There's an undeniable spark when young minds connect with marine science. We felt that energy firsthand recently at Ocean Era, when we welcomed the students from Waiʻanae High School’s Marine Science Learning Center for their annual Aquaculture Workshop. This visit has become a cornerstone of their program, showcasing real-world applications of their studies, and the diversity of the career paths in aquaculture and marine science right here in Hawai’i.

Much thanks to Kai Fox from UH Sea Grant, for assisting with the planning and co-ordination for these students to tour four different companies at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaiʻi Authority (NELHA). For us at Ocean Era, hosting these future scientists is always a privilege.

The Aquaculture Workshop is designed to provide a comprehensive view of the field, taking students beyond textbooks and into the heart of aquaculture operations, community initiatives, and culturally significant sites. This hands-on approach fosters a deeper understanding of sustainable practices and the rich history of aquaculture in Hawaiʻi.

Welcoming the Waiʻanae High students to our farm allowed us to share our daily work, explain our sustainable technologies, and witness their curiosity about the future of marine aquaculture.

We see these visits as more than just a day trip; they are an investment in the future of our oceans and our local economy. By providing these students with tangible examples of marine science in action, we hope to cultivate a lifelong passion for aquaculture and inspire them to become the innovators and stewards of tomorrow.

The diverse career opportunities within aquaculture – from the intricacies of research to the practicalities of farm management and the critical importance of conservation – are vast. Witnessing the enthusiasm of the Waiʻanae High students leaves us with a strong sense of optimism for the future of this industry in Hawaiʻi.

Thanks again to Waiʻanae High School’s Marine Science Learning Center for to providing such meaningful educational experiences, and to Kai Fox for his continued partnership in making these connections. We are proud to play a role in "planting the seeds" for the next generation of Hawaiʻi’s marine aquaculturists, and look forward to inspiring many more bright young minds at Ocean Era.

Putting fish back into the ocean?

Not such a crazy idea—and we just might save the planet at the same time.

Earth’s oceans are – to use the French idiom – pretty much screwed. From time immemorial we have treated the seas like a cesspool, and a garbage dump. We have relied upon our world’s biggest saline solution to soak up the gases and the heat that we pump into the air. We have scraped and scoured the waters, and whatever got caught up as ‘collateral’ mostly died on the deck. “Plenty more fish in the sea”, we said, as we poured more subsidies into fishing fleets.

It is, in the truest sense, a global crisis. The oceans are humanity’s true common wealth, and what happens in Shanghai or Peru, sooner or later sloshes around and washes up on the beaches of Sydney or Perth.

I began my career in fisheries management, but found the misalignment of incentives disheartening. So I felt drawn to aquaculture; to the more hopeful possibilities of giving back to the ocean, rather than just taking. I tinkered with pearl oysters for a while, but they were just trinkets and baubles: we needed to feed humanity: feed them fish that we grew ourselves.

So we adapted our pearl oyster hatchery technologies to marine fish larval culture, and looked for where we might grow out the fingerlings. In Kona, Hawaii, where we were based, the answer seemed self-evident: offshore. Any decent toss from Kona’s lava cliffs in can land a stone in offshore waters, with nothing to the West but water, until you hit Taiwan, and nothing but ocean to the South, until Antarctica.

I began my career in fisheries management, but found the misalignment of incentives disheartening. So I felt drawn to aquaculture—to the more hopeful possibilities of giving back to the ocean, rather than just taking.

Putting fish into the ocean – (though it’s perfectly OK, somehow, to pull aplenty of them out of the ocean? And it’s perfectly pastoral for bovines to belch methane and nitrous oxide?). Humanity seems to have forgotten how – once we were done wiping out buffalo, dodos and passenger pigeons - we turned to farming cows and chickens.

But quality matters. In the ocean, as on land, bad farm management bites you pretty quickly. The modern aquaculture industry is therefore now a well-spring of innovation, borne of the necessity of stewardship. Almost all -legitimate- environmental issues with earlier forms of fish farming are addressable – by sensible siting to minimize water quality and benthic impacts; improved fish nutrition; better understanding of animal health; vaccines that almost totally eliminate antibiotic use; and robust engineering and oceanographic modeling to minimize fish escapes or marine mammal entanglement.

There’s been a lot of discussion recently in Australia about inshore aquaculture, in particular salmon. Offshore aquaculture addressed many of those concerns. Still, permitting offshore, in the public domain, demands patience. In Kona, it took over three years to acquire the first permits for our offshore farm, culturing amberjack (a kingfish cousin now branded as ‘Hawaiian Kanpachi’). There was initially strident opposition from anti-aquaculture activists. But our guiding principle was to grow our fish in their natural habitat. By moving production into deeper water, further offshore, the potential ecosystem impacts could be drastically reduced. This aspiration has been borne out by sophisticated modelling, and extensive environmental monitoring around the kampachi operation in Kona, and an offshore cobia farm in Panama.

One of the five major recommendations from the recent United Nation’s High Level Panel on Global Climate Change and the Oceans was that humankind needs to transition to less impactful marine-based foods.

“So, what do you feed them?” is the perennial objection. Well … what do wild fish eat? Mostly fish, yes, but if we are going to feed the world, we cannot do that on the backs of Peruvian anchoveta. Market forces – and our industry’s intrinsic environmental ethic - have fomented a proliferation of alternative proteins and oils from agriculture and biotech. In trials in Kona, we have been able to completely eliminate all marine-sourced inputs in kampachi diets, by upscaling pet-food grade poultry meal, soy proteins (aka tofu), flax oil, and crucial omega-3 oils from microalgae. We are proving that you don’t need to feed fish to grow fish, any more than you need to feed crushed canaries to your cat.

The imperatives for growing more seafood are increasingly pressing. It’s no longer simply that more humans are more affluent, and want to eat more sushi. It’s not just our doctors telling us that it’s better for heart-health and brain health. It’s that to feed 10 billion people with beef, at the rate that Australians eat hamburger, would leave earth’s soils looking more like Mars, and our atmosphere more like Venus. Land area limitations, freshwater constraints, and – most tellingly – the global climate crisis all demand that we begin to source more of our food from the oceans.

