Support Florida Sportfish

Mosquito Lagoon Marine Enhancement Center Awarded ECHO Grant

March 10, 2010

The Volusia County ECHO Board approved a $600,000 grant that will enable work to begin on the hatchery property. Along with $130,000 in match from the City of New Smyrna Beach, $10,000 from the Artist's Workshop and $10,000 from the Marine Discovery Center, the Wildlife Foundation of Florida provided $150,000 for demolition of substandard structures and the restoration of one building for use as an education and outreach center.

The Artist's Workshop and Marine Discovery Center will provide the education and outreach to over 25,000 children and visitors on the site through innovative programs designed to directly engage visitors in the marine environment.  A classroom and wet lab on site will enable Volusia schools to provide hands on marine science and educational programs.  In addition, an additional wet lab will be available for use by marine researchers in the area.

The master plan for the site is under development, but an early draft rendition shows the a possible future site with new facilities and extensive public access.

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[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

East Coast brood stock collection begins this Saturday and Sebastian Inlet.

The Big Reds Tournament: Brood Stock for Conservation is Saturday, November 13th at Sebastian Inlet Park. we will blog the event live with photos and highlights.

Special thanks to the FWC Staff and our Captains for making this event a reality.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute Plans New Hatchery on IRL

March 2, 2010

Last Thursday a planning meeting was held to discuss the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute's (HSWRI) proposed hatchery and research facility on Indian River Lagoon.  The meeting included staff from notable elected officials, state and local government representatives, partners from FIT, CCA, FWC and FWS.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the long-term strategy for the Florida Marine Fisheries Enhancement Initiative at IRL and the Atlantic Coast.  

The day began with a site visit to HSWRI's new Coconut Point research facility and a visit to FIT's Hog Point research facility.  The participants traveled south to the visit HSWRI's property across the street from the Barrier Island Management and Education Center, where the meeting was held.  

The group received presentations from the engineering firm HDR on possible design configurations that would work for the property. 

The key issue addressed involved the narrowness of the three HSWRI sites on the IRL and the intervening/adjacent FWS properties.  Like piano keys, the sites are fragmented into long, narrow strips.  FWS has properties between the three HSWRI properties that the Service in interested in restoring.  The group agreed to explore the feasibility of a land swap between HSWRI and FWS that would provide for a contiguous shoreline restoration area for FWS and an upland parcel for the joint HSWRI/FWC research facilities with hatchery.  The group agreed that the land swap could provide a win-win outcome, with the FWS receiving valuable contiguous shoreline wetlands, and HSWRI receiving a wider upland footprint.

Next steps involve surveying the property to establish boundaries, value and any other issues necessary for the proposed swap and then determining the feasibility of swapping the parcels.

As designed, the HSWRI Hatchery would be the largest in N. America.

Mote takes a leading-edge approach to Hatchery Production.

Zero discharge hatchery design is the leading edge of aquaculture thinking and directly confronts the issues of green design sustainability that the Florida Marine Fisheries Enhancement Initiative has set as a goal.  At the Mote Aquaculture Park, which is located 20 miles inland from the Gulf, the first research efforts on making this sustainable dream a reality are underway.

Zero discharge hatcheries are based on recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) whereby seawater is manufactured on site and the water is continuously circulated through the fish tanks.  Filtration and recycling of the fish effluent is the key to success.

Above, the new RAS research facility at Mote.  Standing (left to right): FWC Hatchery Manager Chris Young; Dr. Kevan Main, Director, Center for Aquaculture R&D at Mote; Green Design Architect Kevin Pierce, Shaw Group; ; Dr. Ken Leber, director, Center for Fisheries Enhancement; Conservation Director Jamie Serino, Shaw Group.

Standing in front of the Mote sturgeon hatchery building (left to right): Green Design Architect Kevin Pierce, Shaw Group; Dr. Kevan Main, Director, Center for Aquaculture R&D at Mote; Dr. Ken Leber, Director, Center for Fisheries Enhancement; Conservation Director Jamie Serino, Shaw Group.

 

The Role of Spartina Grass in Hatchery and Restoration Plans

Photo from the spartina pond at the Port Manatee Hatchery (SERF).  Left to right: Architect Kevin Pierce from Shaw Group, Hatchery Manger Chris Young from FWC, and Conservation Director Jamie Serino from Shaw Group.

Spartina grass is currently used by FWC to filter the hatchery effluent and purify the water.  This has a doubly beneficial impact: (1) The plants provide a natural filtration process for the effluent so that the hatchery can release cleaner water back into the surrounding ecosystem than the water they are drawing from the port, (2) Plants plugs are then dug up by volunteers and local school children, and used to restore natural marine shoreline habitat.  This is a highly sustainable process benefiting the natural environment is many ways.  Spartina plugs cost nearly a dollar if they had to be purchased, but we are growing them naturally (at no cost) and providing them free to groups engaged in restoration projects.  Almost all of the planned marine enhancement centers will be utilizing this process to filter water and provide free restorative plant materials.

 

Mosquito Lagoon Marine Enhancement Center Update

Maggie Devane from Congresswowan Suzanne Kosmas' office tours the New Smyrna Beach Marine enhancement site.

Pictured here from left to right are Maggie Devane, City Commissioner Randy Richenberg, and local coordinator Karen Clancy.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Hatchery

Hatchery manager Paul Wills gave the team a briefing on redfish production and research efforts underway at Harbor Branch.

Members of Harbor Branch's current redfish class of '09.

This is NOT an optical illusion.

Laval growout room.

FIT Vero Beach Marine Enhancement Site Update

These are images from a recent hatchery site visit to the FIT Vero Beach hatchery site.

 

Dr. Jon Shenker discussing the FIT bio-fuels experimentation currently underway at the FIT Vero Beach Marine Enhancement Center.


 

FIT currently has brood stock on the site for Tripletail, Redfish, and Cobia.  The site draws Atlantic seawater making the water on the site the best on the East Coast of the US.

The Hubbs-SeaWorld Marina Site

Sustainable green design options will be included in Florida's hatchery effort.

The team visited the Hubbs-SeaWorld hatchery site on Indian River Lagoon, south of Melbourne, FL. The site was a former marina and has one of the few concrete boat ramps along this stretch of the Indian River Lagoon.  Left to Right: Dr. Jon Shenker of FIT, JB Kump Executive Director of Hubbs in Florida, green architect Kevin Pierce of Shaw Group, Conservation Director of Jamie Serino of Shaw Group.

The Hubbs-SeaWorld site is a former marina.  It is a narrow, but deep property and presents unique design challenges. 

East Coast Site Visits

We will be sending live images and updates about each of the East Coast marine enhancement center sites on Tuesday, February 24th.

The focus of these site visits is to meet with our partners and discuss sustainable green design options for each site.

The day will begin at the Mosquito Lagoon Center in New Smyrna Beach. From there the team will travel south to the Hubbs-SeaWorld site on Indian River Lagoon. Then we visit Florida Institute of Technology's Vero Beach site. We finish the tour at the Harbor Branch site.

Our guest experts are Kevin Pierce and Jamie Serino from Shaw Group.  Kevin is a leading sustainable (need we say, "green") design architect.  Jamie is an expert in sustainability and conservation.  We hope to learn a lot and share that learning with you, real-time.

Stay tuned.