Pre-Conference Workshop

 

Addressing Early Stage Survival and Feed Training of Yellow Perch.

 

At the Aquaculture Conference in 2019 we hosted a special session on perch culture on Saturday which ran about five hours.  During that session, participants were introduced to nine different aspects of raising perch all the way from producing an egg to marketing the final product.  Not all of the aspects of raising perch are straight forward and we did agree that some of the aspects are more perplexing than others.  From that discussion, we came to the conclusion that one of the main bottlenecks to perch culture, indeed to a thriving perch industry is the lack of a significant supply of feed trained fingerlings. 

 

Therefore, in 2020 we are hosting a “roll up your sleeves” discussion of perch culture focusing on the window from hatch to about 40 days out.  We hope to cover most culture scenarios, both indoor and outdoor techniques and techniques that are hybrids thereof.

 

Over the years there have been a number of perch culture videos and presentations and many of these are available on the NCRAC website.  We hope that this workshop will be a significant addition to the information already out there.

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AGENDA

Pre-Conference Workshop

March 5, 2020

 

 

Establish Background

 

1. Procedures by Jim Held, Kurt Rutlin

2. Presentation from Dong Deng/Fred Binkowski

3. Presentation from Bill West

4. Small scale egg production (Mile Kelm procedure)

 

Summarize Protocols

 

1. Collection of eggs(fertilization, care)

2. Physical Parameters

   • Water temps

     • Time periods for temps

     • Ramping up temperature

     • Temperature and sex determination

   • Turbidity

   • Light

3. Disinfection of eggs

   • Formalin

   • Hydrogen peroxide

   • Ovadine

4. Initiation of first feed

   • Plankton/feed ratio

   • Feed formulation

 

Biosecurity protocols - Transferring fry/fingerlings from outdoor to indoor (Considerations by Dr. Bob Smith)

 

Identify Procedures That are Common

 

Identify Bottlenecks

 

List Possible Grant Eligible Research Needed to Proceed

 

Future Topics

1. Perch genetics

2. Perch conditioning factors

3. Sexing perch (Chemically induced, temperature, size grading

4. Broodstock Management

5. Perch feeds (for all life stages including overwinter preparation of broodstock)

6. Estimating needs for each life stage (eggs, feed trained fingerlings, grow-out)

7. Perch Health

8. Engineering Principles for recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS)