Inland marine fish culture in low salinity recirculating aquaculture systems

Expansion of marine aquaculture is challenged by the high cost and limited availability of coastal land and water resources, effluent concerns, high production costs, restricted growing seasons, lack of quality fingerlings, and inadequate regulatory and permitting processes. Many of these constraints can be addressed with inland marine fish culture in low salinity recirculating systems as production models. We describe recent and ongoing development of technologies in four principal areas: 1) engineering and system design; 2) year-round fingerling production; 3) diet development; and 4) physiological adaptation of marine fish to low salinity environments using genomic approaches. It is anticipated these technologies could find application for rearing euryhaline marine fish throughout approximately 2/3 of the U.S. where low salinity groundwater is available. This approach will reduce the need to be located near the coast, reduce the volume of saltwater effluent, and reduce the carbon footprint of marine finfish production.