Location: Warmwater Aquaculture Research Unit
Project Number: 6066-31000-012-006-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2014
End Date: Jun 30, 2019
Objective:
Develop acoustic technology and methodologies to improve the production and profitability of pond-based aquaculture in the United States. This includes testing the potential of ultrasound to control ram’s horn snails in ponds as well as to test the potential for ultrasound to improve water quality in the cold water wash in processing plants. This project supports the unit objective to develop new equipment and technologies to improve profitability of channel catfish farming.
Approach:
Controlled experiments on snails with and without ultrasound treatment will be made in NCPA tanks. Experiments will focus on amplitude and duration of treatment as well as efficacy including immediate death and mortal wounding of snails. If successful, work will proceed on development of field delivery system. If efficacy is not sufficient experiments will be conducted to determine if ultrasound treatment can reduce the amount of chemicals needed for traditional treatment. Experiments will also be conducted on samples of water collected from processing facilities. Experiments will focus on amplitude and duration of treatment required to improve water quality. If successful, work will proceed on development of system to be installed in production facility as a prototype. Measurements will initially be made by NCPA personnel at NCPA facilities but will progress to USDA-NWAC ponds and commercial production facilities as the work progresses.
