Topics to be covered include:

Program Highlights

Symposium 1-Waste Management Session
The management of both liquid and solid wastes from a recirculating aquacultural system is covered in this session. The session begins with a presentation concerning the removal of nutrients and solids from the wastewater effluent of a tilapia farm, followed by presentations that deal with the conversion (in-vessel composting and vermi-composting) and use (as a fertilizer) of solid waste derived from wastewaters at the tilapia farm. The lessons learned are applicable to the management of wastes associated with culturing other types of fish.

Symposium 2-Persistent and Emerging Disease in Commercial RAS Finfish Production
This session is dedicated to topics pertaining to diseases of freshwater and marine finfish. Pathogens with significant impact upon production of commercially significant species as well as noninfectious factors which impact fish physiology and increase disease prevalence in RAS are also discussed.

Symposium 3-Animal Performance in Recirculating Systems
This session concentrates on the performance characteristics of cultured organisms held under water reuse systems, including physiological and nutritional investigations, stress and issues relating to animal welfare.

Symposium 4-Streptococcus, an Emerging Pathogen of Recirculating Aquaculture Systems: Epidemiology, Identification, Control and Management
Streptococcus iniae has emerged as an important pathogen affecting fish production in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). It is estimated that Streptococcus has resulted in 150 million-dollar losses of fish worldwide. Occasional zoonotic episodes of Streptococcus infection have occurred after handling infected fish. Streptococcus has become a very significant pathogen and fish producers must prevent its introduction and epizootic outbreaks in their RAS. The symposium covers various topics that address the pathogenicity, epidemiology, taxonomy, identification, control, and management of Streptococcus in RAS.

Symposium 5-Hatchery Production Techniques and Management for Emerging Freshwater and Marine Foodfish
Session topics include broodstock spawning via photothermal and hormonal manipulations of emerging aquaculture species. Larviculture production systems, techniques, and live/artificial first feeds and weaning diets are presented.

Symposium 6-Economic/Marketing
This session features industry practitioners who will talk about how they have found and developed their markets and what they think are the next areas for development. Also included is a presentation on a tilapia marketing project management model.

Symposium 7-Recirculating Aquaculture Systems in Penaeid Shrimp Culture
This session highlights the application of recirculating technologies in penaeid shrimp culture. Presentations cover shrimp maturation, nursery production, and production of shrimp to market size, and topics on shrimp genetics, water quality, and microbial ecology.

AES Session 1-Intensification of Pond Aquaculture
This session shows that a shift in pond aquaculture practices is beginning to occur through a combination of adapting and modifying indoor recirculation techniques and practices to outdoor ponds. In some cases, ponds are being covered into greenhouse type systems. Success has already been demonstrated in Belize with intensive shrimp systems. Also, advancement and adaptation of photosynthetic systems is being seen as well.

AES Session 2-RAS Engineering
Session includes guided group discussions of recent advances in unit process design and process train design for treating fish culture water or discharge water.

Freshwater Institute Session-Recirculating Systems for Fish Enhancement or Mitigation Purposes
Public fish culture stations are facing tougher pollution discharge standards and ever-increasing competition for water resources. Numerous public fish culture stations have had to reduce fish production and/or install better effluent treatment processes in order to meet new water quality or anti-degradation based regulations. As an alternate approach, some fish culture stations have incorporated water recirculation systems to increase fish production on a relatively small water flow or to increase waste capture and minimize the total maximum daily load of waste that is discharged. This half-day session features several case studies on recirculating systems that are used for fish enhancement or mitigation purposes.