Traditional flow-through hatchery raceways use a considerable amount of water compared to recirculating tanks, so utilizing recirculating systems can help mitigate for the depletion of surface and ground water resources hatcheries use to rear fish. Recirculating and reuse aquaculture systems hold great promise to reduce water use and effluent compared to flow-through raceways. The effect of production-scale rearing in circular on post-release fish behavior and performance is not well studied. In collaboration with the FWS Lower Snake River Compensation Plan Office and Idaho Department of Fish and Game, we are helping evaluate the performance of steelhead smolts reared in a partial reuse aquaculture system by tracking their survival through the Snake and Columbia river systems as they migrate to the Pacific Ocean as smolts. We are also measuring whether their survival is affected by body size at release and the velocity they experience during hatchery rearing within the circular tanks.
Research