Restaurant in Wilmington's 

 waterfront area. It was a grand 

 debut for the subject of an 

 experiment, with a tasting panel 

 that included UNC-W Chancellor 

 Jim Leutze and local media. 



The fish samples were served 

 four ways — fried, blackened, 

 stuffed with lobster and as sushi. 



The sushi was the preferred 

 dish at the tasting, says Kevin 

 Yates, a UNC-W graduate student 

 in marine science who worked on 

 marketing for the project. 

 However, some tasters declined 

 the sushi, which may have skewed 

 the results, Yates explains. Sushi 

 afficionados were likely the ones 

 who rated that dish so high. 



All in all, the black sea bass 

 was well received. On a scale of 

 one to five, most dishes scored 

 higher than four, says Yates. 



Since the taste test, the black 

 sea bass from the project have 

 continued to get rave reviews. 



Yates took some of the fish to 

 the Fulton Fish Market in New 

 York, which he describes as a 

 "huge open-air wholesale market" 

 and one of the largest seafood 

 markets in the world. The fish 

 were cut open right there, he says, and passed 

 around as sushi. "They look at thousands of 

 pounds of fish per day and really liked it," 

 he says. 



"That's when I came to the realization that 

 we really had something here to target the sushi 

 market with," says Yates, explaining that means 

 higher profits for the supplier. 



In Maryland, the test-marketed bass 

 brought $5 a pound, whole and on ice, even at 

 weights less than the 2.5 "jumbo" size, 

 according to Copeland. Commercially, jumbos 

 normally bring $4 to $5 per pound at the most, 

 she says. 



For "live-hauled" fish, Yates says the black 

 sea bass can bring much more at large, 

 metropolitan markets. 



Prices fluctuate considerably, based on 

 market demand. The best way for the aquacul- 

 turist to gauge selling price is to find the current 



TOP: Kim Copeland and Captain Carl Snow harvest black sea bass from 



the stocking density study, i**™*,;. wc-w> 

 BOTTOM: Wade Watanabe, left, and Scott Wheatley check out a larval- 

 rearing tank at the CMS liatchery building. (Photo by Pom Smith) 



wholesale rates for wild-caught species, says 

 North Carolina Sea Grant Director Ronald G. 

 Hodson, a nationally recognized expert in 

 marine finfish aquaculture. 



The sea bass have received accolades close 

 to home as well as in New York and Maryland. 



"We have test-marketed the fish to a local 

 market in Wilmington, and they're always 

 calling and asking if we have more fish." 

 Copeland says. 



OUT OF THE LAB, 

 INTO THE WORLD 



Given the results from the projects so far, 

 Snow says he plans to pursue black sea bass 

 aquaculture. 



He explains that his setup will differ from 

 the university's system that filters and recircu- 

 lates water. 



"I happen to be very fortunate, because I 



live on the water," he says. He 

 plans to pump in sea water for his 

 operation. 



Buying tanks, pumps and 

 filters for a recirculating system 

 would be more expensive, Snow 

 says. "But that's just a one-time 

 thing," he adds. "I feel like, if 

 someone was serious about trying 

 to do it for a living, it would be 

 profitable." 



Watanabe explains that, as 

 the business of finfish aquaculture 

 develops, it tends to progress from 

 a system that relies on wild-caught 

 fish to a method in which wild 

 stock is spared. Ultimately, 

 through the hatchery technology 

 that arises to supply fingerlings to 

 the aquaculturist, wild stocks can 

 also be replenished. 



"With support from the FRG 

 program," Watanabe says, "we 

 tested out Captain Snow's idea of 

 taking small, wild-caught black 

 sea bass and growing them to a 

 larger premium market size before 

 sale. If Captain Snow were to 

 practice this concept, he would 

 actually be growing fish that are 

 produced in the wild, a practice 

 known as 'on-growing.' In closed- 

 cycle aquaculture, the farmer no longer relies on 

 the capture of wild fish to stock his tanks, but 

 rather on fingerlings produced in a hatchery." 

 Meanwhile, the sea bass research goes on. 

 Some of the fish grown out in the study 

 were used as broodstock and induced to spawn 

 using hormones and regimes regulating exposure 

 to light and temperature. 



Copeland says the current study is going 

 well. Fish produced in the lab two to three years 

 ago will, she hopes, reach sexual maturity soon. If 

 they successfully spawn, she says, "it will close 

 the life cycle" for the fish raised in captivity. 

 Watanabe and Copeland say that this is the first 

 time, to their knowledge, that this has been 

 accomplished for this species. 



The feat will bring the research full circle, 

 helping to establish the feasibility of commercial 

 aquaculture of black sea bass along with its 

 implications for replenishing a species. □ 



COASTWATCH 19 



