Animal husbandry – Aquatic animal culturing – Crustacean culturing
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-19
2003-07-01
Abbott, Yvonne (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Aquatic animal culturing
Crustacean culturing
C119S205000, C119S211000, C119S215000, C119S234000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06584935
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to culturing marine species, and more particularly, to culturing crabs in a recirculating marine aquaculture process.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years the world has witnessed an alarming decline in commercial fisheries, the result of over fishing and environmental degradation. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, nearly 70% of the world's commercial marine fisheries species are now fully exploited, overexploited or depleted.
Based on anticipated population growth, it is estimated that the world's demand for seafood will double by the year 2025. Therefore, a growing gap is developing between demand and supply of fisheries products, which results in a growing seafood deficit. Even the most favorable estimates project that in the year 2025 the global demand for seafood will be twice as much as the commercial fisheries harvest.
The same trend is present in the U.S. per capita consumption of seafood by Americans that increased 25% from 1984 to 1994, and continues to increase. As a result, the United States has become highly dependent on imported seafood. The U.S. is, after Japan, the world's largest importer of seafood. The value of fish imports increased by nearly 80% between 1985 and 1994 to a record level of nearly $12 billion U.S. This has resulted in a trade deficit of $7 billion U.S. for edible seafood, which is, after petroleum, the largest contributor to the U.S. trade deficit among natural products and the largest deficit among all agricultural products.
It is very clear that the only way to meet the world's growing needs in fisheries products, and to reverse the U.S. fisheries trade deficit, is through marine aquaculture systems—the farming of aquatic organisms in controlled environments. In response to the situation, global aquaculture production is expanding quickly. Aquaculture's contribution to the world's seafood supplies increased from 12 to 19% between 1984 and 1994. U.S. aquaculture production has also grown steadily in the 1980's and 1990's and it is the fastest growing agricultural industry. However, despite the recent growth of the U.S. industry, only 10% of the seafood consumed in the U.S. comes from domestic aquaculture, and the U.S. ranks only tenth in the world in the value of its aquaculture production.
Worldwide, it is estimated that in order to close the increasing gap between demand and supply of aquatic products, aquaculture will need to increase production three-to-four-fold during the next two and a half decades. In this context, there is a compelling motivation to develop aquaculture systems of improved and commercially viable character for high volume production of aquatic species and environmental sustainability.
Crab fisheries have been an important part of local and regional economies for generations. Notable examples are the blue crab (
Callinectes sapidus
) in the Chesapeake Bay region, the Alaskan (red) King crab (
Paralithodes camtschatica
) in the Bristol Bay region of the Bering Sea, and the various Cancer crab species (i.e., the Dungeness crab,
Cancer magister
, the Jonah crab,
C. boresalis
and the Rock crab, (
C. irraoratus
) along the Pacific coast of the United States. As with many marine species, most of these crab fisheries exhibit severe fluctuations in stock abundance and, correspondingly, their respective harvest.
The culture of some of the above species, such as Callinectes and Cancer species, has been previously investigated, but not actively undertaken. For the most part, culture of these crabs species has been discounted because of a variety or reasons including complex and multiple larvae stages, cannibalism during juvenile stages, slow growth rate to market size and the impracticality of relying on wild-caught broodstock. In addition, environmental considerations e.g., discharge of environmentally-disruptive effluents, or limitations on culture because of environmental regulations, have probably discouraged development of commercial facilities.
With depleted crab resources worldwide, most notably the recent decline of the Chesapeake bay blue crab stock and harvests, and increased fishing efforts on the dwindling crab fisheries, it is critical to ensure the long-term sustainability of the various crab species and the local crab industries they support.
With the many challenges to blue crab reproduction and larval growth in the wild, it is clear that new approaches must be explored to ensure the viability of the blue crab resource. Given the difficulty-and often impossibility-of controlling environmental factors, it is necessary to research and develop ways to spawn and nurture blue crabs in captivity that can be released into the Chesapeake Bay when they are capable of surviving on their own. Additionally the captive culture of blue crab for commercial consumption should be reinvestigated. Especially, in order to meet current market demand, and hopefully, decrease current fishing pressure on this species. It should be noted that other research institutes (e.g., Australia's Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Center) are exploring hatcheries for different crab species such as the mud crab (
Scylla serrata
), but these studies are focused in open pond environments as opposed to inside a highly controllable, predictable, and reliable closed-loop environment.
Given the increasing state and federal regulation of natural fisheries and the aquaculture industry, and the increasing demand for crabmeat, it is important for crab-producing states to develop competitive and sustainable crab aquaculture capabilities. Although aquaculture is still a relatively new industry in this country, it is increasing in importance and has the potential for major growth in the 21st century.
In an effort to eliminate the effects of marine aquaculture on the environment and to optimize aquaculture production, a new environmentally acceptable aquatic farming technology has recently emerged: the use of recirculated marine aquaculture systems (RMAS), in which the same water is continuously reused in operation of the system. These systems have many advantages over non-recirculating systems.
Water re-use in the RMAS minimizes any adverse environmental burden created by the aquaculture system since there is minimal net waste material generation, and what waste is generated is easily handled by local sewer systems. RMAS offer flexibility in location options (urban, rural, inland) since they are not confined to coastal areas or open oceans. Unlike free-floating pens, process conditions can be better controlled within a RMAS.
In general, aquaculture systems of the prior art are poorly integrated in respect of the life stages of the aquatic species of interest and the process conditions associated therewith. As a result, the commercial aquaculture systems developed to date are highly variable in efficiency and output of product. Such systems are subject to numerous processing and operational deficiencies, including: sub-optimal production of fish; absence of control of process conditions; process instability; susceptibility to environmental pathogens; susceptibility to pollution; loss of stock; and the lack of well-defined optimal conditions for achieving maximal growth and production of the aquatic species being raised in the aquaculture system.
There is therefore a basic need in the art of aquatic farming, especially for culturing crabs for aquaculture systems of improved character, for high performance production of crabs.
In respect of the present invention, as hereinafter more fully described, the following references are noted, and their disclosures hereby incorporated herein by reference:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,100 to Fujino (biofiltration aquarium systems utilizing microbial growth on plastic substrate elements for metabolic waste removal);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,055 to Timmons (closed cycle aquaculture system including a rotating biological contactor);
U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,715
Hines Anson
Zmora Oded
Zohar Yonathan
Abbott Yvonne
Fuierer Marianne
Hultquist Steven J.
University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
Yang Yongzhi
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