THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 4, 1996 TAG: 9606040296
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WALLOPS ISLAND LENGTH: 80 lines
Brian Martin smashed a bottle of champagne against the tuna cage as a 42-foot Coast Guard boat dragged it into the surf here Monday. The cage, 100 feet in diameter and flexible as a snake, inched across the sand, then bobbed in the breakers.
Finally, the cage floated away from the beach. Martin danced for joy in the driving rain. Five years to the day after the New England Aquarium began its research, Martin and fellow scientist Paula Sylvia launched the nation's first offshore pen for raising bluefin tuna.
``It went smooth as silk,'' said Sylvia. The cage, made of high-density plastic tubes filled with styrofoam, was towed 24 miles from the coast and anchored in 120-foot-deep water.
Today, researchers will fit it with a huge net. By the end of June, they will start catching hundreds of juvenile tuna to put into the cage. Then they'll study the habits and biology of the fish for several months. At the end of the summer, the tuna will be tagged, released and monitored by satellite.
The aquaculture project aims to create an alternative to the wild fisheries, which have been depleted, at least in part, by overfishing. Sylvia sees the effort as a way to confront the problem of ``increased demand, decreased supply.''
Eight other nations, including Japan and Australia, already farm tuna, said Sylvia. But no one in the United States has tried it.
``This technology has been around for a half-century in other countries,'' said Sylvia. She hopes the bluefin project, funded by the National Marine Fisheries Service, will prove that it can be done in the United States.
Sylvia said the New England Aquarium chose Virginia as its research base because it has the right environmental conditions. The scientists are based in Wachapreague, a small fishing village on the Eastern Shore. They live in dorms provided by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and work closely with VIMS.
Last year, the New England Aquarium caught tuna off Wachapreague and trucked them in tanks to Boston for study. Sylvia said the researchers bought the cage to study tuna in natural conditions, so the data could be compared with last year's numbers.
The pen was designed and built by Maritime Aquaservices Inc. of Canada. The company shipped the cage in 50-foot sections, and a technician joined them together on the beach.
The captive tuna certainly won't be lonely in their cage. Sylvia said that scientists will dive into the pen and observe them every day, feeding them fresh herring or frozen fish.
``They eat anything. They're chow hounds,'' said Sylvia. When the scientists are finished with the cage, they will tow it to Boston for storage.
Raising fish to maturity is only part of the problem for future tuna farmers. First, scientists must determine how to breed the fish - and so far, only the Japanese are attempting it, said Sylvia.
``It took a long time to get to this point,'' she said of research on tuna aquaculture. ``We have a long way to go. But it's do-able.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JIM WALKER/The Virginian-Pilot
The frame of the 100-foot-diameter cage sits on the Wallops Island
beach before being towed out to sea.
Graphic
JOHN CORBITT/The Virginian-Pilot
FLOATING PEN FOR BLUEFIN TUNA
SOURCE: New England Auarium[sic]
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
JIM WALKER PHOTOS/The Virginian-Pilot
Members of the New England Aquarium research staff prepare the frame
from which a net will hang. The net will contain the juvenile tuna
for the summer-long observation period.
A do not disturb sign will warn boats away from the area where the
aquaculture project will take place. by CNB