There is now a growing body of science, and an increasing consensus – from both academia and environmental NGOs - that we must move offshore. One of the five major recommendations from the recent United Nation’s High-Level Panel on Global Climate Change and the Oceans was that mankind needs to transition to less impactful marine-based foods. We might also use macroalgae (seaweeds) to sequester carbon dioxide. We need to start to see the oceans as less a victim of the global climate crisis, and more as part of the solution.

A global analysis of the potential yield of fish, bivalves and seaweeds from offshore aquaculture projects harvests could be up to 100 times the current worldwide seafood consumption. 100 times! So the Next Big Thing – we should hope and pray – will be the expansion of aquaculture into the offshore realm. China and Norway have already deployed fish pens looking like offshore oil rigs, that can contain up to 1.5 million salmon. Net pens twice that size are now under construction.

Australia recently waded out in the right direction, through set-up of a Blue Economy Co-operative Research Center, to develop sustainable energy and aquaculture technologies for offshore, in a partnership between government, research institutions and industry. This needs to be matched by policies that support offshore growth – that streamline the permitting process, while still ensuring common-sense levels of environmental oversight. With secure tenure for offshore operations, catalyzing investments should then flow.

Australia’s ocean area – within our Exclusive Economic Zone – is around 130% of the total land area of the continent. But our wide, brown land is no longer simply girt by sea. Our future is out there – beyond the blue horizon.     

Originally published in Cosmos

Best performing “fish-free” diet contains an algae oil rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids.

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii—Researchers in Kona, Hawaii, have made a breakthrough in the quest to develop a cost-effective “fish-free” feed for farm-raised Kampachi, or almaco jack, a carnivorous marine fish prized for its rich, buttery flavor.

The ability to replace fishmeal and fish oil currently used in carnivorous marine fish diets will have important implications for ocean sustainability and meeting the growing demand for seafood around the world.

The trial results are detailed in a technical article in the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Advocate.

 “This is the first time – to our knowledge – that fishmeal and fish oil have been totally eliminated from the diet of a marine carnivorous fish, with no deleterious consequences,” said Neil Anthony Sims, CEO of the Hawaii-based mariculture company, Ocean Era, where the trial was conducted. “Kampachi are a fast-growing, sashimi-grade fish, so this a significant breakthrough for the sustainability and scalability of marine fish farming.”

Aquaculture, the world’s fastest growing food sector, consumes more than 70 percent of the world’s fish oil and fishmeal, which are derived from forage fish like sardines, anchovies and menhaden. Roughly 20 percent of the global wild catch, or 18 million tons of fish each year are converted into fishmeal and fish oil for use in animal feed.

During the three-month trial funded by a Saltonstall-Kennedy grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 480 juvenile Kampachi (Seriola rivoliana) were fed one of four diets. Two of the diets contained no fishmeal, and one of these also contained no fish oil. Fishmeal replacement relied primarily on poultry meal, from up-cycled poultry trimmings. Fish oil replacement was achieved using Veramaris® natural marine algal oil, which contains high levels of two critical omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA. A fishmeal and fish oil diet was used as a control, together with an additional commercial control diet. The fish were stocked into sixteen tanks for the comparative grow-out trial. 

The fish that were fed the zero fishmeal / zero fish-oil diet performed as well as the fish fed with the fishmeal and fish-oil diet. Performance was evaluated in terms of growth, feed conversion ratio (FCR), fillet yield and survival. FCR is the ratio of the amount of feed it takes to grow one kilogram of fish. 

The fish fed the zero fishmeal / zero fish-oil diet also had a more desirable taste compared to the fish fed the commercially available control diet. 

“The results clearly show that algal oil can replace fish oil 100 percent without any reduction in growth of this marine fish,” said Rick Barrows, a fish nutrition expert with Aquatic Feed Technologies and co-principal investigator of the study.

The feed formulations used in this trial are available as open source formulae through the F3 Feed Innovation Network (F3 FIN) for anyone working to replace wild-caught fish ingredients in animal feed. F3 FIN encourages sustainable innovations in fish-free aquaculture feed ingredients by sharing experimental protocols, testing facilities and ingredient providers.

Algae oils have been shown to contain twice the amount of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids as fish oil, both of which are important for maintaining fish health and imparting heart and brain health benefits to humans.

“Development of diets that use these upcycled ingredients and microalgal oils is critical to the long-term scalability of marine fish culture, and therefore to our ability to sustainably feed a planet of nine billion people with heart-healthy seafood,” said Sims.

The project, titled “Developing cost-effective fishmeal-free and fish oil-minimized diets for high market value U.S. marine fish aquaculture,” was funded through NOAA’s Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program (NA18NMF4270208). The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service provided feed milling support for the trial. Anthropocene Institute and Ka'upulehu fishponds were collaborating partners on the NOAA grant.

The Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program funds projects that address the needs of fishing communities, optimize economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries, and increase other opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable.

A video about the study can be viewed on YouTube.

Ocean Era, LLC (formerly Kampachi Farms, LLC) is a Kona, Hawaii, based R&D company, dedicated to softening humanity’s footprint on the seas, by expanding production of the ocean’s living resources.

Media Contact:

Annie Reisewitz
annie@marcom.llc
858-228-0526

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii –The Kona, Hawai’i-based offshore R&D company – formerly known as “Kampachi Farms, LLC” - has announced that the company will now be known as “Ocean Era, LLC”. The re-branding initiative better positions the company to address broader opportunities, and more expansive challenges facing aquaculture, and the planet.

The company membership and management structure will remain unchanged, with a total of 11 employees.

Company co-founder and CEO, Neil Anthony Sims, said that the change was driven by a growing awareness of the global imperative for expansion of offshore aquaculture, and the deeper understanding that the need is not just about one species of fish.

“We love our kampachi. It’s a beautiful fish!” said Sims, “But there are multiple issues that now beset the earth – the global climate crisis; ocean acidification; the limitations of fresh water, fertilizers and land-use; and the need to feed 9 billion people by 2050. The oceans are increasingly seen as not so much a victim of these perils, but as part of the solution.“

Ocean Era continues to work on a number of research and development projects with kampachi (Seriola rivoliana, or Almaco Jack), at its Kona, Hawai’i land-based facility. These projects include a selective breeding program for faster-growing, healthier fish, along with trials to accelerate broodstock maturation to amplify the results of the breeding program. In addition, Ocean Era continues to develop alternative feedstuffs for kampachi and other marine fish.    

