Pacific Aquaculture & Coastal Resources Center tour and potluck - 12/5/09 Hilo

[Shelby Floyd]

Please join Slow Food Hawaii on December 5th, 2009 at 12:00 for a tour
of the Pacific Aquaculture & Coastal Resources Center http://pacrc.uhh.hawaii.edu/
in Hilo. PACRC is a University of Hawaii research institution working
on many aspects of our current and future food-chain. Examples
include:

-- Tuna being reared in captivity for breeding purposes to replenish
wild stock and possibly come up with ways to rear tuna in captivity.

-- Oysters are being reared and bred for nursery-stock. Most of the
clams, mussels, and oysters we as consumers buy and eat are farm-
raised. The "research by-product" from the PACRC (baby oysters) are
shipped air-freight to farms in the Seattle area. No oysters are
raised to commercial size here, but they do the breeding and nursery
operations in Hawaii. Grow-out takes 9 to 12-months and they do that
in the tidal mud-flats of Puget Sound, and elsewhere.

-- Research on the rearing of black pearl oysters.

-- Sturgeon are being raised and bred for development of a possible
domestic caviar market. The sturgeon are also good eating fish.

-- Tilapia are being reared and bred for domestic production. Both
tilapia and sturgeon are freshwater fish, so these are actually housed
in tanks at the college's Pana'ewe Farm.

-- Algae is being cultivated as live feed for the shellfish, and there
are also efforts being made to rear in captivity other small aquatic
feed animals such as copepods and rotifers.

Another component (non-food related) they are establishing is an
aquatic mammal rescue and rehabilitation center.

Aquaponics are currently not being done, but there are plans to
implement it soon, possibly 2010. Aquaponics would involve co-
cultivation of aquatic animals such as tilapia (a top-feeder/
herbivore) and freshwater prawn (bottom-feeders) in large rectangular
tanks, with vegetables growing in rafts at the water surface.

The tour will begin at 12:00 and last around 1 hour. Afterward, we
will have a potluck in PACRC's patio area. PACRC is located at 1079
Kalanianaole Avenue in Hilo (Kalanianaole is also known as "five
mile"), just over a mile toward Richardson's Beach from Ken's House of
Pancakes. Here's an aerial view:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Ken%27s+house+of+pancakes+to+1079+Kalanianaole+Avenue+hilo+hawaii&sll=19.72203,-155.056572&sspn=0.043711,0.090895&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16

POTLUCK INFO: As always bring a homecooked dish (local is best) to
share with others. Bring your own utensils (plates, cups, napkins,
etc.) We will provide iced herb tea to drink.

****Please RSVP with Kim Hoffman at hoff...@ohsu.edu.****