OUR RESEARCH
Marine Aquaculture has a very important role in the world: to decrease the natural resources taken from the ocean by human use. There is, however, one big problem: we do not know how to raise most marine organisms that humans use. Many commercially important marine organisms, like the octopus or the bluefin tuna, have a very delicate larval phase whose environmental and feeding requirements have evaded scientists around the world. At Kanaloa Octopus Farm, we are dedicated to completing the life-cycle of cephalopods through research into the effects of the following on paralarvae (baby octopuses):
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Planktonic Research
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Larviculture
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Pathology
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Environmental System Design
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Water Quality
OUR FACILITY
Kanaloa Octopus Farm is a one-of-a-kind aquaculture research facility located at Keahole Point, the westernmost tip of the Big Island. We are a 4,000 square foot wet lab located in the State's Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology Park's research campus.
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Thanks to the unique geomorphology of the region, three sets of pipelines produce pristine seawater from the surface level down to 3000 ft. deep. The innovative, green, economic development park is administered by NELHA, the Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii Authority: a State of Hawaii agency. To learn more about NELHA and Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology (HOST) Park, please visit: https://nelha.hawaii.gov/
CONSERVATION
As a conservation minded facility, our long term goals include:
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Producing technologies for aquaculturing octopuses and other cephalopods. Aquaculture, also known as the rearing or cultivation of aquatic plants and animals, is one of the fastest growing industries on the planet, and aligning these practices with conservation objectives is essential. One of our goals is to ensure that this growth happens in the service of conservation and sustainability.
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Providing other research and educational facilities, such as zoos or aquariums, with a healthy population of octopuses that are already in human care, thus reducing the amount of octopuses taken from the wild.
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Providing other octopus researchers with insight on how we raise and care for our octopuses, in hopes they will be able to apply our science to the other species around the world to aid in cephalopod conservation.
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Investigating the possibilities of releasing healthy individuals on reefs that have been impacted by overfishing.