However, Sims said that the company “is already engaged in several other programs that are pursuing innovations for culture further offshore, and lower down the food chain”.

These include trials with high-value herbivorous reef-fish, such as the rudderfish, or chubs (Kyphosus vaigiensis).

“This is a fish that eats seaweed,” said Ocean Era’s Research Manager Lisa Vollbrecht. “Herbivorous fish offer the opportunity for aquaculture to not just grow fish, but also grow the feed for the fish, potentially without reliance on wild-caught forage fish or terrestrial proteins and oils. It could be a great opportunity for fish farm expansion, particularly for small-scale farms in less-developed countries.”

Ocean Era is also working with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) on the “Blue Fields” project, to develop offshore macroalgae culture systems and identify seaweed species for cultivation for food, feed, fertilizers and fuels. A second ARPA-E project, in collaboration with leading Hawaii and mainland research institutes, is striving to adapt the microbiome of the seaweed-eating Kyphosus to improve the biodigestion of seaweeds.

Ocean Era also continues to pursue the Velella Epsilon project, pioneering the permitting for offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico. Funded largely by the National SeaGrant Program, through University of Florida SeaGrant, this project builds on the prior Velella Beta-test (an unanchored net pen) and the Velella Gamma-test (a single-point mooring net pen operated by remote command-and-control) in Kona. The goal for Velella Epsilon is to obtain the permits for a demonstration-scale single net pen, to be sited around 40 miles offshore of Tampa-Sarasota, on the Florida Gulf Coast.

Dennis Peters, Velella Epsilon Project Manager, said “The intention is to allow the local Florida fishing and boating community to recognize that offshore aquaculture can be a boon. The earlier Velella projects in Kona were phenomenal Fish Aggregating Devices.” The company is presently in the process of obtaining the remaining permits from EPA and US Army Corps of Engineers for this demonstration.

About Ocean Era, LLC:

Ocean Era, LLC (formerly Kampachi Farms, LLC) is a Kona, Hawaii, based R&D company, dedicated to softening humanity’s footprint on the seas, by expanding production of the ocean’s living resources.

In general, seaweed shouldn’t move. Sway? Sure, but crawl? Slither? No, no. Yet there, inside the tank of sea grapes (Caulpera lentillifera), a green, globular, mass was climbing the glass. This looked like sea grapes … but the factor of motility had my biology senses tingling.

 We’ve been testing a range of different culture conditions for Caulerpa lentillifera – a green seaweed, the last several months. Caulerpa, or sea grapes is not yet a widely-farmed seaweed, but we believe that it could have great culinary appeal. This “vegan caviar” pops in your mouth, with a burst of ocean flavor. The thallus (or ‘leaf’, if you will) of sea grapes is a cluster of small, green vesicles, called ramuli, that look like tiny grapes.

 What we observed in our tank was akin to watching a bunch of grapes slinking down a trellis. A closer examination revealed a slug-like body beneath the bunch of greenery, and two antennae probing the waters as it slithered forward. Known to science as Sacoproteus smaragdinus, these sea slugs appear similar to nudibranchs, such as the famous “Spanish dancer”, but are only distantly related. The Sacoproteus genus was named after the Greek sea god, Proteus, who could change his shape at will. What an apt name for such a clever algae mimic!

 As a gastropod (“stomach-foot” in Latin), our S. smaragdinus literally walks all over its lunch. Most of the species of Sacoproteus seek out just a single Caulerpa species. The slugs sniff out their beloved sea grapes by perching on their sluggy haunches and waving their bodies through the water, hoping a wafting scent of Caulerpa leads them to the vineyard. Each species of slug has a uniquely-shaped tooth adapted to pierce the ‘bubble’ of its preferred species of sea grape. Once they’ve located their lunch/lounge, their special tooth pokes the grape, sucks it dry and stores the green pigments in their bulbous backs as the perfect disguise.

 Larval Sacoproteus are planktonic, and drift through the oceans with the currents, until they sense the Caulerpa species of their choice. This can then trigger metamorphosis, and they settle down to a more sedentary life. We suspect that this is probably how this slug “showed up” in our tank; by drifting in through our seawater intake line.

 Keeping tabs on our new-found friend is challenging; it’s more like “newly-lost”. Peering through a tank full of green bubble-algae is like one long, losing game of hide and seek, with a slug that Nicholas Paul (an expert on seaweed and algae at Australia’s University of the Sunshine Coast) says, “may be the best example of an animal masquerading as a plant that we have.”

More: Would you like further reading? See the National Geographic article: “Stunning new sea slug species looks just like seaweed”

For seafood, low trophic level typically means filter-feeding bivalves, such as oysters, or forage fish, such as sardines or mackerel.  Most consumers will agree that an ahi fillet is more desirable than a plate of mussels or jellyfish.  But what if you could have a hearty, satisfying fillet – sashimi-grade for the poke-lovers – that was also an herbivore?  Enter Kyphosidae.  At Kampachi Farms we have been working with Kyphosus vaigiensis, an herbivorous reef-fish with a longstanding presence in Hawaiian cuisine.

This fish is known as enenue or nenue in Hawaiian (rudderfish or sea chubs in Not Hawaiian), and in some regions was regarded as a prized reef fish, reserved for ali’i (royalty) only (Ulukua, 2019).  Nenue are found in abundant schools around Hawaii; 2-3-kilogram fish are common, while state records exceed 4.5 Kg. One of the traditional preparations for nenue was poke – a staple of native Hawaiian food, originally consisting of raw reef fish, sea salt, limu (seaweed), and kukui nuts.  Poke recently exploded onto the mainland United States fast-food scene; it can be found at myriad stand-alone poke counters as well as at the likes of Red Lobster and The Cheesecake Factory (Dixon, 2016).  While Hawaiian poke was traditionally made of a variety of fish, including nenue, the versions in vogue now are based almost exclusively on tuna or salmon, two high-trophic predators.

