FEASIBILITY OF MARRON LOBSTER AQUACULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES

MARRON LOBSTER, CHERAX TENUIMANUS, A FRESHWATER LOBSTER OR CRAYFISH INDIGENOUS TO SOUTHWEST AUSTRALIA, IS A PROMISING NEW SPECIES FOR UNITED STATES AQUACULTURE. IT LOOKS AND TASTES LIKE MAINE LOBSTER AND GROWS WELL AT HIGH DENSITIES IN POND CULTURE FEEDING ON DETRITAL ORGANISMS. TRAVERSE GROUP, INC. (TGI) PROPOSES TO CONDUCT PHASE I EXPERIMENTS TODETERMINE GROWTH RATE, DENSITY EFFECTS, AND REPRODUCTION POTENTIAL OF MARRON UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND TEMPERATURES FOUND IN THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. PHASE I EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED BY TGI FROM FEBRUARY 1 TO JULY 31, 1988 AT AUBURN UNIVERSITY, WHICH PROVIDES EXCELLENTFACILITIES AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS SIMILAR TO SOUTHWEST AUSTRALIA. THE EXPERIMENTS WILL BUILD ON INITIAL BIOASSAYS CONDUCTED BY TGI AND AUBURN UNIVERSITY IN 1986-1987. PHASE I FINDINGS, COMBINED WITH THOSE FROM TGI'S MARRON PROJECT INDOMINICA (CARIBBEAN), BEGUN IN 1986, AND EXISTING AUSTRALIANRESEARCH RESULTS, WILL BE USED TO DESIGN AN EXPANDED PHASE II RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. DENSITY, FEED, AND POLYCULTURE EXPERIMENTS WILL BE RUN AT TWO SITES IN PHASE II IN PREPARATION FOR A PHASE III COMMERCIAL SCALE PROJECT.