[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1977-E1978]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FISHERIES STOCK ENHANCEMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN MILLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 8, 1998

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, as a leader in the field of 
fisheries stock enhancement, Mote Marine Laboratories was highlighted 
recently in an article from Fly Fishing in Saltwater magazine. Mote 
Marine is located in Sarasota, Florida which is in the 13th District of 
Florida and provides innumerable benefits to our environment and my 
constituents. I am pleased therefore to enter this article recognizing 
Mote Marine's importance into the Congressional Record.

            [From Fly Fishing in Saltwater, Sept./Oct. 1998]

Snook for the Masses--Marine Fisheries Stock Enhancement May Be in Our 
                                 Future

                           (By Don Phillips)

       On January 10, 1998, Steve Serfling and Todd Hershfield 
     went fishing for snook in Sarasota Bay, Florida. In two hours 
     they caught and released four snook on the fly.
       That was no surprise because they were fishing an area 
     where the Mote Marine Laboratory had earlier released small 
     snook as part of an experimental stock-enhancement program. 
     Serfling is director of Mote's aquaculture program and 
     Hershfield works in the laboratory and their January trip was 
     one of four the two had made to find out how the stocked 
     snook were integrating with the natural population. Nice work 
     if you can get it!
       As of February this year, the Mote Laboratory had stocked 
     12,000 juvenile snook in eight different areas of Sarasota 
     Bay, the Braden River, and several areas of Tampa Bay. The 
     results have been most encouraging. Of 18 snook caught during 
     Todd and Hershfield's four trips, half were from Mote's 
     Aquaculture facility (their origin was readily determined by 
     a miniature red marker implanted in the snook shortly before 
     their release).
       The laboratory and its partner, Florida's Department of 
     Environmental Protection, are delighted. The stocked fish 
     seem to have integrated well into the natural population and 
     their growth, appearance, health, and behavior mirrors that 
     of their wild cousins.
       Actually, that shouldn't be too surprising; the stocked 
     snook were raised from eggs and milt removed from wild snook 
     netted from and released back into the same areas.
       When I heard about the stocking program I made arrangements 
     to visit Mote's acquaculture facility on City Island in 
     Sarasota to find out more. Previous experience with 
     freshwater and anadromous fish stocking programs had not left 
     me exactly impressed with this method of fisheries 
     enhancement. ``Put-and-take'' fishing mentality, genetic 
     deterioration, diseases, and pollution are just some of the 
     problems associated with hatchery programs. So it was with a 
     fair amount of skepticism that I planned my visit.
       But after touring the facility with Serfling I was 
     impressed with the technical sophistication of Mote's 
     approach. The lab has paid close attention to every detail of 
     the snook's early life in an effort to duplicate its natural 
     environment.
       ``We start with wild eggs and milt,'' Serfling said. ``The 
     fertilized eggs hatch into larvae that develop over a two-day 
     period on their own yoke sacs. During these two days they 
     develop eyes, mouths, and a digestive system, so they can 
     feed. Then the larvae are fed microalgae and zooplankton 
     cultured in our own hatchery, duplicating their natural food 
     at this stage in their life.
       ``Pellet feeding begins after about four weeks, at the 
     point when the fingerlings require larger food sizes 
     Cannibalism is a major problem with carnivorous fish like 
     snook, because they instinctively prefer to each fish from 
     day 20 onward. But they cannot be size-graded and separated 
     to reduce cannibalism until around day 40, because the larvae 
     and fry stages are too delicate to handle.
       ``A few days before stocking the snook are also fed live 
     minnows, to reinforce their natural instinct to chase and cat 
     swimming prey. Their immediate predatory behavior suggests 
     that this instinct is alive and well.''
       The heart of the aquaculture facility is a closed-cycle 
     water system that controls water salinity, temperature, pH, 
     oxygen content, and turbidity. Waste products are treated and 
     recycled. Only a very small amount of fresh water or filtered 
     seawater is added weekly to replenish losses and adjust 
     salinity.
       This closed-cycle approach insulates the system from 
     undesirable environmental phenomena such as red tide or 
     periods of exceedingly cold temperature, 
     significantly increasing survival of the young snook.
       The aquaculture facility also uses cylindrically shaped 
     tanks to minimize collision trauma among the fish. When the 
     fish are large enough, size grading is done periodically to 
     minimize cannibalism.
       ``We have now progressed to the point where 10 percent of 
     our larvae survive to the 5- or 6-inch size range in six 
     months,'' Serfling said, ``This is quite impressive when 
     compared with an equivalent 0.0005 percent rate for wild fish 
     under favorable environmental conditions.'' The survival 
     percentage is expected to increase even more as the 
     laboratory learns more about young snook.
       Mote also is raising Gulf and short-nosed sturgeon and has 
     plans to include pompano, flounder and snapper in its 
     program. Funding is through the William R. Mote Scientific 
     Foundation.
       After touring the facility I met with Dr. Ken Leber, Mote's 
     senior scientist and director of fisheries and aquaculture 
     research, and Dr. John Miller, professor of fisheries and 
     oceanography at North Carolina State University who is a 
     visiting scientist at the Mote Laboratory. Both were 
     enthusiastic about the stocking program, but both also were 
     candid about the hurdles still to be overcome.
       Leber said the laboratory is prepared to continue the 
     program up to and including full-scale hatchery releases, if 
     appropriate federal and state support is obtained. But he 
     added that a lot of research is still needed to understand 
     the many variables of stock enhancement and to determine its 
     economic viability as a fishery management tool.
       ``What, when, and where to stock are questions needing 
     definitive answers,'' he said. For example, economic 
     considerations might suggest stocking lots of fingerlings, 
     but high initial predation rates could make this approach 
     penny-wise and pound-foolish.
       Similarly, stocking excessive numbers of fish could upset 
     the balance of local ecosystems by adding too many predators 
     or displacing wild stocks.
       Determining the best season for stocking also is important 
     so new residents have the best chance for acclimatization and 
     survival.
       Yet another consideration is finding the best places for 
     stocking. Those places must provide immediate sanctuary and 
     food. Thermal refuges may be particularly important to 
     minimize mortality due to high or low water temperatures.
       Leber and his staff are studying these questions by 
     assessing current populations, performing stocking 
     experiments, then evaluating the new populations.
       Similar efforts are going on elsewhere around the world, 
     with researchers sharing the results. Recently, Mote joined 
     forces with research activities in Hawaii, Mississippi, and 
     Florida (the Florida Marine Fisheries Research Institute) to 
     address stock enhancement on a large scale. This multi-
     million dollar effort, sponsored by the federal government, 
     is likely to draw in other research activities, especially 
     from the Gulf States.
       ``Since the 1950s, the focus of marine fisheries management 
     has concentrated on