Nenue have a number of advantages as a candidate for aquaculture.  Our research at Kampachi Farms thus far has found that adult nenue spawn readily in captivity.  Larvae are exceptionally hardy in preliminary hatchery efforts. Our colleague Syd Kraul at Pacific Planktonics recently raised a final total of 200 baby nenuitos from a small sample of our captive-spawns, in an extensive ‘green-water’ culture system. We are planning larger-scale runs in our research hatchery in the near future.  Nenue also have ctenoid scales, with a rough texture and row of tiny teeth at the edge; this armor dramatically aids in ectoparasite resistance. 

Their most interesting feature, however, is their guts.[1]  Nenue have a unique digestive system that allows them to graze on macroalgae.  They subsist on seaweeds by using fermentation in the gut to break down the complex carbohydrates of limu.  Several rounds of grow-out trials with juveniles have shown that they can thrive on diets based on aquatic plant material as well as corn and wheat.  Herbivory precludes the need for wild-caught forage fish – reducing the overall ecological footprint – and perhaps renders them better suited to small-scale fish farming in less-developed countries. 

Between ready acclimation to captivity, routine marine fish larval rearing, parasite resistance, and a broad plant-based diet, this fish has all the trappings of success in sustainable aquaculture.  And it yields poke-quality meat to boot!

At Kampachi Farms we believe that seafood is healthier for people and healthier for the planet, compared to other types of meat.  But one should always strive for improvement: we can improve seafood sustainability by diversifying what we eat and prioritizing low-trophic species in this diversification.  Legions of researchers are pursuing plant-based and alternative proteins that can suitably nourish those carnivorous fish the market so demands – a noble pursuit, yet an admittedly roundabout way to produce ‘low trophic’ species.  The more direct way, the simpler way, is to culture natural marine herbivores.  Not all marine herbivores are suited for the dinner table. And market favorites – such as ahi, snappers, and our King Kampachi – are all beautiful food fish in their own right.  However, if even a fraction of the restaurants selling salmon and ahi poke bowls today also offered nenue grown on herbivorous diets, the seas would be that much better for it.

References

Dixon, Vince. 2016. Data Dive: Tracking the Poke Trend. www.eater.com.  Citing FourSquare.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2018. American seafood industry steadily increases its footprint. www.noaa.gov.

Ulukua: The Hawaiian Electronic Library. 2019.  Native use of fish in Hawaii.  Mok. 2 Descriptive list of Hawaiian fishes (‘Ao’ao 56-163).

In-text links to…

https://oceana.org/blog/eating-seafood-can-reduce-your-carbon-footprint-some-fish-are-better-others

https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2018/02/01/jellyfish-if-you-cant-beat-them-eat-them

http://www.hawaiifishingnews.com/records.cfm

[1] Stay tuned for future blog posts about our imminent research on the kyphosid gut microbiome and its potential application to biofuel production.

As the Internship coordinator at Kampachi Farms, I regularly field emails and calls from marine scientists in training, and aspiring fish farmers. I myself started out at Kampachi Farms as an intern, and I’m a firm believer in the opportunities that volunteering can provide. It’s a great way to gain aquaculture experience, and to get to know an organization without having to commit yourself for the long term.  But often potential aquaculture interns have a romanticized notion about what their role might be.  To clarify what the role is all about I’ve asked our two summer interns, C.J. and Travis, to answer a few questions.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and why you wanted to intern at Kampachi Farms?

C.J. Chao: I’m a senior at Boston University studying Environmental Policy and Analysis. I came to Kampachi Farms because of my great interest in aquaculture, which stems from my love of the ocean. I look at aquaculture as a possible sustainable substitute for depleting wild fisheries and want to be involved in an industry that is new, progressive and exciting. I’m originally from San Francisco but grew up in the suburb of Marin. I’m a certified master scuba diver and also maintained saltwater aquariums as a kid. These two hobbies fostered my interest in the aquaculture field.

Travis Burroughs: I’m from Larkspur, California, and am a senior at the University of Denver studying sustainability and marketing. My interest in aquaculture was sparked by my lifetime of fishing, which first led me to an internship at Monterey Abalone Company last summer. I had a fantastic experience there and with my love of fish, I wanted to gain work experience with a company that focuses on environmentally responsible fish farming.

What sort of work did you do during your internship at Kampachi Farms?

Travis: The internship was both full of routine experience and novel challenges, depending on research needs. These routine tasks included: feeding fish, observing behavior, scrubbing tanks, maintaining the filter systems through back flushing and cleaning filters, and tidying up the site. We also helped to move 20 tons of gravel to level the site for new broodstock tanks for our kampachi.

CJ: Each day Travis and I would complete necessary husbandry tasks, including feeding fish and cleaning tanks.  We also assisted with ongoing experiments, including a feed trial using an experimental soy-based feed, and testing the viability of growing algae in the open ocean for human, animal feed, and biofuel purposes.

C.J. and Travis helping spread 20 tons of gravel for tank platforms.

Travis feeding kampachi juveniles during a feed study.

Taimane Ulu, one of our intern alumni, collecting data. Read more about her Kampachi Farms intern experience here.

What did you learn from your internship?

CJ: Kampachi Farm’s research team offered me a wide ranging and in-depth look into research-oriented aquaculture. During my internship I was able to work with many farmable marine species, including Seriola rivoliana (also known as Kampachi or Yellowtail Amberjack), Giant Pacific Grouper, Nenue (Grey Chub) and several species of algae.

Travis:  While at the Kampachi Farms R&D facility in Kona we were given a first-hand look into fish husbandry at the different life stages. We were lucky enough to be on site during a feed trial, where over 700 fingerling kampachi that had been spawned and hatched out on site, were being grown out on different sustainable feed options. We began feed trials with fish ranging in size from 14-40 grams, which involved weighing, measuring, and tagging each individual fish and then putting them into marked tanks. The goal of the feed trial was to compare different feeds and see which one produced the best FCR and overall fish health. The data collected on-site could then be used in future commercial use with Kampachi Farm’s King Kampachi in La Paz Mexico.

