Cage Culture of Some Marine Fishes in the Intake and Discharge Canals of a Steam — Electric Generating Station, Galveston Bay, Texas

Abstract

Several species of marine fishes were cultured in cages in the intake and discharge canals of the P. H. Robinson Generating Station on Galveston Bay, Texas. Survival in the intake canal cages of Atlantic croaker (Micropogon undulatus), pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides), Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus), white mullet (Mugil curema), spot (Leiostomus xanthurus), and black drum (Pogonias cromis) was on the average 70% or greater, while that of pigfish (Orthopristis chrysoptera), Gulf kingfish (Menticirrhus littoralis), and silver perch (Bairdiella chrysura) was less than 70%. With the exception of pinfish, survival of caged fish in the discharge canal was extremely poor. Gas‐bubble disease was the probable cause of their mortality. Only croaker and pompano adapted to surface feeding in cages. Croaker, pinfish, and pompano cultured in cages were rated acceptable by a 12‐member taste panel. Mean taste evaluation scores for croaker, pinfish, and pompano for the appearance, flavor, and overall satisfaction categories were not significantly different (P=0.01). After about 1 year in the water, most cages used in the intake canal were in goad condition, but those located in the discharge canal were in poor condition.

Production Characteristics and Body Composition of Florida Pompano Reared to Market Size at Two Different Densities in Low‐Salinity Recirculating Aquaculture Systems

“…Research conducted during this time period focused largely on developing production methods in various culture systems, including ponds (Berry and Iverson 1967;Moe et al 1968;Cuevas 1978;Tatum and Trimble 1978), in-pond cages (Marcello and Strawn 1972;Swingle 1972;Tatum 1972Tatum , 1973Smith 1973), and flow-through tanks (Iverson and Berry 1969;Gomez and Scelzo 1982). A common thread of the results of these studies was poor growth and feed conversion of fish greater than 200 g, usually coupled with poor survival, resulting in the inability to produce market-size fish (.450 g).…”

Submerged Cage Culture of Fish in Supersaturated Thermal Effluent

“…Florida pompano, a high-priced luxury product, are reported to have a low-temperature limit very similar to that described for Atlantic spadefish (Bardach, Ryther and McLarney, 1972), so winter pompano culture using depth to protect against gas bubble disease should be tried in discharge canals. In a previous attempt to utilize a discharge canal for winter pompano culture without depth protection, all fish died of gas bubble disease (Marcello and Strawn, 1973).…”

“…Several investigators list average winter growth rates of less than 0.2 g/d for pinfish, Atlantic croaker, black drum, and Atlantic spadefish (Hammerschmidt, 1973;Strawn et al, 1974Strawn et al, , 1975Kaehler, 1975;Holt and Strawn, 1976). Marcello and Strawn (1972) found growth rates of fed, cage-reared pinfish and Atlantic croaker to be 0.5 and 0.8 g/d, respectively. In this study unfed pinfish, Atlantic croaker, black drum, and Atlantic spadefish gained an average of 0.7, 0.5, 0.5, and 0.6 g/d, respectively.…”

“…A larger size mesh noticeably reduced the fouling rate, but the browsing of test fishes did not. Higher densities per cage of browsing fish, such as pinfish, might reduce fouling rates (Marcello and Strawn, 1972) and simultaneously harvest the otherwise wasted biomass of fouling organisms attached to cages. CONCLUSIONS 1.…”

“…The utilization of thermal discharges from steam-elecLric stations to extend the growing season of fishes throughout the colder months of the year has been considered, but actual progress in this direction has been slow. One stumbling block to thermal-culture attempts has been extensive mortalities of cage-reared fish due to gas bubble disease (Marcello and Strawn, 1973;Strawn et al, 1973;Ciesluk, 1974). The incidence of this disease is reported to be especially high during winter months when culture efforts would be most valuable (DeXont and Miller, 1971).…”