The open offfshore aquaculture, together with polyculture, was one of the main subjects in the 1st Korea-U.S. Joint Coordination Meeting for Aquaculture Cooperation held in Busan, Republic of Korea, April 15-16, 2002, the Korea-U.S and Meeting for Scientific and Technical Cooperation convened in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, October 9-12, 2002. Following the two meeting, Dr. Yoon Kim, co-chair of Korea-U.S. Joint Coordination Meeting for Aquaculture Cooperation, and Dr. C. R. Ryu, a professor in department of ocean engineering at Pukyung National University and Korean Sea Grant Project leader, hosted a meeting specialized for the successful installation and development of offshore aquaculture in Korea. The participants of the meeting were people from universities, aquaculture industry, policy maker, and related business. In the meeting, Dr. Yoon Kim and Dr. C. Ryu explained the previous two meetings and the concept of the open offshore aquaculture. A total of 39 persons attended at the meeting.

 Following the 1st meeting specialized for the successful installation and development of offshore aquaculture in Korea, the second meeting also hosted by Dr. Kim and Dr. Ryu was held in March 14, 2003 in the Aquaculture Department of National Fisheries Research and Development Institute. Dr. G. S. Yoon, a professor of department of ocean engineering of Pukyong National University, presented a mooring system of floating pen cage following Mr. Langley Gace who gave a presentation about installation, operation, and net of standard offshore aquaculture cage (Sea Station 3000). After the presentations, dialogue between the presenters and attendants was made about Korea-US priorities and time line relative to offshore aquaculture technology which were prepared in the Hawaii meeting. The priorities discussed are as follows:

1. Site selection criteria

       Bottom topography/sediment type/depth

        Logistics/access (infrastructure)

        Arrangement of site components

2. System requirements

        Feed delivery to system, in particular submerged cages

        Controlled harvesting, incremental harvesting

        Size grading requirements followed by selective harvesting

        Biofouling control (including anti-foulants; net cleaner (robotics))

        Divers health management

        Monitoring systems (including environment, facility security/management)

        Containment

        Fish transport and acclimation

        Logistical support and vessel design

        Large scale demonstration

3. Biological considerations

        Species selection and diversity

        Genetic management

        Stock identification and tagging development

        Stocking sizes and technologies

        Nutrition/feed requirements

                - fish meal reduction

               - diversification

               - by-product utilization

        Fish health management/fish disease diagnosis and control

        Fish quality

        Human health  feed health assurance/positive components

        Hatchery technology and species availability

        Polyculture

        Reproductive management

        Biological interactions/habitat enrichment/optimization

        Species behavior and modification and cage design to optimize

4. Environmental considerations

        Nutrient enrichment of water column (pros and cons)

        Organic enrichment of sediment

        Biological interactions

                 -fish aggregating devices (FADs), marine mammals, as habitat enhancement

        Ecological interactions (escapees and disease transfer)

        Impacts of human origin

        Feed composition (raw feeds vs. extruded feeds)

        Seed stock source

        Medications and vaccines

        Development of a Code of Conduct and a best management plan (BMP)

5. Risk assessment

6. Markets and economics

        Exchange of production statistics in fisheries and aquaculture

        Market size/product selection/species

        Value-added/product form

        Consumer preference

        Scale of production

7. Regulatory considerations

        Size of fish regulated by wild harvests

After the meeting, Mr. Langley Gace and Dr. Qtae Jo, a aquaculture scientist in Aquaculture Department of National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, visited two suggested candidates for the instalation of Sea Station 3000, in Korea. The two persons flied to Jeju Island, one of the two candidate of cage installation. In Jeju, Mr. Gace presented same topic as presented in Busan at Jeju Marine Institute,

Jeju.

Sea Grant Planning Meeting

Two 2003 Sea Grants on offshore aquaculture were accepted from MOMAF. Two professors, Dr. C. R. Ryu and Dr. G. S. Yoon, responsible for the Sea Grants, hosted a Sea Grant Proposal Meeting held in Aquaculture Department of NFRDI in June 11. In the meeting, Dr. Yoon Kim, a department head, and Dr. K. S. Min, a division head, decided to provide the two professors with a space and facilities for their laboratory experiments for offshore aquaculture at Aquaculture Department of NFRDI. Two NFRDI research scientists, Dr. Young Ju Jee and Dr. Qtae Jo were decided to help their laboratory works out.