 A few considerations to keep in mind for potential interns: All of our research work in Kona is grant-funded, and so we are presently unable to pay interns for their time. Any internship would therefore need to be on a pro-bono basis. Feel free to get creative in your self-funding options; we have had students find outside funding from their University or regional STEM internship programs. Interns are required to provide their own housing and transport to Kona, and must also have reliable ground transportation when here on the island (public transport in Kona is virtually non-existent).

We love hosting passionate aquaculture interns when our research schedule allows it. If you are interested, please contact our team to learn more about our internship program. You can also stay up to date with our current research projects here.

Macroalgae, or seaweeds, have been around for a very, very long time; fossil evidence of a red macroalga has been dated between 1 and 1.6 billion years ago (1). Seaweeds must be doing well for themselves, if they’ve survived this long! It’s this realization that has catalyzed phycological research ranging from nutrition, skin care, pharmaceuticals, and more recently, in aquaculture, alternative fuel sources, and carbon sequestration strategies (2-6). Seaweed is even being experimented with as an alternative to plastic packaging (7). Macroalgae have been overlooked by most of the world for far too long, but all of this is now changing, and rapidly. Although seaweed is not a new research topic, significant efforts and investments are being made to further explore its potential.

               Before all of this, though, seaweed has been a consistent source of food. The farming of macroalgae is thought to have originated in Japan between the 17th and 19th centuries (8); harnessing the value of seaweed mariculture with no need for using arable land, freshwater, or artificial nutrients, all while introducing a way to help absorb excess nutrients or carbon from the ocean.

               Macroalgae mariculture is a huge commercial operation in Southeast Asian countries like Japan, China, Korea, and the Philippines. The west is slowly catching on. In Hawaiʻi, seaweed has been utilized for hundreds of years. We have over 500 species of seaweeds here in the islands, and our edible macroalgae, or limu, are savored in local cuisine. As the most remote archipelago in the world, there is a lot of ocean to go around—and this ocean is deep. On the west side of the Big Island (Hawaiʻi Island), the water depth plummets to 6,000 ft. (1,829 m), a mere three miles (4.8 km) offshore. West Hawaiʻi’s Natural Energy Lab of Hawaiʻi Authority (NELHA) supplies a consistent source of seawater pumped from two locations: surface seawater (SSW) from 69 ft. (21 m) and deep sea water (DSW) from 2,211 ft. (674 m). With a broad selection of native algal species, access to NELHA’s DSW and SSW on tap, Hawaiʻi is an ideal location to research mariculture opportunities. Our Blue Fields Project is designed to do just that. Funded by the Department of Energy’s MARINER Program (Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources), the Blue Fields project proposes to test a single-point mooring array for high-yield macroalgae culture (9).

               The two major challenges for offshore macroalgae culture in Hawaiʻi are species selection and offshore nutrient delivery. Very little research has been done into the culture of Hawaiʻi’s native species, and as a result there is limited knowledge of their growth requirements. There are demonstrable (and demonstrated) risks with introducing non-native algal species, which may compete with native ones (10). We will therefore only be using native species in our growth trials. Tropical surface waters are also nutrient poor, which explains their clear blue color.  However, Hawaiʻi’s bathymetry (the steep offshore slope of the islands) means that nutrient rich DSW is readily available, and we plan on testing this as a means to stimulate macroalgae growth.

Neil Sims (Chief Science Officer) and Lisa Vollbrecht (Research Manager) presenting the Blue Fields Project at the ARPA-E kickoff meeting.

Limu kohu (Asparagopsis taxiformis) carpospore release.

               Before the Blue Fields offshore array becomes a reality, a series of land-based trials at our Kona research facility will establish which species may be best to grow, and what they need to thrive. In the coming months we will grow our limu with various mixes of deep seawater and surface seawater, and with different timed pulses of nutrients to determine the needs for scalable production. Our partners at Makai Ocean Engineering, are designing a wave-driven upwelling system to lift DSW nutrients to the offshore array. Once we have selected our target species, the team will finalize designs for a pilot-scale single-point mooring, long-line macroalgae array that harnesses wave, current and wind energy for nutrient delivery and harvesting. We also envisage testing a human-operated prototype algal harvester, with the long-term goal of it being a fully autonomous, reliable, high-yield cutting mechanism (think underwater ROV lawn mower). Through a competitive selection process, Blue Fields may eventually be deployed as a demonstration system offshore in West Hawaiʻi. The resulting biomass will be available for human consumption, as a source for feedstuffs for fish (see our nenue blog) or for cattle, and as material for testing as biofuels.

We’re only just at the beginning. There’s a lot of work to be done and there is so much that’s still the subject of lively discussion. But that’s what research is about: asking, “What if?”. There is no single answer to all of our environmental challenges. However, seaweed offers a lot of potential to be a key player as we look for ways to feed humanity, mitigate ocean acidification and nutrient ‘dead zones’, and move towards alternative fuel sources.

Learn more about Research at Kampachi Farms. 

References:

1. Bengston, S., Sallstedt, S., Whitehouse, M. (2017) Three-dimensional preservation of cellular and subcellular structures suggests 1.6 billion-year-old crown-group red algae. PLoS Biol., 15(3): e2000735. Available at: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2000735 [Accessed June 18].

2. Shannon, E., Abu-Ghannam, N. (2016) Antibacterial derivatives of marine algae: an overview of pharmacological mechanisms and applications. Mar. Drugs., 14(81): doi: 10.3390/md14040081.Available at: https://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1237&context=schfsehart [Accessed June 18].

3. Mohamed, S., Hasim, S.N., Rahman, H.A. (2012) Seaweeds: a sustainable functional food for complementary and alternative therapy. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 23(2), pp. 83–96.

4. The use of algae in fish feeds as alternatives to fishmeal (2013) The fish site [online] Available at: https://thefishsite.com/articles/the-use-of-algae-in-fish-feeds-as-alternatives-to-fishmeal [Accessed June 2018].

5. Bach, Q., Sillero M. S., Tran, K., Skjermo, J. (2014) Fast hydrothermal liquefaction of a Norwegian macro-alga: screening tests. Algal Res. 6(Part B), pp. 271-276.

