ASSOCIATED PRESS
Leslie Hain held up a beaker with 40-day-old opakapaka on Tuesday at Kona Blue Water Farms in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Behind Hain is the rest of the scientific team that figured out how and what to feed the tiny fish. They are, from left, lead scientist Glenn Schipp, Aaron Ellis, Federico Rotman and Ron Sjoken.
KAILUA-KONA >> A Big Island company says it has successfully grown opakapaka hatchlings from eggs at its facility at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii. Big Isle firm
hatches opakapakaIt is the first time the popular fish
have been grown from eggsAssociated Press
Researchers are optimistic that someday they may commercially grow opakapaka and other popular deep-water fish on fish farms.
Kona Blue Water Farms has raised about 110 of the hatchlings, also known as Hawaiian pink snapper, from eggs. They are now about 40 days old.
Researchers have had difficulty in the past with raising opakapaka and other fish to eat.
"The problem had been getting them through their first feeding," said Neil Anthony Sims, vice president and research director for Kona Blue Water Farms, a division of Black Pearls Inc., a marine biological research and aquaculture development company. "We couldn't figure out what to feed them because their mouths are too small."
The company's scientific team found that the fish thrive on a type of zooplankton.
"Up to four weeks ago no one had ever been able to do this," said Glenn Shipp, lead scientist for the project. "Our goal now is to bring this up to commercial levels."
The research was done with the aid of two federal grants, and assistance from the University of Hawaii's bottomfish research program at Coconut Island, which was the first to raise the fish from eggs, Sims said.
The university provided the Kona company with its opakapaka eggs.
Deep-water snappers including opakapaka, onaga and others are popular on restaurant menus in Hawaii and other places.
But the National Audubon Society's Living Oceans Program says opakapaka and other bottom-feeding snappers are declining in stock and are losing their habitat in some parts of the world.
Opakapaka are usually caught at depths between 180 and 600 feet. In 1998, a dozen restricted zones were set up around the main Hawaiian Islands to protect some of the most popular snapper species.
Total snapper imports into the United States totaled nearly 15 million pounds in 2001, worth more than $50 million. Wholesale prices for opakapaka can bring $15 per pound and more during the holidays.
Hawaii now imports more than half of the deep-water snapper and grouper consumed here.
Sims said his company would also like to raise kahala (amberjack), omilu (bluefin trevally), uku (green snapper) and aquarium fish.
"Most of these fish are subject to overfishing and need more life history knowledge, management and restocking," Sims said. "They also offer great aquaculture potential.
"We've been able to re-establish the Hawaiian oyster," Sims said. "We hope to restock the reefs, but we're also excited about the commercial opportunities this opens up."
Black Pearls Inc.
Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii
