US: Aquaculture projects look to revitalize fish ponds

Aquaculture projects look to revitalise fish ponds. In ancient Hawaiʻi, fishponds were remarkably successful in ensuring a steady supply of food. Yet, efforts to revitalise this traditional aquaculture have encountered challenges. With biennial University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Programme awards totalling $315,759, two new aquaculture projects led by College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Andre Seale are addressing these problems. Seale’s studies employ two local species for sustainable aquaculture development: the sea cucumber (Stichopus horrens) and ʻamaʻama, or striped mullet (Mugil cephalus). His team also includes graduate assistants Tyler Goodearly and Reilly Merlo, who are enrolled in the Nutritional Sciences PhD programme, as co-investigators. Sea cucumbers To improve the productivity of sea cucumbers, Seale and Goodearly will partner with local producers, fishpond managers and collaborators to devise a species-specific approach for inducing spawning ...