Aquaculture

Evaluate the extent to which toxic contaminants have negatively impacted the recovery of threatened or endangered salmon, killer whales, and their prey in the Salish Sea.

Develop salmonid habitat and life-cycle models to better understand and plan for conservation, management, and recovery of Puget Sound populations. Partners will also use models to evaluate potential ecological effects of new dams and develop aquatic species restoration plans for native fishes in the Chehalis River basin of coastal Washington.

Provide a powdered formulation of probiotic strain OY15 for oysters and perform hatchery-scale trials to test OY15’s effectiveness for improving survival of Pacific oyster larvae. Subsquently, shellfish industry partners Pacific Hybreed, Inc. and Cartron Point Shellfish will perform hatchery-scale trials to investigate the powdered probiotic’s effects on the survival of Pacific oyster larvae during the 2021 oyster spawning season.

Foster tribal business and economic development opportunities by assessing the feasibility of commercial land-based or marine netpen production of sabelfish (“black cod”), as well as an integrated, multi-trophic aquaculture approach that uses giant red sea cucumber.