Abstract

Over fishing of black sea bass (Centripristis striata) as well as the desire to produce them at more marketable sizes (2 lb.) has prompted the creation of a 1,600 liter, high density pilot scale mariculture system to investigate the rearing of this fish to meet certain market needs. The pilot scale operation is based on a low-cost, green house re-circulating shoreline system in which ammonia and other by-products are removed by an algae-based bio-filter of microbial mats, followed by a fluidized sand bed which is laden with aconsortia of nitrifying bacteria, thus minimizing the discharge of potentially harmful effluent to the coastline environment. Seaweed (Gracilria tikvahiae) was also investigated as a biofilter to serve as a possible alternative to the microbial mats. Another goal of this project is for the algae based bio- filter system to transform the fish wastes into high quality proteins. Black sea bass have optimal growth in the temperature range of 22 - 27°C. The design and implementation of a geothermal cooling system for the summer, and a solar water heating system for the winter to control temperature were investigated. Several water quality parameters were monitored over extended periods, including, dissolved oxygen, salinity, temperature, pH, and ammonia concentration. In addition, the amount of nonplanktonic algal biomass produced, and the performance of the system as a high density fish operation with optimized fish growth kinetics was assessed. The results from the above investigations will be presented and discussed.

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