Aquaculture & Water Quality

At the Freshwater Institute our mission is to advance sustainable aquaculture practices that create a robust aquaculture industry, reduce dependence on seafood imports, and ensure high-quality, safe, and nutritious seafood for all. Through our pioneering research, technological innovations, and industry collaborations, we are dedicated to developing solutions that minimize environmental impact, address climate change challenges, and meet the evolving demands of consumers.

 

2023 Program Highlights

    • We identified a faster-growing strain of salmon that enables fish farms to be more productive.

    • We innovated AI-based tools for collecting data that avoid fish handling and improve farm efficiency.

    • We developed methods that create sellable products from fish waste, thereby reducing environmental impacts.

    • We created practices that improve harvest product quality and consumer acceptance of seafood.

 

Watch this video to learn about our latest initiative that employs computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and address current bottlenecks in land-based RAS management.

 



PROJECTS

Building Smart Land-based Fish Farms
The precision aquaculture initiative at the Freshwater Institute is developing advanced technologies...

Get to Know the Freshwater Institute’s West Virginia-Raised Salmon
Our Atlantic salmon is raised at The Conservation Fund’s Freshwater Institute facility in Shepherdst...

Improving Feeds for Land-based Salmon Farming
Fueled by increased global demand for salmon and the opportunity to help salmon farmers accelerate d...

Supporting the Viability and Expansion of Land-Based Aquaculture
A five-year plan to support the research and sustainable growth of land-based, closed-containment fi...

USFWS Hatchery Modernization Project
The goal of this project was to assess five different national fish hatcheries across the United Sta...

Researching and Restoring West Virginia’s Declining Brook Trout Population
A collaboration between the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and The Conservation Fund’s ...

What is Land-based RAS?

How Do We Do It?

Who is Doing It at TCF?