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Pen aquaculture in the Great Lakes

Expanding aquaculture groups are interested in fish farming in open waters of the Great Lakes, but officials aren’t so sure.

Ed Eisch is the Fish Production Program Manager for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He tells Brownfield more research is needed before net pen aquaculture will be approved by Michigan.  “There really is no good waste management technology that can be put into practice with cage culture, so essentially the waste or manure from the fish would go directly into the Great Lakes.”

Eisch says the department is also interested in knowing if there are any type of human health concerns.  “If you are a little ways down current from a cage culture operation, does swimming in that water present any health concerns?”

He says Michigan’s current commercial aquaculture industry is quite small, but looking to grow.  “There’s a couple of recirculating systems that really don’t have much of a water need.” He says, “They’re completely enclosed and they reuse their water over and over and over again.”  Eisch tells Brownfield a few larger fish farms operate with flow through systems that use river water or ground water for production. However, he says some net pen facilities are currently operating in Ontario waters of Lake Huron.

Eisch is part of a Michigan aquaculture workgroup that has created a scientific review panel to analyze the viability of net pen aquaculture in the Great Lakes and its impacts. He says the department currently has proposals for rainbow trout fish farms in Michigan’s waters near Green Bay, Wisconsin and portions of northern Lake Huron.

Before any facilities would break water, he says others in the Great Lakes would be involved, “We would certainly be discussing this with other state agencies as well, and not just state agencies but tribal entities as well.”

A 2014 report by Michigan Sea Grant and Michigan State University projects aquaculture in the Great Lakes could be a billion dollar industry by 2025.

 AUDIO: Interview with Ed Eisch