Vol. 2, No. 1 Contents
Headline Back Issues Winter 1997
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Power company, hatchery charged up about flounder farming partnership Manchester, New Hampshire - GreatBay Aquafarms, Inc. and Public Service Company of New Hampshire/Northeast Utilities are teaming up on a successful fish farming venture that both parties say provides an environmentally responsible alternative to harvesting wild flounder stocks. Since early fall of 1995 GreatBay Aquafarms, Inc. has hatched summer flounder and sold them to growout operations which raise them to maturity and then sell the high-end fish at market. Since its launching, the hatchery has expanded to a second building and is now piloting its own growout program in anticipation of another large expansion this year, said (title) Greg Beckman.
GreatBay leases space at PSNH's Newington Station on the Piscataqua River. The power company also supplies the hatchery with saltwater from the tidal river by allowing GreatBay to tap into the station's water intake system. As it passes through a series of fish holding tanks, the water is continuously filtered, reoxygenated, and recirculated. Fish manure is removed and marketed as agricultural fertilizer before the hatchery discharges the water back in to the Piscataqua, in accordance with PSNH's state and federal operating permits, said Tuttle."We hope showing it works here might open opportunities [elsewhere in New England]. Plus, it's helping to nurture a small business that's growing and also a new industry," Tuttle said. |
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Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine
GreatBay founders George Nardi and Chris Duffy launched their business in partnership with PSNH as an alternative to pressure on wild flounder stocks. PSNH Business Development Director Gordon Tuttle said fish farms can also provide some employment for fishermen forced out of the industry by declining stocks. GreatBay employs about a half dozen full time and half dozen part-time workers, one of whom is a former commercial fisherman, according to Beckman.