Development of All-Female Populations of Striped Bass

Striped bass culture has become the fourth largest form of fish production in the U.S., trailing only catfish, trout, and salmon in terms of market value. Unfortunately, this promising new industry faces considerable market pressure from foreign competitors who often enjoy lower labor, water, and utility costs and fewer environmental regulations than encountered in the U.S. To compete effectively, U.S. producers must develop new technologies to lower production costs and assist them in dealing with inexpensive foreign imports. One promising concept involves the use of modern sex-reversal techniques to produce monosex populations. It has been shown that monosex populations of several cultured species, including trout and tilapia, grow more rapidly and efficiently compared to mixed sex populations. In preliminary studies, Kent Sea Tech has found that female striped bass may grow up to 35% larger than their male siblings. If advanced culture technologies can be developed to take advantage of this growth difference under commercial production conditions, the U.S. striped bass culture industry would have a strong advantage over foreign producers. We propose to conduct research to develop methods of producing all-female populations of striped bass and to ascertain whether this concept would result in significant cost benefits to U.S. producers.