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Hatcheries Promise Bright Fishing Future

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By FRANK SARGEANT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 25, 2008

Consider it making something good out of a bad situation.

When the state learned that its marine hatchery at Port Manatee was going to be incorporated into expansion plans at the port, they began searching for alternative sites for a new facility.

After an assist with seed money from the Florida Legislature, what they've come up with is a whole bevy of new hatcheries, each localized to meet the needs and the species most important in various parts of the state.

"It looks like we may have two or three on the east coast, at least one in the Southeast for Charlotte Harbor/Tampa Bay, and then hopefully one in the Panhandle," says Luiz Barbieri, research director for the Florida Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

Barbieri said snook, sea trout and redfish have proven to have strains on the east coast distinct from those on the west coast, and biologists believe it's critical that these strains not be mixed in restocking programs.

"One species may survive cold better, be more resistant to pollution or whatever, and if you move it to a different habitat and those genes get into the local fish, this could make them less successful at surviving," Barbieri said.

Building Blocks

Partnering with Mote Marine and with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, FWRI plans to build large spawning ponds in areas where adequate land is available. In other, more confined sites, they will build "grow-out" facilities, mostly closed-tank aquaculture, where large numbers of fish can be raised rapidly to a size most likely to survive stocking.

"We know that the smaller the fish we put out, the less likely they are to survive. But we also know that the larger we grow the fish before release, the more each of them costs," Barbieri says. "So the trick is to try to get the most bang for the buck, to stock them at the most efficient size to have an impact on the fishery."

He said redfish stocking experiments in Tampa Bay, carried out with fish spawned at the Port Manatee facility, have proven that stocked fish can survive, and that adequate numbers of them could improve fishing.

"We think that stocking could be both a way of improving fishing in healthy populations, and also quickly restoring base stocks after an environmental issue like red tide or a freeze that kills a lot of snook," Barbieri said.

He said FWRI is negotiating for a 100-acre property on Pine Island that might make an ideal spawning facility for the southwest area. Smaller properties are being looked at in New Smyrna Beach, Melbourne, Dade County and near Cockroach Bay. He said talks with several Panhandle landowners had not been successful, so no location is in the works there.

Paying for the hatcheries, of course, will be a major issue, but Barbieri says the Bass Research Center at Richloam is the model for all the saltwater hatcheries.

"We have a major fundraising effort underway by the Wildlife Foundation of Florida, which is the 'bank' for the state's public/private partnerships," he said, "and we are hopeful with a lot of corporate sponsorship and some state and federal grants, all of this can be put together in the near future."

Barbieri said the first new facility is likely to be in place within three years, and it's hoped that all the hatcheries can be in operation within a decade.

Tank Culture Has Advantages

Much of the technology for the tank culture already has been proven by the giant Mote Marine hatchery east of Sarasota. There, scientists use recycled water and specialized feeds to grow incredible poundages of fish rapidly and in little space.

"One of the advantages of tank culture is that you don't have to have the facility on the coast because you can 'make' the sea water," Barbieri said. "There are no red tide issues, and no waste-water issues because nearly everything is recycled."

Stocking experiments by Mote with snook around Sarasota Bay already have had a significant impact in some areas, Barbieri said. But, he noted, stocking alone won't be successful.

"No matter how many fish you put into the water, you won't have improved numbers unless you have good habitat, so that has to be at the top of our concerns for the foreseeable future," he said. "If we don't preserve what we've got, and continue to restore damaged areas, then all the stocking in the world won't do any good."

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