Growing Ornamentals a Worthy Pursuit

By Malia Schwartz

Finding Nemo tookon a whole new meaning last summer as business partners Bradford Bourque, Harold “Skip” Pomeroy, and Ronald Fortunati launched the first ornamental marine fish farm in Rhode Island. Called New England Marine Ornamentals (N.E.M.O.), the fruits of their labor include clownfish—made famous by the 2003 movie— lined seahorses, and orchid dottybacks.

But the business didn’t happen overnight. The potentially lucrative production of ornamental species began as the focus of a three-year Rhode Island Aquaculture Initiative (RIAI) project designed to assess the economic feasibility of commercial-scale marine ornamental fish culture in Rhode Island. Pomeroy and Bourque work at Roger Williams University’s (RWU) Center for Economic and Environmental Development (CEED), directed by Timothy Scott. The focus of the center is to conduct research with the potential to have an impact on Rhode Island’s marine economy.

“There are about 1,400 commercially traded marine ornamental species,” says Pomeroy, RWU marine and natural sciences professor. “Of those, only about 30 to 40 species are raised in aquaculture because we don’t know how to raise them in captivity.” In addition, “many methods of live harvest are not sustainable,” says Pomeroy, because the animals are taken from ecologically fragile habitats, such as coral reefs.

“So the idea was to start with the easy [to culture] species, repeat what had been done elsewhere, then look at it from a business perspective, and ask, ‘Can we do it more cost-effectively here?’” says Bourque, RWU marine laboratory manager.

However, the reason Pomeroy and Bourque chose marine ornamentals in the first place was not solely for academic or economic interest, it was because of the appeal to undergraduate students. “Every question is new knowledge, and that’s exciting for students,” says Pomeroy. The project incorporated student research and education, collaborative studies, and marketing through partnerships with the university, with other research institutions, and with private business. “We’ve seen several generations of students come and go, many continuing on to graduate studies at schools such as the University of New Hampshire and Florida Institute of Technology—schools at the forefront of marine ornamental culturing techniques.”

Pomeroy and Bourque’s research first led them to clownfish. Clownfish had been cultured successfully in captivity, they grow quickly—reaching market size in less than six months, and they command a high price—upwards of $8 per fish, which translates into $500 per pound. This is a far cry from cultured food fish, such as flounder, which nets only a few dollars per pound in the fish market. “The marine ornamentals market is a highvalue growth market that fits Rhode Island’s vision of a sustainable commercial enterprise congenial with the state’s natural, cultural, and social environments,” says David Alves, state aquaculture coordinator with the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council.

In addition to knowing how to culture fish, Bourque had taken several aquaculture business courses. This experience coupled with the team’s research into ways to make marine ornamental culture commercially feasible, was also successful in advancing production procedures that addressed feeding, water quality, spawning, and disease prevention issues, as well as market analysis.

In 2006, Bourque and Pomeroy presented their research at the Marine Ornamentals Conference in Las Vegas. “RIAI has given us the opportunity to share our findings at major conferences and to make connections with researchers doing important work on marine ornamentals,” says Bourque.

“Most of the research in marine ornamentals is proprietary,” adds Pomeroy. “It’s the reason the industry hasn’t grown, but that’s starting to change.” For the research team, one major benefit of the RIAI investment has been the ability to share and learn from other researchers and to foster new collaborations— and RWU has continued to support them. “We’ve made a lot of connections, even within RWU,” says Pomeroy. “In fact, we brought in two RWU chemists, Nancy Breen and Stephen O’Shea, who are working on enhancing the diets of clownfish broodstock, using state-of-the-art equipment.”

Growing Good Broodstock
One issue facing the researchers is determining how diet affects the productivity of the broodstock. Diet influences a number of factors, including egg quality, spawning frequency, hatch rate, and spawner survivability. “We did a fatty acid analysis on the eggs (a measure of egg quality) and found that the food made here at RWU—a recipe developed by “chef” Sergey Medvedev, an RWU marine biology undergraduate involved in the research—resulted in the highest survivability of fingerlings compared to other diets,” reports Bourque. Another key to vibrant broodstock (and a successful marine ornamentals business) is getting the fish to reproduce … often. “You can have all the mood lighting in the world, but if the conditions aren’t perfect, they’re not going mate,” jokes Pomeroy. Clownfish live in breeding pairs and will lay their eggs on any flat surface—typically on the underside of a tile square that’s placed in their aquarium for that purpose. The male guards the eggs until they hatch roughly six to 10 days later. Clownfish can spawn about every two weeks in captivity, providing the conditions are right, including temperature and lighting.

