An investigation into the incubation and cage culture of Lake Whitefish for commercial purposes in Northern Ontario

在加拿大，水产养殖是一个价值8.4亿美元的行业，在不列颠哥伦比亚省(即4.26亿美元)和新不伦瑞克(即2.5亿美元)有广泛的业务，而安大略省只占不到2000万美元(见Aquaculture.ca/EconicBenefits，2016)。彩虹鲑鱼是通过商业水产养殖生产的主要鱼类物种，尽管它是非本地的，但它在安大略省创造了1800万美元的收入。然而，安大略省拥有许多新的水产养殖开发资产，例如靠近世界上最大的淡水区(五大湖)，进入国内和国际市场，以及可用的研究专业知识、设备和基础设施(Moccia，Nayler，&Reid，1997)。一种可以集中和广泛养殖的本地鱼类是白鱼(Lazenby，Kerr&Hooper，2001)。赫伯特渔业是一家商业渔业公司，它注意到近年来上岸量的减少，特别是五大湖渔业委员会(2005年)最先指出的白鱼湖。整个五大湖的渔业经营者证实了对白鱼湖的需求(见库尼宁，2003)。为了满足这一需求，网箱养殖白鱼湖是建议的解决方案。然而，需要能够在陆上孵化场将鱼从卵培育到鱼种并在网箱养殖场达到市场规模(即500克)的研究伙伴。Boréal学院是一所专上教育机构，拥有孵化鱼卵和培育白鱼鱼苗所需的专业知识和设备，直到它们达到鱼种状态。然后，开发了新的潜水网箱原型的Open Water Systems Limited公司愿意提供他们的网箱来饲养湖泊白鱼，直到市场规模，而学院的研究团队继续根据自然资源和林业部的网箱养殖指南收集和分析与网箱养殖湖泊白鱼有关的数据。该学院、两家私营公司和MNRF共同合作，试图研究将白鱼从卵饲养到成年用于商业目的的可行性。

In Canada, aquaculture is an $840 million industry that has extensive operations in British Columbia (i.e., $426 million) and New Brunswick (i.e., $250 million) while Ontario accounts for less than $20 million (see Aquaculture.ca/economicbenefits, 2016). Rainbow Trout is the major fish species produced through commercial aquaculture and generates $18 million in Ontario, despite its status as non-native. However, Ontario possesses many assets for new aquaculture development such as proximity to the world's largest freshwater areas (the Great lakes), access to national and international markets, and the availability of research expertise, equipment, and infrastructure (Moccia, Naylor, & Reid, 1997). One native fish species that can be reared intensively and extensively is the Lake Whitefish (Lazenby, Kerr, & Hooper, 2001). Herbert Fisheries is a commercial fisheries company that have noted over recent years a decrease in landings, particularly Lake Whitefish, which was first pointed out by the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission (2005). The demand for Lake Whitefish been corroborated by fishery operators throughout the Great Lakes (see Kunninen, 2003).In order to supply this demand, cage culture of Lake Whitefish is the proposed solution. However, Research partners are needed that will be able to grow the fish from eggs to fingerlings in land-based hatcheries and to market size (i.e., 500 grams) at cage culture sites. Collège Boréal is a postsecondary institution that possesses the expertise and equipment needed to incubate the eggs and raise the Lake Whitefish fry until they reach fingerling status. Then, Open Water Systems Limited, a company that developed a new submersible cage prototype, is willing to provide their cage to raise the Lake Whitefish until market-size, while the college's research team continues to collect and analyse data related to the growing of Lake Whitefish in cage culture according to the Cage Culture Guidelines of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Together, the partnering of the college, two private companies, and the MNRF seek to study the feasibility of raising Lake Whitefish from egg to adults for commercial purposes.