
NET‐PEN CULTURE OF STRIPED BASS X WHITE BASS HYBRIDS IN ESTUARINE WATERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA: A PILOT STUDY 1
Author(s) -
Williams Josephine E.,
Sandifer Paul A.,
Lindbergh Jon M.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of the world mariculture society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1749-7345
pISSN - 0735-0147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-7345.1981.tb00281.x
Subject(s) - biology , stocking , fishery , bass (fish) , zoology , morone saxatilis , estuary , body weight , fish <actinopterygii> , endocrinology
In 1978 a cooperative pilot study was initiated by the Marine Resources Research Institute and DØMSEA Farms, Inc. to examine the feasibility of rearing striped bass ( Morone saxatilis ) x white bass ( M. chrysops ) hybrids to marketable pan‐size in estuarine net‐pens. The first study was begun in July 1978 when a total of 1,070 hybrid fingerlings (mean weight, 1.7 g) were stocked in 3.05 × 2.44 × 1.83 m deep net‐pens moored to a commercial marina dock on the Stono River near Charleston, S.C. During the first month these fish suffered a 76% mortality, apparently as a result of feeding only a dry salmon ration. Thereafter, the remaining fish were fed the dry ration mixed approximately half‐and‐half with ground fish. At the end of one year, these fish had attained a mean weight of 523.0 g, with 74.6% survival. A second experiment was begun in July 1979 when 900 hybrid fingerlings (mean weight, 3.0 g) were stocked in each of three 3.05 × 2.44 × 1.83 m net‐pens at the marina (stocking density, ˜66 fish/m 3 ). The fish were fed a mixture of dry salmon feed and ground fish throughout. At the end of one year, survival and weight averaged 88% and 310.2 g, respectively. Biomass in the pens at this time averaged 16 kg/m 3 . Little growth or active feeding occurred at temperatures < 15°C. In contrast, salinity variations had no apparent effect on growth. However, a period of decreasing salinity in early spring coincided with an outbreak of a bacterial disease (cf. Vibrio anguillarum ) among striped bass fingerlings reared in adjacent pens. Fish which had been treated with a vaccine solution did not succumb to the disease, while approximately 50% mortality occurred among non‐vaccinated fingerlings.