Use
of a Sodium Chloride Refuge to Improve Survival of Larval Morone Species during Transfer to Rearing Ponds
A.C. Mauldin
II, T. Barrett, J.M. Grizzle-2002
North American Journal of Aquaculture, 64(1): 85–89
Abstract:
Experiments with striped
bass Morone saxatilis
and sunshine bass, a hybrid of female white bass M. chrysops
and male striped bass were conducted in earthen ponds at two Georgia
hatcheries to determine the benefits of a temporary NaCl refuge during
transfer to production ponds. All ponds were stocked by placing larvae into
a 166-L perforated container floating in the pond and then allowing pond
water to flood the container. Fish were released into the pond after the 3 h
it took for the container to fill with pond water. For 38 ponds 5 g NaCl/L
was added to the water in the stocking containers; the 35 control ponds were
stocked without the use of NaCl. At the Richmond Hill Hatchery in Richmond
Hill, Georgia, survival at the end of the 4–5-week culture period was
26.4% for striped bass and 29.4% for sunshine bass stocked with the NaCl
solution. Control fish survival was 21.2% for striped bass and 19.9% for
sunshine bass, not statistically different from the bass stocked in NaCl (P
> 0.05). Striped bass survival was also similar for the two treatments at
the McDuffie Hatchery near Dearing, Georgia (control, 34.5%; salt, 35.2%).
Although we found no statistical difference between treatments, our results
indicated that further study of the benefits of salt during pond stocking is
justified and that the sinking-container method that we used reduced the
labor required for stocking ponds.