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CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE AND COASTAL RESOURCES

What is Hawai‘i Aquaculture?

Three images in a row, hand holding a bunch of small oysters, close up of big fish face with small fish near it's mouth, and gloved hands holding lumu.

What is Aquaculture?

Aquaculture is raising, growing, and harvesting fish, shellfish, aquatic plants (like limu), produce, and other organisms in all types of managed water environments. Aquaculture is a type of agriculture. Basically, it’s farming in water! See this 35-second video from NOAA.1

What is Hawaiʻi aquaculture?

The Hawaiʻi aquaculture industry has several subsectors, united in their commitment to sustainable practices:

Loko Iʻa are fishpond systems unique to Hawaiʻi, including natural ponds and built seawall enclosures where freshwater streams meet the ocean within ahupuaʻa (land management systems that extend from the mountains to the sea).2 Hui Mālama Loko Iʻa is a network of fishpond practitioners and stewardship organizations revitalizing the role of loko iʻa in our communities and working to restore and preserve approximately 40 fishpond sites throughout Hawaiʻi.

Land-Based Freshwater Producers raise freshwater fish, shrimp, algae, and produce in ponds or tank systems. See this video for how shrimp are raised in Kahuku. Other examples include spirulina and Bioastin (Cyanotech), tilapia (e.g., Hawaiʻi Fish Company), and lettuce (e.g., Kunia Country Farms).

Land-Based Sea Water Producers raise seafood, algae, and other organisms in salt water. Examples include Kona Bay Shrimp on Kauai, Big Island Abalone, seed oysters at Hawaiian Shellfish, and seaweed to reduce methane gas in cattle at Blue Ocean Barns and Symbrosia. Also, Hawaiʻi is the birthplace of SPF (specific pathogen free) shrimp broodstock (used for breeding), which has played a critical role in supporting the global shrimp industry.3

Open Ocean Producers raise fish, seafood, and aquatic plants and organisms offshore in submersible sea pens. Hawaiian kanpachi from Blue Ocean Mariculture is an example of this.

(Mention of a company name or product is not a recommendation of that company or product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable.) See the diverse members of the Hawaiʻi Aquaculture Collaborative for more examples.

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IN THIS SECTION

Learn more about the Center for Sustainable Aquaculture and Coastal Resources

CONTACT

Center for Sustainable Aquaculture and Coastal Resources
2525 Correa Road, HIG 238
Honolulu, HI 96822
Phone: (808) 956-7031

Center Director
Maria Haws, Ph.D.
haws@hawaii.edu

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