Industry update News Sustainability
Great Lakes land-based project awarded US$425,000

A federally-funded project to develop aquaculture in the United States Great Lakes region is moving forward thanks to a US$450,000 from the National Sea Grant Office.

The Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative, led by the  Minnesota Sea Grant, of the University of Minnesota Duluth, is focused on supporting environmentally responsible, competitive and sustainable aquaculture industry in the Great Lakes region. The collaborative, begun in 2019, is one of 11 Sea Grant research projects and collaborative programs that received National Sea Grant funding totalling $4.7 million aimed at advancing sustainable aquaculture.

“The focus of Sea Grant’s Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative is on land-based aquaculture that is environmentally responsible and does not negatively impact waters of the Great Lakes or inland waters of the region,” said Amy Schrank, project principal investigator and Minnesota Fisheries and Aquaculture Extension educator.

Schrank said the collaborative will use the money to strengthen the aquaculture community in the region, provide legislators in each state with science-based aquaculture information and help clarify how aquaculture regulations are implemented in Great Lakes states.

According to the Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative the “Great Lakes states are not keeping pace with increases in consumer demand for fish and seafood which contributes to a $17 billion national seafood trade deficit.”

The University of Minnesota Sea Grant program is one of 34 federal (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)-university partnerships that brings science together with communities for solutions that work. Sea Grant is a network of 34 Sea Grant science, education and outreach programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Lake Champlain, Puerto Rico, and Guam.