Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility

Our mission for the UWSP-Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility is to promote public education and advance the discovery, dissemination, and application of knowledge for sustainable aquaculture in a northern climate.

Our vision for the facility is a center that shall be recognized for promoting sustainable aquaculture among the public, private and tribal sectors through technology transfer, applied research, demonstration, and outreach.

Wisconsin’s has over 2,000 registered commercial fish farms, 14 state hatcheries, 2 federal hatcheries and all the resources needed to accommodate significant expansion. The facility serves as an incubator for new aquaculture practices, providing students and faculty resources for the development of life-long learning.

Commercial Application of Research and Demonstration

The facility operates a variety of semi-commercially scaled systems including incubation, larval and grow-out systems with tanks ranging in size from 260L to over 11,000L.

The facility’s main 790m2 (8,500 ft2) aquatic production barn contains adaptable, open work areas with access to both cold and heated water, aeration, and oxygen support.

The aquatic barn contains:

• Custom Bell jar and Heath tray egg incubation systems for various cold and coolwater fish.

• Two larval rearing rooms with 43 replicated 260L tanks with complete water temperature, turbidity, lighting, tank inflow, and environmental control.

• Two modern semi-commercially scaled 23,000 – 44,000L RAS grow-out systems (cool-water and cold-water, respectively) with 6-8 replicated tanks. These main recirculating systems utilized for grow-out include modern efficient technologies such as Cornel-style dual drain tanks, microscreen drum filter, fluidized sand biofiltration, degassing column, temperature control, oxygen cone or low head oxygenators, and ultraviolet sterilization.

• Six 1,780L replicated RAS systems with 24 tanks, 260L each. These systems include Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) controlled pumping stations, solids removal, moving bed biofiltration, various oxygen supplementation and UV sterilization.

• Analytical water quality testing and research laboratory.

Outdoors the facility operates:

• Four, 0.16-hectare aerated clay lined, drainable ponds with a common fish collection basin for harvest.

• A high-tunnel building containing two, linear raceways (20.4 m3) with flow through, degassed and aerated, cold (7.6°C) water.

• A second high-tunnel building containing partial RAS technology utilizing dual-drain round 1960L tanks with integrated radial flow separators, degassing/aeration column, common sump and pump station.

• Two effluent drainage settling ponds and a created wetland for final polishing of effluent water before discharge into an intermittent stream.

The University’s College of Letters and Sciences directs the facility along with various partnerships based on projects and program goals. Our partnerships include federal, tribal, and state fish hatcheries, natural resource agencies, private fish farms, various universities, Wisconsin public schools (K-12) and others. These partnerships may involve technology transfer, providing fish and assistance, outreach and demonstration, education, and research.

The facility has a wide range of partnerships from private, federal, state and tribal hatcheries and facilities to various schools, universities and other organizations.

“The NADF provides a range of invaluable and unique services for Wisconsin and the Midwest…Presently, we are working cooperatively with at least three stakeholders that rely heavily on the NADF facilities for research and support.”