Raising Fish in a Purpose‐Built Conservation Aquaculture Facility Using Conservation Aquaculture Management

Abstract

The naturalized conservation aquaculture unit (refugium) at Los Lunas Silvery Minnow Refugium is the first purpose‐built, large‐scale conservation aquaculture mesocosm. The refugium is 0.2 ha in area, with 0.11 ha of interconnected water habitats, including a stream with sand bars, five ponds, shelves, marshes, attached bars, and overbank areas that can be inundated to create floodplains. The key components of conservation aquaculture management in the refugium are as follows: (1) no artificial feed is used, so that the fish develop the foraging strategies that will be needed in the wild and do not develop maladaptive behaviors associated with feeding; (2) the production of natural food organisms is based on indirect fertilization; (3) fish are subjected to managed predation, so that when stocked they are not behaviorally naïve; and (4) low stocking rates are used to mimic population densities in the wild. Results from 6 years of management and the lessons learned about facility design and conservation aquaculture management are discussed.

Fisheries Volume 45 Number 8 August 2020

“…2019and Borax Lake Chub Siphateles boraxobius (2020). Another recent breakthrough for imperiled species has been expansion of fi sh culture practices to include "conservation aquaculture" hatcheries that focus on propagating imperiled species (AFS Fish Culture Section 2017 ; Hutson et al 2018 ;Tave et al 2019 ).…”

Is Good Fish Culture Management Harming Recovery Efforts in Aquaculture‐Assisted Fisheries?

“…), so that the fish will be more like wild fish than farmed fish, a concept called “conservation aquaculture.” This concept has led to the development of purpose‐built conservation aquaculture facilities to culture imperiled species (Tave et al. , , this special section; Feuerbacher et al. ).…”

“…To lessen the negative effects associated with hatcheryproduced fish and thus improve recovery efforts, a paradigm shift in the culture component has been proposed: Fish should not be raised in production culture unitshatchery ponds, raceways, or tanks-but in culture units that resemble the wild habitat (Flagg and Nash 1999;Flagg et al 2004;Maynard et al 2004;Paquet et al 2011;Johnsson et al 2014;Trushenski et al 2015;Day et al 2017), so that the fish will be more like wild fish than farmed fish, a concept called "conservation aquaculture." This concept has led to the development of purpose-built conservation aquaculture facilities to culture imperiled species (Tave et al 2011(Tave et al , 2019Feuerbacher et al 2016).…”

“…We recognize that some of the ideas that we propose about evaluation metrics are controversial. These ideas are based on our experience raising an imperiled species in a purpose-built conservation hatchery (Tave et al 2019). We hope that these ideas can start a discussion about the most appropriate way to evaluate this type of aquaculture so that recovery efforts can be improved.…”

Introduction to a Special Section: Captive Propagation of Imperiled Species

“…), early life history of the Guadalupe Bass Micropterus treculii (Prangnell and Matthews ), conservation aquaculture facilities (Tave et al. ), a perspective on conservation culture (Tave and Hutson ), and strip‐spawning of Great Plains cyprinids (Urbanczyk et al. ).…”