Planning Meeting for the Korea-US Joint Offshore Aquaculture Project

July 1-2, 2003/7/11

Culebra, Puerto Rico

Objectives

The objectives of the meeting are 1) to exchange progress reports and determine research protocols for offshore aquaculture technology in Korea and the US, 2) to observe cobia harvesting activities and techniques and other offshore technologies, and 3) to discuss next steps in terms of the establishment of Korea-US joint offshore aquaculture demonstration project.

Scope

Progress reports on offshore aquaculture technology in Korea by Dr. Qtae Jo

Update funding situation.

Explain how many nets Korea plans to deploy (when, where, and oceanographic and

geographic conditions).

Establish standardized measurements and monitoring parameters.

Determine target species (incl. Growth rate) for Korea.

Hatchery capacity, stocking density, and juvenile supply

Training of divers and cage operators (when and where?)

Progress reports on offshore aquaculture technology in Korea by Prof. Cheongro Ryu

Discuss the Korea Sea Grant Offshore Aquaculture Projects that have been approved

Discuss the future establishment of Korea Offshore Aquaculture Research Center

Level of understandings and reactions from MOMAF officials and other scientists in Korea on

offshore aquaculture

Discuss the constraints and challenges facing the people who are leading in this project

Determine US contributions to projects

Progress Reports on Offshore Aquaculture Technology in the US by Dr. James McVey and Prof.

Daniel Benetti

Provide the recent presentations given at Capitol Hill at the NOAA Fish Fry

Provide US vision for the future directions of offshore aquaculture

Provide an overview of the Puerto Rico open-ocean cage demonstration project implemented

in Culebra

Introduce the Ecosystem Modeling Workshop in November 2003 in California, US

During the visits to Snappefarms, Inc.

Discuss general lessons learned from Cobia farming

Cobia hatchery seasons and techniques

Cobia growth rate

Marketing

Operation and management

Cage structures and other infrastructures

Major constraints and challenges facing the operators

Future research questions

Underwater video taping

The 11 month old Cobia grown under Sea Station 3000 operated by Snappefarms, Inc., Culebra, Puerto Rico

Roundtable Discussion

Principal investigators

Mutual research interests

Timing for ordering the nets

Timing for the spawning target species

Timing for the detailed site investigations

Timing for the offshore aquaculture workshop in Korea

List of U.S. Participants

James P. McVey

Aquaculture Program Director

National Sea Grant College Program

Office of the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

1315 East-West Highway, 11th FL

Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282, USA

Tel: (301) 713-2451, ext. 160

Fax: (301) 713-0799

Email: jim.mcvey@noaa.gov

Rene Eppi

Director                

International Activities Office

Office of the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

1315 East-West Highway, SSMC-3, 11th Floor

Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA

Tel: (301) 713-2469, ext. 132

Fax: (301) 713-1459

Email: rene.eppi@noaa.gov

Dosoo Jang

Program Manager/Asia Team Lead

International Activities Office

Office of the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

1315 East-West Highway, SSMC-3, 11th Floor

Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA

Tel: (301) 713-2469, ext. 195

Fax: (301) 713-1459

Email: dosoo.jang@noaa.gov

Daniel D. Benetti

Associate Professor

Director, Aquaculture Program

MAF - RSMAS - University of Miami

4600 Rickenbacker Causeway

Miami FL 33149 U.S.A.

Tel: +1(305) 361-4889

Fax: +1(305) 361-4675

Email: dbenetti@rsmas.miami.edu

Brian O'Hanlon

Snapperfarm, Inc.

P.O. Box 685

Culebra, Puerto Rico 00775

Tel: 787-742-0641

Cell: 787-548-6134

Fax: 787-742-0641

Email: brian@snapperfarm.com

List of Korean Participants

Sung-Ho Joo

MOMAF-NOAA Liaison Officer

(Director-General)

1315 East-West Highway

Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA

Tel: (301) 713-3080, ext. 172

Fax: (301) 713-4263

Email: sung-ho.joo@noaa.gov

Qtae Jo

Researcher

Aquaculture Department

National Fisheries Research and Development Institute

Ministry of Maritime Affairs & Fisheries

#408-1, Sirang-ri, Kijang-up, Kijang County

Pusan 619-902, Republic of Korea

Tel: 82-51-720-2434

Fax: 82-51-720-2439

Email: qtjo@nfrdi.re.kr

Cheongro Ryu

Professor

Department of Ocean Engineering

Pukyong National University

Pusan, Republic of Korea

Tel: 82-51-620-6622

Fax: 82-51-625-5862

Email: crryu@pknu.ac.kr