GLIN==> Faster-Growing Yellow Perch Could Make Aquaculture More Viable

Faster-Growing Yellow Perch Could Make Aquaculture More Viable

March 1, 2010

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

COLUMBUS, OH - Fish farmers interested in growing yellow perch may soon have
a faster-growing option that could also decrease pressure on wild
populations, thanks to Ohio Sea Grant researcher Hanping Wang, Director of
the Ohio Aquaculture Research and Development Integration Program at the
Ohio State University South Centers in Piketon. By selectively breeding the
fish, Wang has developed yellow perch stocks that grow 28% to 42% faster
than the typical fish and have potential to reach market size of 8.5 inches
in just one year. This is a serious improvement over typical yellow perch,
which often take two years to arrive at the same size, and could reduce
costs for care and feeding of the fish by 30% to 40%. 

 

Only increasing the profit margin for farmers will allow them to compete
with the millions of pounds of yellow perch harvested from Lake Erie each
year. It is worth the effort, however, to ensure that wild yellow perch
populations remain sustainable, particularly as demand for fish as a lean
protein increases along with the ever-growing human population.

 

The next step for Wang's fish will be to test them on a commercial scale.
"Our study so far has been at an experimental scale," he says. "We need to
test it at an industrial scale, so we have recruited four farms-two in Ohio
and two in Wisconsin-to test the new fish from 2011 to 2013."

 

If the trial-run farmers do see yellow perch that reach market size more
quickly, the number of farms growing yellow perch for food could rise
substantially in the next several years. A well-managed commercial pond in
Ohio, ranging from a quarter to a half acre in size, can produce between
3,000 and 3,500 pounds of yellow perch per acre, yielding a potential 2,500
to 5,000 perch per pond.

 

To read more about this Ohio Sea Grant-funded research, visit
http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/twineline/v32i1.pdf

 

The Ohio State University's Ohio Sea Grant College Program is part of NOAA
Sea Grant, a network of 30 Sea Grant Programs dedicated to the protection
and sustainable use of marine and Great Lakes resources. For information on
Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab, visit ohioseagrant.osu.edu.

 

###

 

Contact: 

 

Hanping Wang, Ohio State University, wang.900 at osu.edu, 614.292.4900

 

 

Stacy Brannan

Associate Editor

Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory

1314 Kinnear Road

Columbus, OH 43212

614.247.7109

brannan.16 at osu.edu

 

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