Hawaiian Oceanic Institute World Class Facility
Founded in 1960, OI has more than 100 scientific and support personnel working on a range of applied aquaculture and oceanographic research. OI attracts a high level of expertise from the global research community because of several reasons, including a year-round tropical climate, a pristine marine environment with minimal pollution and diverse conditions, the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology is nationally respected, the Asian market is accessible with close ties between Hawaii companies and Asian conglomerates, and a federally funded deepwater upwelling project that provides access to cold water for varied species research.
OI is a private, not-for-profit research and development organization dedicated to marine aquaculture, biotechnology, and coastal resource management. The facility’s mission is to develop and transfer economically responsible technologies to increase aquatic food production while promoting the sustainable use of ocean resources. OI works with community, industry, government and academic partners, and private organizations to benefit Hawaii, the nation, and the world.
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production system. Increasing resource requirements such as water, nutrients, energy and land call for development of more efficient and productive farming systems that are environmentally sustainable to enable responsible management of critical resources.
OI is committed to harnessing science to improve food production, developing technologies to improve industry productivity and competition, championing stewardship of coastal resources, and investing in the future through education and training.
OI’s goals are many. They include moving marine aquaculture systems away form environmentally sensitive and resource constrained coastal sites to less intensive inland and offshore locations, formulating specialized aquatic feeds that work in consonance with micro-organisms in natural pond waters to improve growth rates of marine shrimp and fish, and developing culture capabilities to restore depleted fisheries of important and endangered food and ornamental species.
Through sound science and methodical research, OI has solved tough puzzles in marine animal development, behavior and health. OI’s expertise is being applied to resolve imbalances in the natural environment, through stock enhancement and water-quality monitoring, helping to restore Hawaii’s offshore environment to productive and healthy levels.
Many of OI’s challenges have been evident first in Hawaii, and have immediate and direct application beyond the islands, in the world’s scientific community. The Asia-Pacific region, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East have looked to OI for leadership and cooperation.
OI’s research goals are focused on nine inter-related areas that are essential for meeting increased global demands for seafood:
1) Maintenance of high-health marine stocks and selective breeding of aquatic animals including shrimp, food fish and ornamental species, modeled on terrestrial animal husbandry which shows that high-tech production leads to lower costs and less environmental risk. OI has the only domesticated stock of shrimp in the world.
2) Aquatic animal health management and the practices and protocols for a biosecure culture environment, which help protect the economic investments by thwarting disease and pollution.
3) Providing the much-needed scientific advancement for environmental protection, conservation, preservation and restoration of marine resources.
4) Commercial applications for aquatic feeds to make more efficient use of agricultural and ocean resources and yield healthier animals.
5) Fisheries restoration technologies to reverse marine resource depletion.
6) Reliable production systems based on increased use of technology for greater yields, and lower costs.
7) Effective demonstration of commercial prototype production units to promote technology transfer.
8) Training and education on technologies and environmental stewardship to promote positive environmental values.
9) Raising awareness of the public and particularly youth, with regard to the role of science in protecting and enhancing resources and protecting the environment.
“The things we do at the Oceanic Institute are different in the way of aquaculture from other parts of the U.S. and the world,” says Dr. Gary Pruder, executive vice president, Oceanic Institute. “We use an integrated approach to research, which brings together many scientific disciplines to focus on a specific question or issue. We look at animal health, feed, and environmental impact. Our staff is structured to bring al of those disciplines to bear. It’s wonderful opportunity to have such varied scientists working cooperatively together. That’s an important function of our institute. We do research and development, but we do applied research and development. We’re not a think tank operation. We’re a group of engineers and scientists trying to solve real problems, and to provide technology to different facets of the industry and other scientists.”
Pruder defines the OI team as experts focused on problem solving. OI doesn’t seek information only for the sake of gathering information. Almost all of OI’s work focuses on getting more production of seafood – both in the ocean, as well as within aquaculture. OI has certainly been successful at it.
OI has been awarded a major competitive program in advanced technology worth millions of dollars. Pruder emphasizes that no institution can exist by itself. The success in science in today’s world is made through cooperative management, according to Pruder.
“We have many successful cooperative management arrangements with universities on the Mainland and with the University of Hawaii,” says Pruder. “In that program, we have a consortium of six institutions on the Mainland, and the funding level for that program is more than $45 million. It’s resulted in more breakthrough technology in shrimp culture, than probably any other program anywhere in the world. Texas A&M, the University of Arizona, the Waddell Center in South Carolina, and Tufts University were involved in that program. It was in the Gulf Coast Research Lab in southern Mississippi. OI conceived the program in Hawaii in the early 1980s. We believed that if we had the technology, the U.S. could competitively produce shrimp. We’re now able to compete, because of the high technology we bring to the table. The shrimp program is ongoing. In fact, the annual finding level continues to increase.”