[[Page E1978]]

     maintaining and restoring habitat and controlling harvest 
     through regulation,'' Leber said. ``Stock enhancement has 
     thus far largely been ignored as a management tool for marine 
     fisheries. We are now not too far from being able to 
     supplement these two strategies (habitat maintenance and 
     restoration) with selective stock enhancement, where such 
     (measures) can be supported by the local ecosystem.
       ``The old approach of stocking without careful assessment 
     of impact cannot be tolerated today, especially in areas like 
     Florida, where population growth is significant and fishing 
     pressure is ever increasing.
       ``I like to think of our direction today is toward more 
     responsible marine fisheries management, where the focus is 
     being shifted to maintain the health of our fish populations 
     and their habitat and environment, rather than only raising 
     and stocking the maximum number of fish per taxpayer 
     dollar.''
       I left the Mote Marine Laboratory with kind of a warm 
     feeling inside. It's nice to know there are programs and 
     people trying to steer us in the right direction.




       The Mote Marine Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit 
     research organization dedicated to the marine and 
     environmental science. Located on an 11-acre site on City 
     Island in Sarasota, Florida, the laboratory has extensive 
     research and administrative facilities plus the Mote 
     Aquarium, which attracts about 250,000 visitors a year.
       The laboratory is staffed by 50 scientists with master's or 
     doctorate degrees, plus support personnel and more than 1,000 
     volunteers. Its $3.5 million research program is supported by 
     grants, contracts, aquarium income, and donations. Founder 
     William R. Mote has thus far donated all funding for the 
     laboratory's aquaculture program.
       The laboratory's other research and education activities 
     include threatened species (sharks, sea turtles, manatees, 
     etc.); fish vision; red tide; commercial fishing bycatch; 
     improvement of recreational fishing; mackerel migrations; the 
     impact of thermal power plants on sea grasses; river, estuary 
     and wetland management; and the environmental impacts of 
     chemicals, pesticides, and other forms of pollution.
       For more information on the laboratory and its programs, 
     contact Virginia Haley, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota 
     FL 34236, telephone (941) 388-1441, fax (941) 388-4312, or e-
     mail [email protected].

     

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