Scientists successful in
breeding flounder:
Flounder ranks ninth on the list of most popular eating fish in the United
States
By
The Virginian-Pilot
http://www.worldcatch.com/
Dec. 4 - WorldCatch News Network - A baby southern flounder no bigger than a
fly's wing was swimming around Thursday in a large tank with thousands of
siblings.
The tank sits among many others in a building in the
middle of farm fields that are part of the Vernon James Research Center just
outside Plymouth.
This is where Harry Daniels, an assistant professor at N.C. State
University, bred flounder in the summer and fall, when flounder are not
supposed to be amorous. The off-season breeding success is a major step in
getting the popular fish to the point where it can be raised for a profit.
Flounder still can't be produced in the numbers common with other
aquaculture species such as catfish. Flounder ranks ninth on the list of
most popular eating fish in the United States. A four-pound flounder can
sell for as much as $10 to $12 a pound. As the wild population declines,
scientists from Florida to Mississippi are experimenting on how to
profitably raise flounder on fish farms.
Harry Daniels and North Carolina State University, USA, are leading the way
in southern flounder research, said Benedict Posadas, an assistant economist
at Mississippi State University's Coastal Research and Extension Center.
Posadas has consulted with Daniels on his experiments. Southern flounder
research began only six years ago, he said.
One of the last pieces of the puzzle is raising generations in captivity to
get a brood stock. So far, all the brood stock has come from the wild, said
Dr. Megan Davis, assistant director of aquaculture for the Harbor Branch
Oceanographic Institute in Florida.
There, scientists have raised young flounder in tanks and are ready for the
first time to see if they will spawn this winter. If successful, it will
show that flounder can be reproduced in tanks and become a perpetual
product.
It's likely that raising breeding flounder and selling fingerlings will
become a business separate from raising the fish to adulthood for
consumption, Daniels said. Breeding flounder takes training and experience
beyond the level of the typical fish farmer, he said.
(from Aquaculture Info List, e-mail: dave.conley@sympatico.ca)