Karunakaran leading $1 million, multi-year aquaculture industry study
Mississippi State University’s Ganesh Karunakaran, an assistant research professor of aquaculture, will lead a team of nearly a dozen university researchers from eight institutions in the project “Economic status and contribution of U.S. aquaculture: Analyzing viability, economic impact, and management measures for future success.”
The three-year project is one of 12 projects selected to receive federal funding in a competitive funding opportunity through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program. The projects, all aimed at advancing the understanding of aquaculture business economics and providing the industry with important market information to aid sustainable growth, will receive a total of $4.7 million in funding, according to Sea Grant’s Jan. 27 announcement. Karunakaran’s team will receive about $1 million, which will be administered through the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.
Project to fill information gaps
The project will provide economic, financial and market-level information about the aquaculture industry that is currently lacking. The team will then use the information to develop business management tools to help existing aquaculturists, entrepreneurs, investors and lenders estimate the feasibility of successful aquaculture operations in major sectors. The team also will use farm-level and other data to estimate the U.S. aquaculture’s impact on the national economy before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The scientists will develop a price database, outline the diverse supply-chain structures for aquaculture sectors and provide insights into market trends and vulnerabilities. They will identify the economic risks associated with various production practices, and they will outline management measures for risk mitigation.
The project also calls for creating a network of economists and extension specialists who can provide updated web-based economic and market information about aquaculture industries. The project also will provide in-field training for future aquaculture economists.
Projects to build tools, make assessments
“The projects represent Sea Grant’s commitment to not only understanding the science behind sustainable aquaculture in the U.S. but also the economics and market possibilities for sustainable aquaculture,” said National Sea Grant Director Jonathan Pennock in the announcement. “We think these projects will provide valuable knowledge and new resources to help strengthen and expand the U.S. aquaculture industry.”
According to the announcement, the goals of this funding opportunity are:
-- Support broad, non-proprietary research to address critical gaps with respect to aquaculture economics and market needs.
-- Make that information available to U.S. aquaculture businesses and management agencies.
-- Build the capacity of Sea Grant and its partners, including Sea Grant aquaculture extension personnel and industry stakeholders.
The selected projects will develop business management and planning tools and conduct economic and market assessments across multiple aquaculture sectors and geographies.
Projects to support national aquaculture goals
These investments are consistent with Sea Grant’s focus area of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture and the Sea Grant Network’s 10-year Aquaculture Vision, both which support NOAA and U.S. Department of Commerce aquaculture goals.
The grant recipients must match 50 percent of their funding with non-federal funds. For this funding opportunity, NOAA Sea Grant received 41 full proposals meeting minimum submission requirements that requested over $17 million in federal funds.
The economic benefit of Sea Grant’s investment in aquaculture in 2019 was $80 million, including sustaining or creating 1,052 jobs and 408 businesses. In 2020, Sea Grant employed or partially funded 111 professionals working on aquaculture around the country to study, communicate, identify needs or transfer research to industry members and the public.
Other members of Karunakaran’s research team include the following scientists:
-- Jonathan van Senten, Virginia Tech
-- Frank Asche, University of Florida
-- Madan Dey, Texas State University
-- Kwamena Quagrainie, Purdue University/Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant
-- Matt Parker, University of Maryland/Maryland Sea Grant
-- Suja Aarattuthodiyil, Mississippi State University
-- Ben Posadas, Mississippi State University/Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant
-- Quentin Fong, University of Alaska Fairbanks/Alaska Sea Grant
-- William Walton, Auburn University/Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant
-- Michael Schwarz, Virginia Tech/Virginia Sea Grant
-- Luke Roy, Auburn University
Melissa Schneider | Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
