SNAPPER BONANZA

Snapper As An Aquaculture Fish

Editor's Note: The recovery of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and possibly worldwide may occur much quicker than previously predicted, thanks to a small group of scientists at the Claude Peteet Mariculture Center in Gulf Shores, Alabama. New scientific breakthroughs in artificially spawning snapper, producing microscopic-sized food for baby snapper, training snapper to eat commercially-prepared food, creating an artificial habitat that speeds up the reproduction cycle of the red snapper and constructing a new salt-water pipeline from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mariculture Center may result in the Center's producing 100,000 red snapper per year for restocking and research within the next five years.

The red snapper is known worldwide as a delicacy and has a tremendous commercial appeal. As the research continues to develop for growing red snapper in saltwater ponds, the aquaculture industry is watching with a keen eye. However, the quota for the commercial harvest of wild red snapper won't change for awhile. If snapper can be raised in saltwater ponds, through aquaculture techniques, then snapper may be able to be raised and sold like catfish are today. The demand for red snapper is much higher than commercial snapper fishing can supply. Skeptics aren't willing to believe that a group of scientists, based out of the Claude Petit Mariculture Center in south Alabama, can raise and stock enough red snapper to have a significant positive impact on increasing the number of snapper in the Gulf. But, Vernon Minton, the director of the Marine Resources Division of Alabama's Department of Conservation, quickly points out, "Look what the marine biologists in Texas have done with their restocking efforts of red drum (redfish) and spotted seatrout. Texas has been stocking bays and estuaries with these two fish, and the catches of these two fish coming from the bays and estuaries that have been stocked have shown very positive returns for these stocking efforts."

Can restocking of red snapper have the same positive impact offshore that restocking has had in Texas for inshore species? Minton's answer is, "We need to find out. Even if offshore stocking of red snapper does not produce the positive results that are anticipated, we still have a very positive program that may be able to help the aqua culture industry produce and grow more red snapper for human consumption."

To learn more about this program at the Marine Resources Division, e-mail Minton at rvminton@gulftel.com, and you also can visit www.dcnr.state.al.us/mr/cpmc.htm on the Web.