Regional Aquaculture Centers: Extension
Programs
Regional Aquaculture Centers
North Central Northeastern
Southern
Western
Tropical & Subtropical
To support aquaculture research, development, demonstration, and extension education to enhance viable and profitable U.S. aquaculture which will benefit consumers, producers, service industries, and the American economy.
Mission of the RACs
Development of the Centers
• 1987-88: Centers organized and began operation
• Reauthorization of the RAC Program– 1990, 1996, and 2002 Farm Bills
0
5
10
15
20
Billi
on D
olla
rs
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Exports Imports
Sources: USDC/NOAA/NMFS Current Fisheries Statistics No. 2001, September 2002
U.S. Foreign Trade in Fishery Products
Regional Center Appropriations
• Authorized at $7.5 million• Initial funding at $3.75 million• Increased to $4 million in 1992• Budget recision in 2001 of 0.22%
($3,991,200)• Budget of $3.996 million for
FY2002 and $4.5 million for FY2003
Key Features of the Centers• Projects responsive to industry needs and
designed to impact commercial development
• Programs organized to take advantage of the best aquaculture science, education skills, and facilities to achieve region-wide cooperation
• Projects are peer-reviewed for technical and industrial merit
RAC Organizational Structure
BOARD OF BOARD OF DIRECTORSDIRECTORS
ADMINISTRATIVE CENTERADMINISTRATIVE CENTER
INDUSTRY ADVISORYINDUSTRY ADVISORYCOUNCILCOUNCIL TECHNICAL COMMITTEETECHNICAL COMMITTEE
North Central Regional Aquaculture Center
(NCRAC)
• Eat almost 1 billion pounds/year but produce <2%
• Great diversity of species being cultured• Over 1,000 producers; but just a few per
state accounting for most of the production• Food fish, baitfish, fish for stocking
recreational and ornamental water bodies including fee-fishing operations as well as aquatic plants grown for food, wetland mitigation, and water gardening
NCRAC Aquaculture
ExtensionEcon/MarketingYellow PerchHybrid BassWalleyeSunfishSalmonidsCrayfishBaitfishWastes/EffluentsTilapiaINAD/NADA CoordinatorAquaculture DrugsWhite Papers
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
NCRAC Projects
NCRAC ProjectsExtension 8 $521,552 7.9%Econ/Marketing 4 $302,904 4.6%Yellow Perch 8 $1,433,866 21.7%Hybrid Bass 7 $976,960 14.8%Walleye 7 $927,627 14.1%Sunfish 5 $853,788 12.9%Salmonids 4 $637,742 9.7%Crayfish 1 $49,677 0.8%Baitfish 1 $61,973 0.9%Wastes/Effluents 3 $448,300 6.8%Tilapia 2 $268,791 4.1%
INAD/NADA Coordinator1 $55,241 0.8%Aquaculture Drugs 3 $36,365 0.6%White Papers 2 $22,495 0.3%
NCRAC-Extension• Limited number of extension specialists
– Increase number of extension contacts– Networking between all NCRAC communities– Non-tradition approaches
• Researchers• Natural resource agencies• Dept. of Agriculture contacts• Other fish farmers• FFA programs
Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture
(CTSA)
The CTSA RegionCommonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands
Guam
Republicof Belau
=CTSA
AmericanSamoa
Federated Statesof Micronesia
Republic ofthe MarshallIslands
Hawaii
CTSA Aquaculture
• Finfish• Ornamentals• Marine sponges• Clams• Oysters
CTSA Year 1-15 expenditures
Extension15%
Disease24%
Freshwater Orn. F10%
Marine Orn. Fish5%
Freshwater FF9%
Marine FF15%
Marine P roducts7%
Economics Marketing
4%Library
4%
Effluent7%
CTSA-Extension• PRAISE - Pacific Regional
Aquaculture Information Service for Education Service program serving the U.S. affiliated Pacific
• Web site (http://lama.kcc.hawaii.edu/praise) accessed 5,700 times per month
• 24-hour turn-around time
Southern Regional Aquaculture Center (SRAC)
• Major species – channel catfish• Other species – ornamentals,
baitfish, hybrid striped bass• Alligators• Crawfish
SRAC Aquaculture
Genetics 1%Genetics 1%
Health 3%Health 3%
Extension 18%Extension 18%
NutritionNutritionand Feeding and Feeding 34%34%
Production, Water Quality, andProduction, Water Quality, and Environment 25%Environment 25%
Product Product Quality 18%Quality 18%
Marketing and Marketing and Economics 4%Economics 4%
SRAC Expenditures - Subject
SRAC Extension• Publications, Videos, and Computer
Software
– A continuing project funded at ~$70 K annually
– 170 SRAC fact sheets (on web and CD)– 19 videos– 200+ scientific papers– 200+ scientific presentations– 40+ master’s or doctoral theses
Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center (NRAC)
NRAC Aquaculture• Characterized by diversity of
products– Numerous finfish
• Salmon and oysters– Aquatic plants & crustaceans
NRAC Expenditures: Subject
NRAC - Extension• Training
– Extension agents– Leadership of both agents and industry contacts
• Publications• Demonstration projects• Workshops
– Fish health– Business management– Effluents/nutrition/financing/legal issues
• Marketing
Western Regional Aquaculture Center (WRAC)
WRAC Aquaculture
• Diverse – Cold and warm water species– Marine and fresh water species– Finfish, invertebrates, plants– Most significant production oysters and
trout
WRAC Project Funding Timeline
IHNV Control $260,400 over 3 yrs.Sturgeon Broodstock $395,000 over 4 yrs.Pacific Oyster Cross-Breeding $393,300 over 4 yrs.Solids Removal $329,153 over 4 yrs.High Performance Feeds $279,044 over 4 yrs.Disease Interactions $128,975 over 3 yrs.Molluscan Shellfish Ecology $400,000 over 4 yrs.Phosphorous Discharge $202,033 up to 2-4 yrs.Sturgeon Broodstock $100,000 up to 1-2 yrs.Pacific Oyster Cross-Breeding $100,000 up to 1-4 yrs.Recirculation Aquaculture $59,645 up to 1-4 yrs.Sturgeon Caviar $57,000 up to 1-4 yrs.
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
WRAC Project Expenditures by Subject (1987-2002)
Genetics29%
Disease21%
Environmental20%
Nutrition12%
Extension4%Other
5%Project
Development8%
Product Quality1%
WRAC-Extension• Integration of extension and research
projects• Outreach programs made by both
extension and researchers• “rapid response” funds• Workshops participants are from
both industry and regulatory agencies
AquaNIC(http://aquanic.org)
• 8,000 files (publications, photographs, slide sets, videos, directories, etc.)
• Links to over 1,000 aquaculture Web sites
• 600 links from other Web sites• 5,000 “hits” per month by people
from over 80 countries
• Scientific contributions• Graduate education• Internet presence
– NRAC - http://www.old.umassd.edu/specialprograms/nrac/welcome.html
– NCRAC - http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/aquanic/ncrac/ – SRAC - http://www.msstate.edu/dept/srac/ – WRAC - http://www.fish.washington.edu/wrac/– CTSA - http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/external/ctsa/
• Bang for the buck• Ingrained
Other Contributions