Pruder notes that the program is receiving more money annually than it did five years ago, and certainly more than 10 years ago. OI also has a Gulf of Mexico stock enhancement program that was conceived in Hawaii, according to Pruder.
OI hooked up with the Gulf Coast Research Lab in Mississippi, and the Mote Marine Lab in Florida. Pruder proudly points out that the program – focused on the restocking of red snapper – has been successful.
The program was undertaken when no one knew how to reproduce red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. Pruder concedes he wasn’t happy when the red snapper was selected, because OI didn’t know how to produce small fish.
So the program presented a challenge for OI. Thanks to breakthroughs, the current program is with the University of Alaska and the University of Idaho. The program focuses on recycling fish waste.
“The Hawaii Offshore Cage Culture is a nice example of being able to work cooperatively with an institution that is close to Hawaii,” says Pruder. “In that particular program, OI has developed the technology that produces all the small fish for stocking. There are small companies in Hawaii that are starting to produce small fish. We have partners in the academic as well as commercial sectors. We’re in a strong expansion mode. We have developed a way to produce mullet on demand, milkfish on demand, mahimahi on demand, and moi on demand.”
OI’s trials on cage culture were so successful that the experts were surprised. OI produced about 50,000 to 60,000 pounds of fish, according to Pruder. The stock enhancement program focuses on moi. Moi was a large fishery in Hawaii 20 years ago. However, the stock has been reduced to an occasional catch in recent years.
OI’s shrimp program was conceived in 1985 with $35 million to $50 million, and has evolved since then, according to Pruder. The program is designed to allow the U.S. to produce its own shrimp. OI wants to produce a billion-dollar industry, and indications appear promising.
“The U.S., in order to make an impact on the industry, must have intensive, high yield systems,” says Pruder. “The U.S. is one of the most efficient low-cost producers of agricultural products. We need to take the same thought processes and technologies, and move them over to aquaculture. We’ve developed a testing system for feeds. We can control the environment. For example, if a manufacturer comes up with five or six different feeds, then we’ll take a contract to evaluate those feeds either with finfish or shrimp, depending on the applications. We can do that work, and we can do that work for a fee. The information goes only to the client who is paying for it. Much of our work is in the public sector. OI is the beginning source and the sole source for all the shrimp stocks that are being grown in the U.S. The stocks are disease-free. We’re proud of the work we’re doing here. We’ve had good and bad times, but we’ve had a good run the last five to six years. The things we’re going to be able to do in aquaculture will be extraordinary.”
Hawaii Stock Management – U.S. coastal fish populations have drastically declined during the past decade, but until 1990 increased fishing effort and use of alternate species masked the full extent of the declines.
The decrease is causing loss of jobs and revenue and a decrease in commercial and sport fishing opportunities. The shortfall in fisheries production is being offset by increased foreign imports with severe negative consequences to the balance of trade deficit. All U.S. coastal regions face a common problem, limited resources to meet increasing demand.
OI’s work to date in stock enhancement is the basis for expanding stock enhancement efforts on red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and snook on the Atlantic coast of Florida, and the influence of the scientific developments is expected to extend to all major coastal regions of the U.S.
In the first scientifically documented enhancement efforts in the U.S., hatchery raised fish comprised 65 to 80 percent of the total catch of mullet in nursery habitat during the years when release experiments were conducted.
From the well-documented proof of principal with mullet, OI began work on a coastal fishery that had severe depletion, the Pacific threadfin, or moi, in Hawaii. In 1997, OI produced and released 200,000 moi into selected habitats.
Fish from these releases accounted for more than 10 percent of the recreational fishery along the windward coast of Oahu. Following demonstrated success in small-scale production, release, and recovery of both mullet and moi in Hawaii, OI is evaluating the ecological, habitat, animal behavior, genetic, health, and cost benefit aspects of enhancement for severely depleted fisheries.
Understanding these factors is crucial to the reasonable application of full stock enhancement efforts. No other institution has advanced stock enhancement technology into these critical areas of investigation. The investigations are providing valuable information on the dynamics of the fishery as well as the effectiveness of the stock enhancement technology for restoring it.
Such information and approaches overcome significant and challenging constraints to effective fisheries management that lie with existing predictive models. Current fisheries models are biologically and ecologically incomplete.
Model integration of ecosystem data, which relate physical, chemical, biological and environmental conditions and social interactions with target fisheries could improve predictability and thus the effectiveness of management regulations.
