LocalCoho’s recirculating aquaculture system recycles 90-95% of its water; discharge is used as a nutrient-rich fertilizer. Credit: LocalCoho.

Contact:

Barry Udelson, NYSG Aquaculture Specialist, E: bu25@cornell.edu, P: (631) 824-4934

An opportunity for aquaculture farmers to meet with local legislators and decision-makers to highlight the potential value of the aquaculture industry for New York State and its residents

Stony Brook, NY, March 25, 2024 - The aquaculture industry in the Great Lakes states has expressed a need to increase awareness about its value and improve support from respective local government agencies.

The Great Lakes Sea Grant programs developed an “Aquaculture Decision-Maker Day” event to provide local decision-makers with the opportunity to tour a fish farm and meet with aquaculture farmers. Similar events are held in each of the Great Lakes states and allow farmers to speak about the challenges and opportunities for improving domestic seafood production and reducing the need to import.

In October 2023, NYSG coordinated a tour and aquaculture industry discussion event at LocalCoho, a salmon farm, in Auburn, NY. Eight additional farms provided content about the value of their operations and the challenges they face; four of those farm owners attended the event. Legislators with aquaculture farms in their districts or that participate on committees relevant to the aquaculture industry were invited along with officials from the City of Auburn and Cayuga County. The information compiled for the event to increase awareness of NY’s aquaculture industry and its potential was shared with legislators that could not attend.

The aquaculture industry members discussed collaborative efforts to address some shared issues and had the opportunity to meet NYSG’s new aquaculture specialist and additional Sea Grant staff who provide seafood safety and technology-related resources. The farmers have requested more such events. This NYSG-coordinated event increased connections among aquaculture industry members and local decision-makers and provided the opportunity for farmers to convey the challenges and opportunities for land-based seafood production in the Great Lakes region and across New York state.


 Aquaculture industry members and local decision-makers at NYSG-coordinated event at LocalCoho, Auburn, NY. Credit: NYSG/M.Ciaramella

Project Partners:

• Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative: IL/IN, MI, MN, OH, WI Sea Grant programs
• LocalCoho, Hudson Valley Fish Farm, Skytop Springs Farm, Nuponix, Hicklings Fish Farm, Beaverkill Fish Farm, Fish Haven Farm, Smith Creek Fish Farm and Blue Cove Cannery


Funding: 

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.