A new system is now supplying clean seawater to the NOAA Fisheries Manchester Research Station, a key laboratory of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Scientists at the station explore new aquaculture techniques and technologies, raise highly endangered salmon, and research ways of raising and restoring other declining species in the wild.
“The seawater system is like the heart, lung, circulatory system, and kidney of an organism,” said Penny Swanson, a former division director at the Science Center who helped advance the seawater project. “Replacing it is like doing major organ transplant surgery.”
The project team had to replace the seawater system without interrupting the flow of water to tanks. These tanks hold the endangered fish and other marine life that is a focus of research at Manchester. The project required excavations across the 22-acre Manchester site that also includes more than 30 buildings. Project crews also remediated and removed soil that had become contaminated during the military’s past use of the site.
Manchester’s former seawater system was a patchwork of pipes, pumps, and valves; it was prone to breakdowns and weighed heavily on the station’s staff. They constantly repaired it and worried that the aging system would fail, putting important research at risk, they told former Science Center Director Kevin Werner when he first visited about 7 years ago.
Hard Work Pays Off
That began years of work to plan, budget for, and finally install the new seawater system. Station and science center leaders and staff celebrated completion of the new system on May 1 with a ribbon-cutting—and great relief. They now have a system they can rely on.
The new system filters incoming water to 20 microns, less than half the width of a human hair. It pumps approximately 2,700 gallons per minute through the station’s saltwater plumbing. The new system is more efficient, using less power per gallon to pump seawater. This update will end the breakdowns of the old system that required repeated repairs.
“This will help Manchester maintain our innovative, important, and valuable research on salmon recovery and support new opportunities through aquaculture to boost domestic seafood production,” said Barry Berejikian, Director of the Manchester Station. “This is NOAA’s premier location for aquaculture research, and we want to keep it that way.”
Aquaculture, Restoration and Innovation
The predecessor of NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, first acquired the property from the U.S. Navy after its firefighting school there closed. When several Northwest salmon and steelhead species were listed under the Endangered Species Act, the station’s small staff quickly gained a national reputation for raising salmon through aquaculture. That helped save species from extinction and restore wild populations.
The research station still supports a population of highly endangered Snake River sockeye salmon, which hatcheries saved from the brink of extinction. The station provides nearly 500,000 sockeye salmon eggs annually. They support recovery of the stock and meet goals laid out in NOAA's Recovery Plan.
Given the unique capacity of NOAA’s Manchester facility, NOAA has Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with partners who use Manchester’s aquaculture facilities. For example, the Puget Sound Restoration Fundgrows vulnerable shellfish and seaweed for restoration efforts across the Pacific Northwest through the Kenneth C. Chew Shellfish hatchery.
Other partners are developing new technologies and methods for commercial aquaculture operations. This includes Pacific Hybreed, which is working to increase the resilience and yields of farmed shellfish to meet market demand. NOAA also partners with Jamestown Seafoods, the seafood arm of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. They are working on a sablefish research project working to bring a new species to commercial viability for American seafood farmers.
When NOAA scientists and our partners have access to high-quality facilities, advances in science and technology abound. These new seawater pumps will help chart the course for innovations in aquaculture and propel the Pacific Northwest—and the nation—as a leader in aquaculture science.
