Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center
Facilities
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The Center consists of 100,000 ft2 in 13 buildings. Facilities include 50,000 ft2 of culture space for animals and live feeds and 10,000 ft2 of experimental space designed to accommodate isolated and replicated disease, nutrition, and genetics/reproductive physiology research. The facility contains isolated small-, medium-, and large-scale systems with single-pass climate control.
Systems
- RAS Technology
- Artificial seawater or raw seawater
- Biosecure
- Climate Controller
- Customizable Tanks and Systems
- Filtration and water quality
- Propeller-washed bead filters
- Moving bed bioreactors
- Protein fractionators (with ozone)
- Heat pumps
- Oxygen cones (5,000-gal liquid Oxygen backup)
- Generator backup
- Gated / Secure facility
Finfish Brood Systems
- Five areas for brood holding and maturation
- 571,000 L tank space
- 3 - 6 m diameter tanks
- Photo-thermal control
- Dedicated generator oxygen backup
- Remote monitoring
Incubation & Hatching
- 3 systems for egg incubation and hatching
- 3,720 L tank space
- RAS Systems
- Thermally controlled
Larval Rearing Systems
- 7 areas available for rearing larvae
- 120,000 L culture volume
- RAS Systems
- 400 - 4000 L tanks
- FRP or HDPE
- Photo-thermal control
Live Feeds Systems
- Copepods
- 148,000 L of culture volume available
- 20 million Nauoplii produced daily
- Rotifers
- Static water systems
- 100 to 200 L tanks
- 2200 L culture volume available
- 800 million to 1.2 billion rotifers produced daily
- Artemia
- 400 L static systems
- 3200 L volume available
- 800 million Instar 2 produced daily
Algae
- Systems
- Semi-continuously operated photobioreactors
- PureBiomass PBR
- 1,375 L and 250 L
- Industrial Plankton
- 1,000 L
- PureBiomass PBR
- Semi-continuously operated photobioreactors
- Production Capability
- Productivity: 0.20g L-1day-1
- Current
- Yield 240 g day-1
- Year 2023
- 1,100 g day-1
- Current
- Productivity: 0.20g L-1day-1
- Species
- Chaetoceroscalcitrans, Chaetoceros muelleri, Nannochloropsis oculate, Pavlova lutheri, Rhodomonas salina, Tetraselmis sp., Thalassiosira weissflogii, Tisochrysis lutea.
Nursery Systems
- 2-3 systems available
- 92,000 L culture volume
- 1.5 to 15 m diameter tanks
- Thermally controlled
- Operated at a 40 kg/m3, designed for higher loads
Growout Systems
- 8 systems available
- 1.1 million L available culture volume
- 1.5 –5.5m tanks
- Thermally controlled
Oyster Systems
- Artificial Seawater
- Recirculating closed systems
- Temperature control
- Volume ASW
- Current: 87,000 L
- YR 2021: 450,000L
- Production Capacity
- Current: 220 Million larvae
- Year 2023: 2.5 Billion larvae