6. How growing sea plants can help slow ocean acidification (2016) Yale Environment 360 [online] Available at: https://e360.yale.edu/features/kelp_seagrass_slow_ocean_acidification_netarts [Accessed June 2018].

7. Eco-friendly packaging concept made from seaweed wins Lexus Design Award 2016 (2016) De Zeen [online] Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/04/19/eco-friendly-packaging-concept-agar-plasticity-seaweed-wins-lexus-design-award-milan-deisgn-week/ [Accessed June 2018].

8. Chopin, T., Sawhney, M. (2009) Seaweeds and their mariculture. Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences (2nd Ed. ), pp. 317-326.

9. Single point mooring array for macroalgae (2018) ARPA-E Department of Energy [online] Available at: https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=slick-sheet-project/single-point-mooring-array-macroalgae [Accessed June 2018].

10. Huisman, J.M., Abbott, I.A., Smith, C.M. (2007) Hawaiian Reef Plants. University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program: Honolulu, HI.

The Giant Grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) is possibly the rarest coral reef fish in the Pacific. This fish grows up to almost 1,000 lbs, but it has been so heavily over-fished throughout its native range (Hawaii, and the Indo-Pacific region), that it is now listed as “Vulnerable” (one step from “Endangered”) on the IUCN Red List[1]. The last reported sighting of this species from the Island of Hawaii was over 5 years ago.

Kampachi Farms – and our forebear, Kona Blue – have been rearing Giant Grouper at our Kona research facility since 1999. Because of the scarcity of these fish in local waters, we originally imported fingerlings from a hatchery in Taiwan, and grew them out until they started spawning … and they kept growing! Some of these fish are now over 18 years old, and weigh perhaps 300 pounds (But that’s just a guess … we don’t have any scales that can weigh fish this big!). And they are still growing!

The original intention was to try to raise these high-value groupers for commercial culture. However, this proved unfeasible for two reasons. Firstly, fish this big are very difficult to spawn. We have not obtained a viable spawn from these fish since 2012. We believe that the problem is that their tanks are too small, and they are not able to perform the courtship rituals that precede spawning. The second problem is that we were unable to wean the juveniles onto a more sustainable pellet diet. This meant that commercial culture of Giant Grouper would require a constant supply of sardines or squid to feed the fish, and that simply doesn’t work – either economically, or ecologically. We want our fish culture to soften humanity’s footprint on the seas, not to exacerbate it!

So – if not commercially valuable, we thought these fish might be valuable for conservation. We therefore requested permission from Hawaii state authorities to restock these fish onto Hawaii’s reefs, where divers could see them in their native habitat. However, some were concerned that these fish might be genetically distinct from the native Hawaiian population, and with no native fish to compare to our own, this proposal was scrapped.  

So what to do? These fish have always been the “star of the show” for our research site tours and other outreach activities. They have served as fantastic ambassadors for reef conservation to the 6,500+ visitors who have toured the Kampachi Farms facility over the past few years. We have learned a lot from these beautiful fish, and their offspring, which were spawned and raised on-site by the research team. However, there comes a time when we have to say goodbye to those that we love … and it was that time for our Giant Groupers. But what to do with a 300 pound fish friend? The answer was to fly, not fry!  

With the help of a very talented team of acquisition specialists at Reef and Ray, we are happy to announce that we have found new homes for our Giant Grouper. We have donated these fish to a number of aquariums throughout the United States, where they will be able to carry on their work as coral reef ambassadors, and live out their days in comfort, with other coral reef fish communities to keep them company. Over the past few weeks, twelve of our Giant Groupers have been sent to aquariums in Hawaii, Missouri, Indiana, and even as far as New Jersey. Our oldest and largest specimen (appropriately named “Hulk”), will be traveling to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey.

It has been a great joy and an honor to raise these magnificent fish. We wish them all long and enjoyable lives in their new homes! We’d also like to extend great thanks to all of the aquariums for adopting our Giant Grouper, where they will now connect with a broader audience – exemplifying the treasures of our precious ocean environment and our collective duty for preservation.  Please stay tuned for updates as they arrive at their new aquariums. Follow our grouper updates on twitter @kampachifarms.

[1] The International Union for Conservation of Nature - assessment of the species Epinephelus lanceolatus - last assessment carried out in 2006  http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/7858/0

One of the reasons wild stocks have been able to endure this fishing pressure is the remarkable growth and reproductive capabilities of this species. Juveniles have been shown to gain roughly 30 grams a day in laboratory settings, and grow up to 9.5 kg in the first year (2,3). Perhaps more importantly, they reach sexual maturity in just 4 to 5 months in the wild and spawn up to 180 days of the year (4)!

The market, the growth rates, and the success in captive spawning are all there; so why is there no mahimahi aquaculture? The Achilles heel for C. hippurus thus far is their natural aggression: larval rearing can be challenging due to high rates of cannibalism at early life stages, followed by territorial bloodlust as they reach maturity. They start earning the moniker “dolphinfish” at a young age, exhibiting the ability to jump impressively high out of things (tanks) or into things (walls).

At Kampachi Farms we strive to allay this aggression by creating cohorts of single sex mahi. The sex of several other marine fish species can be determined by unique temperature fluctuations near time of spawning, and anecdotal evidence suggests this can be applied to mahi. By defining the ideal water temperature and timing/duration of exposure, we could provide a noninvasive, economical method of producing all-male cohorts. This would be ideal for aquaculture as male mahi aggression is naturally lower in the absence of females, and the overall growth rate of males is higher as they invest less energy in reproduction.

While mahi may be excellent restaurant fare, they are also incredibly useful for ecological research. The same biological features that make this a promising species for commercial production – exceptionally high metabolism, low age at reproduction – make a convenient proxy to illustrate the effects of environmental changes on marine finfish. The University of Miami has used their renowned C. hippurus spawning program in myriad studies since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to observe the developmental effects this event may have had on pelagic fish species (spoiler: oil is not great for fish). Since mahi progress through their developmental stages so quickly, it is an ideal species in which to study toxicology. For instance, certain levels of embryonic exposure to crude oil may prove nonlethal, but may impact cardiac function and energy demands of the fish later in life (5,6). Similarly, mahi have been used to illustrate the metabolic and behavioral impacts of ocean acidification (7). This knowledge can be applied to past and future scenarios to better understand long term impacts of anthropogenic activity on fish population fitness.

