The North Central Regional Aquaculture Center (NCRAC) was
formed in February 1988. It is one of five regional
aquaculture centers administered by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Cooperative State, Research, Education, and
Extension Service. Programs of NCRAC are jointly
administered by Michigan State University and Iowa State
University. The Office of the Director is located at
Michigan State while the Associate Director's Office is at Iowa
State.
The mission of the Regional Aquaculture Centers is 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.
NCRAC is an administrative unit that relies on leaders in
the aquaculture industry through an Industry Advisory Council
for direction in its programs. A Technical Committee
works with the Industry Advisory Council to formulate programs
on priorities. Regional programs are meshed with
activities of other centers to avoid duplication. Teams
of aquaculture specialists from midwest universities, public
agencies, and the private sector develop and implement projects
to solve priority problems. A Board of Directors oversees
administration and management of NCRAC's programs.
NCRAC serves 12 states in the heartland of America:
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and
Wisconsin. This region is home to over a quarter of the
U.S. population, a large fraction of which are concentrated in
major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee,
and Cleveland. The region's geography spans approximately
800 miles south to north and over 1,000 miles east to
west. Aquaculture in the region is characterized by great
diversity with over 50 different species of aquatic animals
being cultured by more than 1,000 producers of food fish,
baitfish, and fish for stocking into recreational water
bodies. These producers are themselves highly diverse,
ranging from well established producers who have made a
significant capital investment and are interested in ways of
reducing production costs while increasing output to those who
could be classified as newcomers, who need training, capital,
and an awareness of the potentially high risk, high investment,
and low returns that most producers encounter.
Since its inception the Center has concentrated on funding
projects for emerging species that have good potential as food
fish for production in the North Central Region, such as yellow
perch, walleye, and hybrid striped bass. In addition,
NCRAC has supported projects on sunfish, salmonids, crayfish,
baitfish, aquaculture wastes and effluents, aquaculture drugs,
and more recently tilapia. All funded projects are
directed at high priority industry needs that include
development of new technologies and application of research
findings that will benefit diverse constituencies.
Therefore, research and extension activities have been
integrated into all funded projects to develop and implement
educational outreach materials and programs.
Every year the Center prepares an annual progress report
that contains reports for all ongoing, or recently concluded,
NCRAC-funded projects. These reports highlight
accomplishments and impacts of the various projects that the
Center has funded. All of these annual reports are
available at NCRAC’s Web site.
A brief synopsis for some of the projects follows.
Regional Aquaculture Extension Program
The Extension project is NCRAC's window for information
developed by NCRAC research projects. Information is
transmitted using the long established lines of communication
in the State Cooperative Extension Service (CES) as well as by
new technologies such as the Internet. A network of
aquaculture extension specialists has been established among
states served by NCRAC. These individuals coordinate
development and distribution of educational materials on all
phases of aquaculture ventures, and conduct training workshops
for extension colleagues and members of the industry.
Regional networks of each center in the U.S. are also linked to
facilitate the flow of aquaculture information
nation-wide.
Hybrid Striped Bass
Hybrid striped bass are offspring of a cross between white
bass native to the region and striped bass from states in
coastal areas. The hybrid is a fast growing fish with
high quality meat. The project participants have
developed procedures for reliable short-term storage
(refrigeration) and long-term storage (cryopreservation) of
striped bass semen. They have also developed
out-of-season spawning techniques and have established
facilities for the intensive rearing of larval white
bass.
Walleye
Walleye is a popular food fish in the North Central
Region. It has not been widely cultured in private
industry. Where it has been cultured, fertile eggs have
been obtained from wild stocks of fish. Scientists on
this project are working on control of the reproductive cycle
for out-of-season spawning to level out the seasonal flow of
product to market, genetic aspects of brood stock development,
and other problems facing the commercial production of this
species. Much of the NCRAC-funded research has been
recently published in a 415-page state-of-the-art Walleye
Culture Manual. The manual is available for $25.3 5 which
includes shipping and handling. For information on how to
order the manual contact the NCRAC Publications Office at Iowa
State University or visit the Center’s Web site.
Yellow Perch
Yellow perch are an important food fish in markets of much
of the North Central Region. Commercial harvests from the
Great Lakes and other sources are diminishing. Commercial
feasibility of raising food-size perch using a variety of
culture systems and best available formulated feeds as well as
best intensive tank and pond-rearing practices for large-scale
culture of fry to fingerlings are being evaluated. Other
research deals with performance comparisons of normal diploid
versus triploid fish.
Sunfish
Little effort has been made in the past to develop culture
technology for growing these sport fish for food. This is
because of legal constrictions preventing the sale of sport
fish. However, some states are removing
restrictions. The species tend to put a lot of energy
into mating activities and production of numerous
offspring. Work has been undertaken to control
reproduction and promote rapid growth of several species and
their hybrids using different cultural practices and low cost,
high performance diets.
Salmonids
Members of the salmonid family, including various species of
trout and salmon, are among the principal commercially cultured
fishes in the North Central Region. This project is
designed to improve production in salmonid aquaculture through
work on genetics and development of a regional brood stock,
improved diet formulations to reduce pollution from culture
facilities, and defining the maximum loading density that trout
will tolerate without significant detrimental
impacts.
Crayfish
Crayfish for human consumption is a large U.S. aquaculture
industry. Most production and consumption take place in
the South and is a seasonal crop from December through May.
However, in the midwest, growth of native crayfish occurs
during the summer and fall, thus possibly presenting a window
of opportunity for aquaculturists in the region.
Evaluation of the crayfish industry, life histories of native
species and performance evaluations of several promising
indigenous species have been undertaken.