striped bass. \u201cOur production of larvae at this level positions us well to supply producers of fingerlings,\u201d fish at any early developmental stage that includes scales and working fins. \u201cProducers can use the larvae to create fingerlings for distribution,\u201d he says. \u201cLast year, we also grew 150,000 fingerlings ourselves that we sent out to farmers in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2019 and 2020, Reading says StriperHub has supported bringing roughly 8,500 pounds of farm-raised striped bass to North Carolina markets \u2014 and the project continues to distribute 200 to 400 pounds every month during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Eric Herbst, North Carolina Sea Grant\u2019s coastal aquaculture specialist, says having the Pamlico Aquaculture Field Laboratory as ground zero for cutting-edge research and practice also provides unique educational opportunities for college students.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents in aquaculture programs at Carteret Community College and Brunswick County Community College can observe and get valuable hands-on experience at the facility,\u201d says\u00a0Herbst. \u201cSome of the field\u2019s most innovative work is happening in our own backyard, and the next generation of fish farmer gets to see it first-hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Cerino, chair of the Aquaculture Department at Carteret Community College, collaborates on the project. Herbst says the facility provides students in his program invaluable experience in applied research, growing striped bass from fingerlings to market size in aquaculture systems at commercial-scale.<\/p>\n

Reading says that although new research has answered many questions, many more still remain.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we speed up the spawning process and make it even more efficient?\u201d he says. \u201cAnd what about wild striped bass? Can we do this with them?\u201d<\/p>\n

read<\/strong> “Methods of Domestic Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis<\/em>) Spawning That Do Not Require the Use of Any Hormone Induction<\/a>” in the journal Aquaculture<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

read<\/strong> “Volitional Tank Spawning of Domestic Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis<\/em>) Using Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) and Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Analogue (GnRHa)-Induced \u2018Pace-Setting\u2019 Females<\/a>” in the journal Aquaculture<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

see also<\/strong>\u00a0chapter 2, “Regulating Reproductive Cycles for Captive Spawning,” in the Fish Physiology series of Aquaculture, Volume 38<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

cook<\/strong> with<\/strong> the Mariner’s Menu<\/em> recipe for Striped Bass Tacos with Creamy Guacamole<\/a><\/p>\n

more<\/strong> about aquaculture<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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