Wild mahi have thus far proven robust to fishing pressure, but the world needs ever more seafood. Optimizing aquaculture of this species can increase availability, alleviate pressure on wild stocks, as well as provide invaluable knowledge for resource management in the face of a changing environment.

More mahi for all!

References:

1. NMFS Recreational Fisheries Statistics Queries (2013). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.  [online] Available at: https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/recreational/queries/ [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].
2. Hagood, R.W., Rothwell, G.N., Swafford, M., Tosaki, M. (1981) Preliminary report on the aquaculture development of the dolphin fish, Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus).  J. WorldMaricult. Soc., 12(1), pp.135–139.
3. Kraul, S. (1989) Review and current status of the aquaculture potential for the mahimahi, Coryphaena hippurus. Advances in Tropical Aquaculture, Workshop at Tahiti, French Polynesia, 20 Feb-4 Mar 1989.
4. McBride, R.S., Snodgrass, D.J., Adams, D.H., Rider, S.J. and Colvocoresses, J.A. (2012) An indeterminate model to estimate egg production of the highly iteroparous and fecund fish, dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus). Bulletin of Marine Science, 88(2), pp.283-303.
5. Esbaugh, A.J., Mager, E.M., Stieglitz, J.D., Hoenig, R., Brown, T.L., French, B.L., Linbo, T.L., Lay, C., Forth, H., Scholz, N.L. and Incardona, J.P. (2016) The effects of weathering and chemical dispersion on Deepwater Horizon crude oil toxicity to mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) early life stages. Science of the Total Environment, 543, pp.644-651.
6. Pasparakis, C., Mager, E.M., Stieglitz, J.D., Benetti, D. and Grosell, M. (2016) Effects of Deepwater Horizon crude oil exposure, temperature and developmental stage on oxygen consumption of embryonic and larval mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus). Aquatic Toxicology, 181, pp.113-123.
7. Pimentel, M., Pegado, M., Repolho, T. and Rosa, R. (2014) Impact of ocean acidification in the metabolism and swimming behavior of the dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) early larvae. Marine biology, 161(3), pp.725-729.

As part of a national initiative to increase U.S. aquaculture production in the next four years, Kampachi Farms has been awarded a grant in partnership with Florida Sea Grant to trial a new Velella net pen pilot project in the Gulf of Mexico.   

Kampachi Farms has successfully deployed smaller Aquapod™ demonstration fish pens off the coast of Kona, Hawaii. The Velella Beta-test was awarded one of TIME Magazine’s 25 Best Inventions of the Year, and was featured on a National Geographic special hosted by Dr. Robert Ballard. The Velella Beta-test and the Velella Gamma project were both also highly popular with the local Kona fishing community, as the net pen arrays acted as Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs), and proved to be exciting dive sites for snorkel tours.    

In 2016, NOAA Fisheries finalized a Rule that would allow commercial aquaculture operations to be permitted in U.S. federal waters in the Gulf. However, no applications have been received for such projects yet, according to Jess Beck-Stimpert, an aquaculture coordinator with NOAA Fisheries.

“This demonstration pen would therefore be the only permitted structure in Gulf waters,” said Beck-Stimpert.

One of the major barriers to commercially expanding open ocean aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico has been its arduous permitting process.

Neil Anthony Sims, CEO for Kampachi Farms stated, “The primary goal of the demonstration project is to help the local communities in the Gulf of Mexico to understand the ancillary benefits that offshore aquaculture can bring to fisheries and to recreational tourism.”

Kampachi Farms also intends to start discussions with State and Federal agencies and the local community about pioneering an application for a commercial aquaculture permit in the Gulf of Mexico. The Velella Epsilon will use a SUBflex submersible net pen system (made by GiliOcean Technology), on a single-point mooring, which allows the net pens to pivot as the current direction changes. The project will also encourage recreational and charterboat fishermen to use the pen as a FAD, or Fish Aggregating Device. As part of the Sea Grant project, this process, and the community response, will be documented as a reference for future applicants.

Sims explained, “Once the Velella Epsilon has demonstrated the technology and benefits of offshore aquaculture to the local communities, then we will engage them in the discussions about how this industry might move forward. We will also work with the various agencies to identify areas needing further regulation or clarification of agency requirements, or areas where we could eliminate any redundancies. And, we will make our documentation on this process readily available for future aquaculture industry applicants to use as a template.”

For more information on previous Velella Project Trials see our Research Page.  

Kampachi Farms’ Research Team recently obtained fertilized eggs from our tank-reared nenue (rudderfish, Kyphosus vaigiensis). To our knowledge, this is the first captive-reared spawn ever obtained of any Kyphosidae family.

Kampachi Farms – along with many others in aquaculture research - have pursued enhanced sustainability by formulating "vegetarian" diets for carnivorous fish, such as our much-loved Cabo Kampachi™. However, few have focused on the potential for growing a high-quality herbivorous marine fish. Herbivorous fish are less widely appreciated, but in Hawaii a local reef herbivore, the nenue (rudderfish; a member of the Kyphosidae family), has always been prized as a food fish. These seaweed-grazers have a fantastically efficient ruminant-like gut, which allows them to digest and utilize macroalgae(seaweed, or ‘limu’, in Hawaiian). Cultured nenue could therefore potentially be grown on a highly sustainable and economical diet including macroalgae, agricultural byproducts and other plant-based materials. Perhaps most importantly, the fish tastes great and is very nutritious.

Learn more about our various research projects.

Recently, a member of our accomplished research team, Julien Stevens, was interviewed by Seafood Source - a leading online publication for global seafood industry news.

If you're a Seafood Source member, you can find the Business Insider article here.

You can also check out a pdf version of the article.

