Pompano are a popular food and sport fish with great potential as an aquaculture species. They are generally hardy, fast growing fish with a tolerance for low salinity water. Our pompano research project is focused on improving the techniques to culture the Florida Pompano (Trachinotus carolinus). CARD spawned wild broodstock for the first time in 2003 and produced almost 5000 fingerlings. Some of these fish are being cultured to market size, while refining culture techniques and determining optimal stocking densities. Our research efforts are focused on solving the following production bottlenecks for this new marine food fish:

• developing a year-round spawning protocol,
• determining appropriate live feeds for larval rearing,
• developing commercial-scale protocols for larval rearing,
• determining nursery and growout culture protocols in low-salinity and “hard” freshwater recirculating systems, and
• determining pompano rearing costs.

In 2004, we began rearing pompano broodstock in the 6700 gallon tanks at MAP.   These tanks can hold up to 50 kilograms of fish (approximately 30-50 adult pompano).

                                                                                                            
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