Aquaculture expert Dr. Elizabeth A. Fairchild from the University of New Hampshire will report on the Martha’s Vineyard winter flounder stock enhancement project Thursday, March 17, 5p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library.
Fairchild, Assistant Research Professor at University of New Hampshire, is assisting a group of 25 island fishermen and aquaculturists in a flounder restoration project involving Lagoon Pond and Menemsha pond. The group plans to spawn and grow 50,000 juvenile flounder in island hatcheries for release into the two ponds. The two-year project began in November.
The New England winter flounder population has declined 91 percent in the past 20 years, according to the UNH Coastal Marine Laboratory. Fairchild has been studying winter flounder for more than a decade, looking at reasons for the decline and possible programs for restoration. Her recent research has considered methods for enhancing wild winter flounder stock with hatchery-raised juvenile fish.
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Fairchild’s experiments have been aimed at determining the ideal size for releasing juveniles into the wild, when and where the releases should occur and how to condition the hatchery-raised juveniles to avoid predators and forage for food after release into the wild.
The free lecture is sponsored by the Menemsha Fisheries Development Fund and the Friends of the Chilmark Public Library. Information about the project can be found at http://winterflounderenhancement.blogspot.com/