ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170027
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEWINGTON, N.H.
SOURCE: Associated Press
OVERFISHING, POLLUTION and regulations have gutted the fishing business. Two industry veterans found that farm fishing was the way to go.
Long gone are the days when fishermen had the run of the sea. Now, government regulations, polluted waters and overfishing have put quite a squeeze on the fishing industry.
But some fishermen are turning to technology to keep their businesses alive. What used to be done with boats and nets on the high seas is now moving inland with fish farming - a technique that brings fishing into a controlled environment on steady ground.
``The big picture is that within the next 15 years, we will have to come up with about 30 million tons of seafood a year,'' said Ken Cooms, executive director of New England Fisheries Development Association, a seafood industry trade group.
``We're pretty much maxed out on wild fishing production, so the only place we can turn is to aquaculture.''
Chris Duffy and George Nardi had 10-plus years in the fishing business when they realized that farm fishing was the way to go.
Last year, they opened GreatBay Aquafarms in Newington, N.H., and this month, they will begin hatching their first batch of summer flounder.
The fish, popular in China, Japan and Korea, and in sushi restaurants worldwide, has not been raised on land in the United States before.
``Land cultivation offers more control over the future,'' Duffy said. ``Unlike wild harvesting, we will be able to guarantee the quality and delivery of live fish 365 days a year.
``We are not going to put fishermen out of business; we will be a supplement to the industry as commercial fishermen bring in smaller catches.''
GreatBay will produce up to 400,000 young summer flounder each year through a complicated process that requires close monitoring of water temperature and quality, and food for the fish.
Up to 90 percent of the hatchlings will die in the first five months because of natural and environmental conditions, but the mortality rate in nature is far greater,
GreatBay's building, a long, converted warehouse, is sectioned off into rows of different-sized fiberglass tanks where eggs are hatched and hatchlings are grown.
The food chain is reproduced in the building. Algae, which grow in clear plastic tanks, are fed to zooplankton, which in turn are fed to the hatchlings. About halfway through the process, hatchlings are weaned onto pellet food similar to what aquarium fish eat.
``With increased concerns about ocean pollution and mercury in fish, we will be able to guarantee markets fresh, high-quality fish,'' Nardi said. ``Markets respond to that kind of sales pitch.''
GreatBay will keep four to five tanks of breeding stock that will be stimulated with light so some will spawn year round. The fish normally are caught at sea in the summer months only.
Once the fish are about 6 months old, they are shipped to grow-out farms, where they mature to about three pounds. Then they're ready for market.
GreatBay is not the first fish farm in the country, but part of a growing trend to produce fish outside the sea. Catfish, salmon and a variety of shellfish also are growing in similar facilities.
Such operations also exist in Europe, Asia and South America, many with government-backed loans and incentives.
``Agriculture became agribusiness with government support,'' Duffy said. ``Aquaculture now needs to become aquabusiness in the same way.''
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. George Nardi drops a year-old flounder back into aby CNBculture tank recently in New Hampshire. Nardi and his partner, Chris
Duffy, have started a flounder farm that they say can guarantee
quality and delivery of live fish all year long. color.