Taunton Bay Marine Hatchery
Our marine fish hatchery building was completed in 2005. Since then we have been installing rearing systems for holding broodstock, incubating eggs and yolk sac larvae, growing live feed and raising the fish larvae. The hatchery was designed by Nick Brown and the building by Ames A/E. Funding came from the Dept of Commerce EDA, the Maine Science and Technology Foundation and the University of Maine. Facilities in the hatchery have been funded through a number of grants including the Maine Research Fund and the Maine Technology Asset Fund.
Our marine hatchery was designed for rearing multiple species of finfish. Three broodstock systems hold warm or cold water fish such as California yellowtail, Atlantic halibut, and cod. Other rooms contain egg incubation tanks (top photo), live feed labs for raising plankton such as rotifers or artemia, self-cleaning tanks for larval rearing (bottom photo), and weaning/nursery systems. These are all supported by RAS to optimize the environment for the delicate larval fish. Over 170,000 juvenile cod, halibut and California yellowtail have been reared so far, and we expect demand to grow as aquaculture expands in the US.