Pictured: one of the University of New Hampshire’s aquaculture sites just off of New Castle at the mouth of the Piscataqua River.
Photo: University of New Hampshire.
The University of New Hampshire's Center for Sustainable Seafood Systems has received a major donation which will enable it to transform its existing open ocean aquaculture research facility into a "first of its kind" field laboratory.
The new facility, to be named the UNH Sustainable Seafood Laboratory, is intended to "provide the critical data needed to monitor local environment conditions and the aquaculture system’s impact on natural fisheries", the University said in a press release.
The donation of USD $5 million was made through the Emily Landecker Foundation, a private charity. Representatives of the foundation said they viewed the University of New Hampshire as "uniquely positioned to develop one of the nation’s top sustainable seafood systems programs with its tremendous research and academic strengths in oceanography, ocean engineering and marine biology".
"Marine bioresources have the promise to play a key role in food production worldwide and we feel fortunate to be able to help the university begin this endeavor by funding a sustainable seafood lab,” the foundation representatives added.
“We are incredibly grateful for the ongoing and generous support of the Emily Landecker Foundation,” said Diane Foster, director of UNH's School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering, in a press release.
“There is an urgent need for sustainable seafood systems that can help feed communities around the world as they adapt to our changing climate. This gift will allow us to advance research involving the interplay of natural and farmed seafood systems and identify solutions for low environmental impact aquaculture systems," she added.