Our earlier pioneering work with Kona Blue Water Farms had shown what was possible. Our submergible net pen array was producing up to 500 tons per year of sashimi-grade kampachi. Extensive monitoring showed no discernible impact on the surrounding water quality, or on wild fish health, or on the spectacularly rich coral-reef that lay a mere half mile inshore from the farm site. It was usually not possible to tell the difference between the water samples that were taken from control sites, up-current of the farm, with those taken from the sample sites down-current of the farm. The coral reef directly inshore is both monitored closely by the Hawaii State biologists (in Aquatic Resources Division), and also scrutinized every day by the dive tour operators – sometimes 10 or 15 boats per night - who bring legions of tourists out to the reef to consort with the manta rays.

As biologists, we understand that all ecosystems have limits to their carrying capacity, and so we have always advocated that significant scale-up of offshore aquaculture should be in deep offshore waters, in areas with brisk currents. But we also felt passionately that the further scale-up offshore had to happen; that it was an ecological imperative as well as an economic opportunity. This understanding was rooted both in our training in fisheries science, and in our recognition of future global food needs. We know that mankind has reached “peak fish” with wild stocks. Global catches are flat, at best. Even if we were to restore all wild fisheries to their optimum levels, this would still only meet about 5% of projected global protein needs (Steve Gaines, of UCSB, pers. comm.). The planet’s growing population, and the increasingly affluent middle class, are all going to demand more animal protein. From whence will it come?

For many years, most of the environmental NGOs in the marine conservation community were staunchly opposed to the idea of growing fish in the ocean. Admittedly, early aquaculture ventures struggled with limited knowledge about fish nutrition and aquatic animal health, net pen engineering and eco-system area management. But over the past three or four decades, there has been a phenomenal improvement in all areas of fish farming in the marine environment – both in the industry’s ability to produce healthy and healthful fish in an efficient manner, with minimal reliance on marine resources such as ‘forage’ fish, and in the overall management of the industry, to limit impacts to marine ecosystems. Yet many eNGOs still clung to the notion that fish farming in the ocean was somehow bad, while the farming of pigs or cows or chickens was a pastoral ideal to be celebrated and encouraged.

Well, thank goodness for science! Or perhaps, more accurately, let’s thank Conservation International and Worldfish Center for their diligent adherence to science. In 2011, these two organizations undertook a joint study – Blue Frontiers – that compared the Life Cycle Assessments of a range of animal protein production systems, and determined that – hands down, far and away – aquaculture was the least impactful of all. By comparison, they concluded, terrestrial livestock production has major impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater availability, and land use. On a finite planet, we simply cannot feed 9 billion people with hamburgers and pork sausages.

It was a powerful piece of science, and it had an immediate impact on policies. Most of the leading eNGOs disbanded their aquaculture offices (which had been purposed to largely slow down aquaculture’s growth). Most of the science-driven foundations stopped supporting anti-aquaculture advocacy, and began to quietly promote their more preferred forms of aquaculture: Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture, culture of filter-feeding bivalves and freshwater fish, and Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS). There was even an explicit - but only tacit - acceptance of net pen aquaculture, with the participation of a number of eNGOs in drafting of standards for responsible aquaculture.

Aside: We should give full credit where it is due, here … World Wildlife Fund (WWF - the panda-bear people) had for years – even before 2011’s Blue Frontiers - been supporting the Aquaculture Dialogue process, which provided the foundation for the most rigorous of aquaculture standards - those of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

However, there was very little outspoken support for helping aquaculture to grow, or for dispelling the negative stereotypes that were firmly established in consumers’ minds from the years of besmirching farmed fish. When we asked the CEO of one leading marine conservation organization if – in light of the Blue Frontiers study – he would publicly endorse responsible net pen culture, he very politely but very firmly demurred.

So yet again, let’s thank Conservation International (CI) for having the good grace, common sense and integrity to once more lead by example. Recently, in “Human Nature” the Conservation International Blog, Leah Duran outlined the “5 Myths about Farmed Seafood." And (bless them!), the dispelling of Myth No. 5 (“Farmed seafood is only grown on land and close to shore”) constituted the most forthright endorsement of the expansion of offshore aquaculture that we have yet seen from the NGO quarter. It was far more than we could have ever dared hope for! Some of it, we could not have said better ourselves: “Deeper waters and faster currents lessen pollution and disease, increase production, and reduce pressures on terrestrial and coastal habitats.” Amen!

The article extensively quoted Ben Halpern (“lead scientist for the Ocean Health Index, a tool developed by CI that tracks ocean health”). Halpern embraced “the ‘vast, untapped potential’ of deep-water aquaculture to meet global seafood needs — sustainably”. Thank you, CI … thank you!

The CI Blog also referenced a recent study, led by researchers from UC Santa Barbara, but which included scientists from the Nature Conservancy, UCLA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Their research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, shows the tremendous potential for scale-up of marine aquaculture. According to the study, use of the available ocean space for marine aquaculture – excluding those areas with other conflicting ocean uses or conservation concerns, and extending out to a depth of only 200 m - could produce more than 100 times the current level of consumption of seafood globally.

Further underscoring the point: the equivalent of the current harvest of all of the world’s wild-caught fisheries could be farmed in an area less than 0.015 percent of the total ocean surface; i.e. an area about the size of Lake Michigan. The challenge, the study concluded, is not ocean space, it is primarily one of policy; willpower, if you will. All that is needed is “good governance, sustainable investment and rock-solid science.”

And these essentials, we would assert, can all flow from active involvement of the conservation community, working with us to expand this industry, and ensuring that we expand in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Now, even Seafood Watch is tweeting out, loud and proud, for aquaculture: “… farmed seafood is … the solution for our growing global demand for seafood.”

We do love to see these endorsements! But … consider, please: the conservation community is quite justly incensed with the climate-change deniers, for their unwillingness to accept the overwhelming evidence and the preponderance of opinion among scientists. So, we also quietly wonder – what will it take for the rest of the environmental community and academia to accept the science showing the need for growth in offshore aquaculture? And what will it take for them to voice this support publicly? We all need to work together to reverse consumers’ misperceptions about aquaculture, and to encourage consumers to eat more farmed seafood. The planet’s health – and consumers’ health – depend on it.  

Aloha, all. And Onwards!