This series of posts will highlight some of the new stories about our aquaculture tanks.  The first article comes from the September 3, 1999 “Daily Banner” by Jaime Roe.

HURLOCK—With the uncertain future of the seafood industry, many measures have been taken to preserve the heritage and the availability of seafood.  Aquacultural farming is one of the measures taken to ensure a fish harvest.  Delmarva Fisheries of Hurlock is owned by Rick Sheriff, and is one of the few fish farms in Maryland.

On Mr. Sheriff’s farm, various fish are harvested, including large-mouth bass, tilapia hybrid blue gills and yellow perch which are all sold as food fish.  Yellow perch is mainly carried to the Great Lake region near Ontario, where it is the predominate fish harvested from Lake Erie.  The other fish are sold to the Asian market around China Town in New York and in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Sheriff said, “When I began growing fish, there were only three other fish farms in Maryland, each with a different technological system.”

In 1990, he began researching the aquacultural industry after being prompted by a friend, Maryland State Director of Aquaculture Roy Castle.  In an attempt to save the seafood industry and heritage of Maryland, the Department of Aquaculture was developed as a subsidiary of the Department of Agriculture.

“Roy and I have been friends for years, and he sparked my interest in the industry,” Mr. Sheriff said.  “Roy built and promoted the growth of the industry in Maryland, and if not for him, there would not be a fish farm in the state.”

After researching the industry, Mr. Sheriff entered the extensive and expensive trial – and – error period until 1995 when he developed the system he uses today.  The system is operated by two opposing flows of water and the tanks are made of marine-grade aluminum.  The tanks can hold 12,000 gallons of water and 5,000 pounds of fish each.