Project Title: Finfish Hatchery and Marine Education Center
PIs: Brandy M.M. Wilbur, MIT Sea Grant; Clifford Goudey, MIT Sea Grant
Project Website: http://web.mit.edu/seagrant/edu/hatchery/

Project Summary: Farm raising fish for consumption is not a new concept, but there are not many marine fish species that are commercially available. MIT Sea Grant recognized the need to aid in the development of aquaculture in Massachusetts and started a Boston Aquaculture Initiative Program to deal with these issues. In January of 1998, MIT Sea Grant's Marine Finfish Hatchery began operation in the Charlestown Navy Yard. In 2003, the hatchery moved north to our new aquaculture facility, located at the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center.

Note: words in red link to an online glossary (or dictionary) of related terms.

Finfish Hatchery Projects

Aquaculture-in-the-Classroom
Aquaculture-in-the-Classroom participants are using aquaculture as a component of their educational curriculum. 2006-2007 academic year school participants are:

Minuteman Regional High School, MA
Odyssey High School, MA
Salem High School, MA
Winthrop Middle School, MA
Derby Academy, MA
Dana Hall School, MA
Swampscott Middle School, MA
Essex Ag High School, MA
Rockport High School, MA
The Gordon School, RI

UNH Open Ocean Aquaculture
This current project off the coast of New Hampshire aims to identify additional species that could be economically grown in New England waters. The Open Ocean Aquaculture project is using commercially available sea cages to experimentally culture finfish native to the region. The MIT Marine Finfish Hatchery is providing haddock for these cage experiments. Find out more about the Open Ocean Aquaculture program at: http://ooa.unh.edu/.

A Pilot Haddock Hatchery for Massachusetts
Supported by the Massachusetts Aquaculture Grants Program, this project's goals were: to develop husbandry techniques needed for holding and keeping haddock eggs and larvae alive; to examine cryopreservation as a possible method of preserving fertilized marine finfish eggs to stock hatcheries; to assess a tag to signify Massachusetts aquaculture raised fish; and to promote Massachusetts aquaculture and finfish culture, particularly in an urban setting.

Scale-up and Commercialization of Haddock Aquaculture
This project established a commercial-scale hatchery for haddock on Boston Harbor through a collaborative effort between MIT Sea Grant and the University of Maine Orono. At our facility we developed and demonstrated techniques for producing haddock fingerlings using eggs supplied by the University of Rhode Island. Our goal was to identify factors influencing the survival of eggs while in transit from the spawning location, during incubation, and through the early growth stages of the larval fish. The information gathered during this project will be transferred to relevant user groups through demonstrations, workshops, training programs, and other forms of outreach.