SBIR-STTR Award

Development of effective marine RAS systems will be beneficial to both large-scale commercial aquaculture, and small farm/niche market aquaculture, since these systems can be employed to raise a wide range of species. In effect, using an RAS type system allows almost any type of culturing environment to be created, since the water is recycled and can be recycled completely only adding water to replace evaporation losses. Our project focus will be to utilize RAS principles to develop a marine shrimp production system that can take advantage of close proximity to major markets. The close proximity will allow a fresh and possibly organic product to be sold at premium prices. This niche market would be the initial focus for a RAS based shrimp system, since the production costs are expected to be higher than those from current pond systems or ex-vessel prices of wild caught shrimp in domestic US waters. Our proposed research effort is to take advantage of the Belize methodology and move it to an indoor application; we will call our system an indoor zero exchange production (IZEP) system. We characterize the Belize system as being one that is dominated by heterotrophic bacteria as opposed to other intensive outdoor or greenhouse systems that are much more dominated by autotrophic organisms, e.g. algae based. OBJECTIVES: Our objective is to develop an indoor intensive shrimp production system employing zero water exchange and half-strength seawater. The Magnolia prototype design referred to as the Indoor Zero Exchange Production (IZEP) system is based upon the mixed cell raceway developed for finfish production to remove settleable solids. Objective 1: A series of replicated experiments will be conducted (2x2x3 block experiment); treatments are stocking density and presence or absence of shelves with three replicates of each treatment (treatment 1 could be considered the control that uses 400 animals/m2 with no shelving; we will use L. vannamei as supplied by SyAqua, a cooperator on the project ). The prototype units are each 18x54x4.5 ft3 raceways. Dependent variables are shrimp growth, feed conversion, and survivability. Indirect dependent variables that will be measured are water quality (as reflected by TSS, TVS, TOC, BOD, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate (Total N), pH, CO2, & C:N ratio. Our second objective is to determine the economic feasibility of using the IZEP system to produce shrimp in an inland location. Using the data obtained in objective 1, we will predict the costs of producing shrimp from an IZEP system and the range of expected performance within some statistical limits. APPROACH: Objective 1. During previous research, Magnolia has found that feeding supplemental carbon at a 5 to 10 C:N ratio was effective in controlling nitrogenous waste (resulted in low ammonia and nitrite levels) in the shrimp rearing water. We will use Zeigler feed formulated to provide carbon for heterotrophic bacteria as our shrimp feed (Gardners, PA; see Letters of Support). Additional carbon will be added (e.g., molasses) if needed based upon daily water quality measurements, e.g. too low of a TSS concentration would result in additional carbon being added to the water column. For Phase I, we will use half strength (16 ppt) seawater (salinity achieved by adding solar-salt) and zero exchange of water (except to makeup water evaporation) and control water temperature to a constant 30 C (86 F). Light levels will be maintained ~10 foot candles (110 lux) using fluorescent lighting (we are doing this in an enclosed broiler type house with no windows or curtains). Dissolved oxygen will be maintained at or above 5 ppm using downflow Speece cones on the return water from the sumps. Sludge will be dewatered from individual production systems using GeoTubes (see Letter of Support, Mr. Don Bishop, Miratech a Division of Ten Cate Nicolon, Commerce GA; www.geotube.com) and the filtered water returned to the particular production tank the sludge was removed from. SyAqua (see Letters of Support) shrimp will be used in a 3-phase rearing system at the Magnolia facility: nursery to accept PL's from SyAqua; juvenile stage to produce a ~ 1 gram stocking animal, and growout phase. Animals will be stocked at two densities in the growout phase: 400 and 600 animals per m2. Twelve independent (meaning different water systems completely) growout systems will be built, each growout tank being 16.3 m x 5.44 m x 1.22 m (or 18x54x4 feet) constructed using structural lumber with an HDPE liner. Six of these tanks will be stocked at 400 and six at 600 animals per m2. Three of the 6 tanks in each density block will have supplemental horizontal shelves added to increase rearing substrate area and feed pellet access. Shelves will be arranged in a circular pattern (approximately mid water column) to minimize any negative impact on the solids removal efficiency of the mixed-cell design. The additional floor area added will provide 45% more floor resting/feeding area (similar to the percentage density increase going from 400 to 600 animals/m2). In our previous research, an infra-red observation of shrimp behavior showed that the shrimp were actively using the additional floor space. In summary, Objective 1 is a 2x2x3 block experiment with the treatments being stocking density and presence or absence of shelves with three replicates of each treatment (treatment 1 could be considered the control that uses 400 animals/m2 with no shelving). Dependent variables are shrimp growth, feed conversion, and survivability. Indirect dependent variables that will be measured are water quality as reflected by TSS, TVS, TOC, BOD, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate (Total N), pH, CO2, & C:N ratio. Data will be analyzed with ANOVA and other standard statistical methods as appropriate

With the continuing growth in the demand for shrimp and the ever-increasing reliance on imports to satisfy that demand, there is a tremendous and growing need for sustainable domestic sources of marine shrimp. Neither US wild harvest (~ 300 million lbs annually) nor the domestic outdoor pond-based farm-raised shrimp industry (8 million lbs annually) provides the solution, since these sources together produced only 15% of total shrimp consumption in 2004 and are significantly constrained due to the limits of nature, land, climate, disease, environmental concerns, and other factors. Magnolia has developed a technical approach using recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technology that we believe can produce shrimp economically on a consistent basis. In order to be commercially viable, this system must be capable of achieving biological productivity sufficient to offset the higher energy and capital costs characteristic of such systems. In addition, since these systems can be located in-shore (inland) near attractive population centers, a premium price should also be achievable for fresh and even live product with an effective marketing and sales effort. In these niche markets, Magnolia believes it can be successful even though its production costs will be higher than the pond reared or wild caught animals. These production costs, however, are estimated to be dramatically lower compared with traditional methods of production and other competing re-circulating systems, e.g., our capitalization costs are much lower that what has been reported in the literature and we expect our productivity per unit footprint of building to be higher than other systems to date due to our selective breeding program and our high percentage coverage of floor area by water raceways. Based upon Magnolia's efforts over the previous 24 months, we have built a prototype production facility in Beaver Dam, KY that will be the basis of a refined system that is capable of producing a repeatable quality product on a continuous basis. The Phase II research will build on the results of Phase I to take the final step towards the successful development of environmentally-sustainable marine shrimp production. OBJECTIVES: The general objective of our Phase II proposal is to demonstrate more fully the economic viability of the Magnolia production system on a full-scale basis for the production of marine shrimp in a temperate climate in an inland location. APPROACH: Research will be a combination of replicated small tank studies and full-scale raceway studies to verify the small scale tank data at the Magnolia facilities and additional replicated studies at Kentucky State University on adapting alternative feed stuffs (incorporation of harvested biofloc into the feed pellet). Specific objectives for the SBIR Phase II effort are as follows: 1. Determine shrimp performance (growth, survivability, and feed conversion) over a growout cycle as affected by the relationship between tank depth and shrimp stocking density; 2. Determine shrimp performance (growth, survivability, and feed conversion) over a growout cycle at optimal depth as affected by the relationship between solids removal and shrimp stocking density; 3. Determine if the bio-floc generated by the Magnolia production system is a useful feed ingredient in shrimp grow-out diets; and 4. Estimate the fully absorbed costs of production from the Magnolia system utilizing the optimal stocking density, tank depth, solids removal, aeration (oxygen needs) and diet requirements (as determined in companion study trials at Kentucky State University) and in our full-scale (30,000 sq.ft.) production building (Beaver Dam, Ohio County, Kentucky)