Aquaculture Offers New Promise for Tribal Fishing Industry
By John Karl
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (8/2/99) — Members of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and other Minnesota and Wisconsin tribes will learn state-of-the-art aquaculture techniques during a three-day intensive training session Aug. 17-20, 1999, at UW-Milwaukee’s Great Lakes WATER Institute.
The tribe is turning to aquaculture to revitalize its economy after commercial fishing on Minnesota’s Upper and Lower Red Lakes was closed down in 1997. The training is part of a project to adopt a new form of commercial fish production that may allow fish with the Red Lake label to once again grace the dinner tables of the north central United States.
The WATER Institute is cooperating
with the Red Lake Band, the Minneapolis office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute to
revitalize the tribe’s commercial fishing industry, boost the local economy, and
establish a model of fish farming for other tribes and entrepreneurs to follow.
The training program will feature specialized classroom and hands-on sessions on the operation of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), a new technology for low-impact, high-production aquaculture. Participants will learn about the practical aspects of fish health, yellow perch biology, microbiology, water chemistry, and the engineering aspects of RAS units.
The three-day program is part of a project involving dual, commercial-scale RAS units in Wisconsin and Minnesota. One was constructed at the Aquaculture Center with a $10,000 grant from the UW Sea Grant Institute and a matching grant from the Red Lake Band. A parallel unit and other components were built on the Red Lake Reservation with an additional $65,000 from the Red Lake Band. The Aquaculture Center’s unit will be used for research, education, and training, while the Red Lake unit will be used for training and fish production.
Fred Binkowski, Senior Scientist at the Great Lakes WATER Institute, has been conducting research on the intensive culture of yellow perch for more than a decade. Binkowski began working with tribal biologists in 1992 and with the Red Lake Band more recently. In March, the first perch fingerlings were placed in the tribe's RAS demonstration unit. Tribal members have been caring for the fish, monitoring growth, and learning to solve problems.
"Rearing perch in such a system requires considerable experience and the ability to fine tune conditions to provide the animals with an optimal environment. The tribe expects to harvest marketable fish in September," Binkowski said.
The WATER Institute’s Aquaculture Center, in conjunction with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has also conducted cooperative projects with the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota and the Lac du Flambeau Band in Wisconsin.
The Red Lake Band has been fishing commercially on both Upper and Lower Red Lakes since 1917, but over-exploitation caused the Red Lakes Fisheries Association to voluntarily close down the commercial fishing season in 1997. Before it closed, the Red Lake commercial fishery had a significant economic impact on the area, pumping more than a million dollars annually into the local economy. Tribal members and the local area were severely affected by the loss of the industry.
For more information about the Great Lakes WATER Institute, visit the Institute’s web page at www.uwm.edu/Dept/GLWI/.
For More Information:
Fred Binkowski, Senior Scientist, Great Lakes WATER Institute, (414) 382-1700Conceived in 1966, Sea Grant is a national network of 30 university-based programs of research, outreach and education dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of the United States' coastal, ocean and Great Lakes resources. The National Sea Grant Network is a partnership of participating coastal states, private industry and the National Sea Grant College Program , National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration , U.S. Department of Commerce. The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program is administered by the Sea Grant Institute on the UW-Madison campus in Madison, Wisconsin.
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last updated 16 June 2000
posted 03 August 1999 by John Karl
www.seagrant.wisc.edu/communications/news_releases/RedLakeTraining.html
