Low-head saltwater recirculating aquaculture system utilized for juvenile red drum production

The USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Harbor BranchOceanographic Institute- Florida Atlantic University (HBOl-FAU) Centerfor Aquaculture and Stock Enhancement are collaborating to evaluatelow-head recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) designs for inland lowsalinity aquaculture production of marine 11nfish . As part of this project,the systems described were utilized to intensively produce reel drum(Sciaenops ocellatus) juveniles that would be pan of the Florida Fish andWildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Saltwater Hatchery NetworkInitiative. The design and performance data collected from these systemswill be utilized in the engineering and determination of design costs for astatewide public-private saltwater hatchery network. The current low-headRAS design that was evaluated for the Phase I (25 rnm to 60 mm standardlength, SL) through Phase II (60 mm to> 100 mm SL) production of red drum juveniles included a nine-tank system and a ten-tank system.Tank diameters were 1.5 m with a water depth of approximately l.0 m.Mechanical and biological filtration mechanisms included polygeyserfilters, sand filters, moving bed torrus filters, and filter pads. For the Phase11 to Phase III (100 to 180 mm SL) production, the red drum juvenileswere cultured in four larger-scale replicated RAS low-head systems.Mechanical and biological filtration mechanisms in these systemsincluded moving bed torrus filters, long-flow pathway moving media bedf11ters, and rotary micron screen drum filters, along with supplementalliquid oxygen addition. The systems presented indicate that intensiveinland culture of marine species for commercial aquaculture productionor stock enhancement purposes is possible even under the technicalconstraints of low-head system operation.