Finding New Fish Foods
Once the fish hatch, there are other concerns: “One of the biggest challenges in marine ornamental fish culture is figuring out what they eat at first feeding,” says Pomeroy. Larval fish are unable to eat the same things as their adult counterparts because their mouths are too small, and, in some cases, their digestive systems aren’t as developed, so finding optimal “first foods” is critical.

Two sets of RWU students are currently working on first-feeding issues. The first set is researching methods to enhance copepod growth. Copepods are an ideal first food for marine fish, but they’re not easy to grow in consistently high quantities, according to Pomeroy. The second group of students is conducting a series of experiments to develop optimal methods to rear larvae of various species of marine ornamental fish, including gobies and dottybacks, especially identifying the appropriate organisms for first feeding.

The next challenge, once an ideal first-food is found, is what to feed the fish to make them grow the fastest? Researchers in the team’s lab have been looking at diets that optimize growth while maintaining optimal color and quality of the clownfish. “We know that there are feeds that optimize growth and more expensive feeds that really enhance the vibrancy of the clownfish— ‘flourescent Nemos,’” says Amanda White, a recent RWU graduate who worked in the marine ornamentals lab as an undergraduate and has been hired by the team to continue her research. “But it turns out that there’s a critical period after which feeding the more expensive diet doesn’t improve the vibrancy any further. So from a marketing perspective, we’re trying to optimize use of the less expensive diet to promote growth, while using enough of the expensive, color-enhancing feed during the critical period when the fish can best use it.” White presented the results of her research at the Marine Ornamentals 2006 conference in Las Vegas and is seeking to publish the results of follow-up experiments.

So what’s next for the team? In addition to their N.E.M.O. business (see sidebar at right), Pomeroy and Bourque are working with other CEED members to develop a new minor degree in “Aquaculture in Aquarium Science” for RWU marine and natural science students in collaboration with the New England Aquarium. The new program will consist of a series of courses and research internships that will prepare students for careers or graduate studies in the aquarium or aquaculture industry. The group hopes to conduct research that explores rearing the offspring of several species that spawn naturally in the exhibits at New England Aquarium. Pomeroy sums up their RIAI efforts this way: “It’s fun, it’s great for the students, and we’ve made great connections.”

—Malia Scwartz is Rhode Island Sea Grant Assistant Director for Research & Development

SIDEBAR

N.E.M.O. Business a First for Rhode Island
It may not look like much now, but RWU’s Bradford Bourque and Harold “Skip” Pomeroy, along with RWU alumnus Ronald Fortunati are banking on a cash crop. Their new business, New England Marine Ornamentals (N.E.M.O.), LLC, opened in June 2007, and the “fruits” of their labor are marine ornamentals, including clownfish—made famous by the 2003 movie Finding Nemo—lined sea horses, and orchid dottybacks.

“Our RIAI–funded research found that a business in marine ornamentals can be successful,” says Pomeroy. So when Joseph Lombari of the Parker Mills building on Metacom Avenue in Bristol, R.I., asked if they’d be interested in renting space for their new business, the team jumped at it.

The business began as a small-scale operation, with the goal of producing the different species for the local marine aquarium store market. Fortunati, a graduate of one of the first classes of marine biology students at RWU (’76), did much of the marketing. “Ron brings a great deal of business experience, as well as a marketing perspective,” says Bourque. According to Bourque, the three businessmen hope to make back their initial investment within two years, which might allow them to diversify into additional species of clownfish and other species (such as ornamental shrimps, gobies, and cardinalfish), and service a regional market of about 30 stores within a 50-mile radius. N.E.M.O. currently has 10 to 15 stores regularly buying upwards of 20 clownfish per month each. But “their big focus now is establishing the clownfish broodstock,” adds Pomeroy, so they can continue to meet demand.

“This project represents an important step in developing Rhode Island’s aquaculture industry,” said U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), who secured $1 million to help establish the Center for Aquaculture Development at RWU. “It makes good economic sense for the Ocean State to be a leader in the rapidly expanding global aquaculture market. This ornamental fish farm also makes good environmental sense because it will help reduce the impact of the aquarium trade on delicate coral reef systems.”

—with contributions from the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council’s Coastal Features newsletter.

Rhode Island Sea Grant University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography Narragansett, RI 02882

Coastal Institute University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography Room 124 Narragansett, RI 02882