AQUACULTURE IN THE NATIONAL SEA GRANT PROGRAM 



ROBERT D. WILDMAN' 



INTRODUCTION 



The National Sea Grant Program was created by 

 an Act of the Congress of the United States to accel- 

 erate the development and optimum utilization of 

 our marine resources. This was to be accomplished 

 through the support of research and development, 

 education and training, and advisory service ac- 

 tivities. Major emphasis was to be placed on the 

 conduct of these programs through the establish- 

 ment and operation of Sea Grant Colleges, the ocean 

 equivalent of our Land Grant Colleges which were 

 instrumental in making the United States one of the 

 greatest agricultural nations of the world. 



The Sea Grant Program, originally a part of the 

 National Science Foundation, is now in the National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the 

 U.S. Department of Commerce. Several require- 

 ments, restrictions, and methods of operation affect 

 the Program in important ways. Sea Grant funds 

 may not be used for construction or maintenance 

 purposes, or for vessel rental. Any recipient of Sea 

 Grant support must provide at least one-third of the 

 total cost of the project from non-Federal sources. 

 All grantees are encouraged to develop cooperative 

 programs with other scientists from universities, 

 government agencies, and/or private industry. Many 

 of our programs have, in fact, operated in this way. 

 When the National Sea Grant Program was created 

 by the Congress, aquaculture was one of the few 

 fields of research specifically identified for em- 

 phasis. In carrying out this mandate, the Sea Grant 

 Program has provided more support to this one area 

 of research than to any other. At the present time 

 over 209? of our research funds go into aquacultural 

 efforts. Asof 30June 1971, we were supporting over 

 50 projects directly related to aquaculture. The total 

 cost of these projects was nearly S5 million with over 

 S3 million coming from our Program. The remainder 



' Program Director. Office of Sea Grant. NOAA. Washington. 



D.c. :o:.\'!. 



of the funding is being provided by the universities, 

 state agencies, and private industrial organizations 

 participating in these Sea Grant Programs. 



Due to the low level of past activity in the aquacul- 

 ture field in the United States, very few research 

 groups had any capability or experience on which to 

 base an expanded effort. As a result, much of the 

 early work under Sea Grant support has been de- 

 voted to the establishment of trained, experienced 

 groups who are equipped and capable of conducting 

 the type of research necessary to solve the many and 

 varied problems encountered by anyone in aquacul- 

 ture as a business venture. This includes studies on 

 economics and law, environmental quality, en- 

 gineering, and seafood technology as they relate to 

 aquaculture. Such studies are not described in this 

 paper even though they may ultimately provide the 

 solution to the most critical problem faced by one or 

 more aquaculture ventures. 



For the purpose of this paper, the Sea Grant 

 aquaculture projects will be described by type of 

 organism being studied, except for a few projects of a 

 general type. 



CRUSTACEANS 



Shrimp 



The first aquaculture project to be supported by 

 Sea Grant, the University of Miami program contin- 

 ues to be one of the most advanced in experimental 

 shrimp culture. Begun in cooperation with Armour 

 and Company, the United ( Fruit) Brands Company, 

 and Florida Power and Light Company, the main 

 objectives have been 1) to rear large numbers of 

 shrimp from eggs to postlarvae (about 1 cm long) and 

 2) to grow these postlarvae to marketable size 

 quickly and at low cost. Since the first objective has 

 been achieved for the most part, emphasis is now 

 given to the problems associated with the second. 

 Specifically, the work is now devoted to the further 

 development of satisfactory foods and feeding 

 methods which w ill provide rapid growth, high sur- 



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