Hawaii Offshore Aquaculture Research Project – The SeaStation 3000, a bi-conical sea cage, is submerged 40 feet from the ocean’s surface, out of the high energy zone, to reduce the risk of harm to the cage or the fish in the event of large ocean swells.
The cage is 2,600 cubic meters or 24 meters in diameter and 15 meters in depth. The cage is anchored in 100 feet deep waters, and does not affect boats and ship traffic. The cage is stocked with more than 70,000 Pacific threadfin, or moi, as they are known in Hawaii. The moi are fed commercial fish pellets that provide a rich diet for optimal growth.
They are fed twice daily through a pipe into the cage, operated from a boat on the surface on the ocean. Uneaten food and fecal matter blow out of the cage and strong ocean currents quickly dissipate waste matter. This is an advantage of an open ocean system as compared to near-shore net pens. In addition, fish congregating near the cage will consume any extra feed that falls through the net.
Two divers scrub the cage daily to ensure that water continues to flow through the mesh. After four months in the cage, the fish will begin to be harvested, with harvesting continuing for the next few months. At market size, the fish are �¯�¿�½ pound to one pound.
The cage is made of steel core, with cement ballast at the bottom, and a framework of steel pipes, connected by a strong synthetic mesh that divers can enter. The net material, Spectra, has the strength of steel and was developed by NASA.
Breakthrough in Spawning Red Snapper – On November 21, 2000, OI achieved natural spawns of red snapper in captivity. These spawns are the first recorded for red snapper in almost 25 years.
This is also the first record of spawning outside the species’ natural reproductive season. OI is the first in bringing captive red snapper to maturity and creating conditions necessary for a natural spawning. OI is leading the development of culture technology for efforts to restore wild populations in the Gulf coast region.
The spawns over six consecutive days produced eggs that were up to 78 percent fertile. Spawning has continued intermittently since then, and many of the spawns produced more than 100,000 fertile eggs each. OI has successfully closed the lifecycle on mullet, Pacific threadfin, and mahimahi, and is working on other high-value aquaculture species, including ornamentals and bottom species.
Pacific white shrimp – OI’s growth rates of Pacific white shrimp exceed any in the nation. At most shrimp farms it takes five months for shrimp to grow from one gram to market size. OI grows the shrimp to market size in three months. OI’s advances in shrimp production research and the development of a bio-secure, re-circulating, closed-environment aquaculture production system are making shrimp farming a sound economic investment.
OI scientists harvest the shrimp twice a year, selecting Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ of the fastest growing shrimp. These are bred through artificial insemination to produce increasingly higher-quality generations of shrimp. OI’s research also has yielded a method of growing greater densities of shrimp. OI averages about 300 shrimp per square meter, while the traditional shrimp farm can grow about 40 shrimp per square meter.
Nucleus Breeding Center for Marine Shrimp – This is a biosecure and environmentally responsible research facility located at the institute. The unique $2 million building occupies more than 8,000 square feet and plays an important role in the development of Hawaii’s shrimp exporting industry and the nation’s shrimp farming industry.
Working in collaboration with the U.S. Marine Shrimp Farming Consortium, the OI developed and continues to produce selectively bred, Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) Pacific white shrimp to promote the expansion of a sustainable shrimp aquaculture industry in the U.S.
The SPF shrimp bred at the institute are certified to be free of nine different, principal viruses harmful to shrimp. The OI launched the shrimp breeding industry in Hawaii through the provision of SPF and disease-resistant Pacific white shrimp to broodstock producers who supply the majority of the shrimp seed to farmers across the nation.
Consequently, now with eight marine shrimp broodstock producers in Hawaii, the state has become a seed-producing center. The pathogen exclusion measures applied at the facility protect the research animals from disease-causing agents.
There are no other facilities like it in the world. Using artificial insemination, OI breeds families of shrimp for specific traits such as resistance to disease, rapid growth, and tolerance to low-salinity environments. Incoming seawater is disinfected and recirculated through filters.
The amount of seawater used is drastically reduced and the environment is protected from the possible effects of system effluent. Scientists can produce and maintain 50 distinct families of disease-free shrimp in an enclosed environment.
The center accommodates the full life cycle of the shrimp. The facility is equipped for lab activities, shrimp tagging operations, live feed production, dry feed storage, shipping and administration.
In the way of technology transfer, OI offers clients site selection, project planning, feasibility studies, design and engineering, construction supervision, start-up operations and training, ongoing production management, environmental impact studies and assessments, aquaculture and fisheries sector studies and analyses, and in-country training as well as training at OI’s facility on Oahu.
