Regional Aquaculture Centers: Extension

Programs

Regional Aquaculture Centers

North Central Northeastern

Southern

Western

Tropical & Subtropical

To support aquaculture research, development, demonstration, and extension education to enhance viable and profitable U.S. aquaculture which will benefit consumers, producers, service industries, and the American economy.

Mission of the RACs

Development of the Centers

• 1987-88: Centers organized and began operation

• Reauthorization of the RAC Program– 1990, 1996, and 2002 Farm Bills

0

5

10

15

20

Billi

on D

olla

rs

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Exports Imports

Sources: USDC/NOAA/NMFS Current Fisheries Statistics No. 2001, September 2002

U.S. Foreign Trade in Fishery Products

Regional Center Appropriations

• Authorized at $7.5 million• Initial funding at $3.75 million• Increased to $4 million in 1992• Budget recision in 2001 of 0.22%

($3,991,200)• Budget of $3.996 million for

FY2002 and $4.5 million for FY2003

Key Features of the Centers• Projects responsive to industry needs and

designed to impact commercial development

• Programs organized to take advantage of the best aquaculture science, education skills, and facilities to achieve region-wide cooperation

• Projects are peer-reviewed for technical and industrial merit

RAC Organizational Structure

BOARD OF BOARD OF DIRECTORSDIRECTORS

ADMINISTRATIVE CENTERADMINISTRATIVE CENTER

INDUSTRY ADVISORYINDUSTRY ADVISORYCOUNCILCOUNCIL TECHNICAL COMMITTEETECHNICAL COMMITTEE

North Central Regional Aquaculture Center

(NCRAC)

• Eat almost 1 billion pounds/year but produce <2%

• Great diversity of species being cultured• Over 1,000 producers; but just a few per

state accounting for most of the production• Food fish, baitfish, fish for stocking

recreational and ornamental water bodies including fee-fishing operations as well as aquatic plants grown for food, wetland mitigation, and water gardening

NCRAC Aquaculture

ExtensionEcon/MarketingYellow PerchHybrid BassWalleyeSunfishSalmonidsCrayfishBaitfishWastes/EffluentsTilapiaINAD/NADA CoordinatorAquaculture DrugsWhite Papers

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

NCRAC Projects

NCRAC ProjectsExtension 8 $521,552 7.9%Econ/Marketing 4 $302,904 4.6%Yellow Perch 8 $1,433,866 21.7%Hybrid Bass 7 $976,960 14.8%Walleye 7 $927,627 14.1%Sunfish 5 $853,788 12.9%Salmonids 4 $637,742 9.7%Crayfish 1 $49,677 0.8%Baitfish 1 $61,973 0.9%Wastes/Effluents 3 $448,300 6.8%Tilapia 2 $268,791 4.1%

INAD/NADA Coordinator1 $55,241 0.8%Aquaculture Drugs 3 $36,365 0.6%White Papers 2 $22,495 0.3%

NCRAC-Extension• Limited number of extension specialists

– Increase number of extension contacts– Networking between all NCRAC communities– Non-tradition approaches

• Researchers• Natural resource agencies• Dept. of Agriculture contacts• Other fish farmers• FFA programs

Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture

(CTSA)

The CTSA RegionCommonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands

Guam

Republicof Belau

=CTSA

AmericanSamoa

Federated Statesof Micronesia

Republic ofthe MarshallIslands

Hawaii

CTSA Aquaculture

• Finfish• Ornamentals• Marine sponges• Clams• Oysters

CTSA Year 1-15 expenditures

Extension15%

Disease24%

Freshwater Orn. F10%

Marine Orn. Fish5%

Freshwater FF9%

Marine FF15%

Marine P roducts7%

Economics Marketing

4%Library

4%

Effluent7%

CTSA-Extension• PRAISE - Pacific Regional

Aquaculture Information Service for Education Service program serving the U.S. affiliated Pacific

• Web site (http://lama.kcc.hawaii.edu/praise) accessed 5,700 times per month

• 24-hour turn-around time

Southern Regional Aquaculture Center (SRAC)

• Major species – channel catfish• Other species – ornamentals,

baitfish, hybrid striped bass• Alligators• Crawfish

SRAC Aquaculture

Genetics 1%Genetics 1%

Health 3%Health 3%

Extension 18%Extension 18%

NutritionNutritionand Feeding and Feeding 34%34%

Production, Water Quality, andProduction, Water Quality, and Environment 25%Environment 25%

Product Product Quality 18%Quality 18%

Marketing and Marketing and Economics 4%Economics 4%

SRAC Expenditures - Subject

SRAC Extension• Publications, Videos, and Computer

Software

– A continuing project funded at ~$70 K annually

– 170 SRAC fact sheets (on web and CD)– 19 videos– 200+ scientific papers– 200+ scientific presentations– 40+ master’s or doctoral theses

Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center (NRAC)

NRAC Aquaculture• Characterized by diversity of

products– Numerous finfish

• Salmon and oysters– Aquatic plants & crustaceans

NRAC Expenditures: Subject

NRAC - Extension• Training

– Extension agents– Leadership of both agents and industry contacts

• Publications• Demonstration projects• Workshops

– Fish health– Business management– Effluents/nutrition/financing/legal issues

• Marketing

Western Regional Aquaculture Center (WRAC)

WRAC Aquaculture

• Diverse – Cold and warm water species– Marine and fresh water species– Finfish, invertebrates, plants– Most significant production oysters and

trout

WRAC Project Funding Timeline

IHNV Control $260,400 over 3 yrs.Sturgeon Broodstock $395,000 over 4 yrs.Pacific Oyster Cross-Breeding $393,300 over 4 yrs.Solids Removal $329,153 over 4 yrs.High Performance Feeds $279,044 over 4 yrs.Disease Interactions $128,975 over 3 yrs.Molluscan Shellfish Ecology $400,000 over 4 yrs.Phosphorous Discharge $202,033 up to 2-4 yrs.Sturgeon Broodstock $100,000 up to 1-2 yrs.Pacific Oyster Cross-Breeding $100,000 up to 1-4 yrs.Recirculation Aquaculture $59,645 up to 1-4 yrs.Sturgeon Caviar $57,000 up to 1-4 yrs.

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

WRAC Project Expenditures by Subject (1987-2002)

Genetics29%

Disease21%

Environmental20%

Nutrition12%

Extension4%Other

5%Project

Development8%

Product Quality1%

WRAC-Extension• Integration of extension and research

projects• Outreach programs made by both

extension and researchers• “rapid response” funds• Workshops participants are from

both industry and regulatory agencies

AquaNIC(http://aquanic.org)

• 8,000 files (publications, photographs, slide sets, videos, directories, etc.)

• Links to over 1,000 aquaculture Web sites

• 600 links from other Web sites• 5,000 “hits” per month by people

from over 80 countries

• Scientific contributions• Graduate education• Internet presence

– NRAC - http://www.old.umassd.edu/specialprograms/nrac/welcome.html

– NCRAC - http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/aquanic/ncrac/ – SRAC - http://www.msstate.edu/dept/srac/ – WRAC - http://www.fish.washington.edu/wrac/– CTSA - http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/external/ctsa/

• Bang for the buck• Ingrained

Other Contributions