Sustainable Bio-conservation Technology for Aqua-feed Production and Waste Management
Principal Investigator: Andrei Alyokhin (Biology and Ecology, UMaine)
Partners: Tap Pryor (Acadia Harvest, Inc.); Michael Peterson (Mechanical Engineering, UMaine); Edward Bernard (Molecular & Biomedical Sciences, UMaine)
Abstract: Maine’s aquaculture industry is the largest in the U.S. and is growing rapidly. However, it currently relies on aquafeeds made with fish meal and fish oil from wild-caught small fishes, which is not an economically and environmentally sustainable approach. We propose adopting an alternative aquafeed production technology that relies on biological conversion of organic wastes using black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (L.). Our project will result in technology that allows producing large volumes of fly larvae at low cost to meet the needs of Maine aquaculture industry in sustainable aquafeed.