{"id":220763,"date":"2025-08-25T13:08:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T23:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=220763"},"modified":"2025-08-25T13:08:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T23:08:55","slug":"saltwater-tilapia-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/25\/saltwater-tilapia-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Research finds saltwater systems boost tilapia growth"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"saltwater
While TAREC<\/abbr> is located in Mānoa, its saltwater and freshwater tanks can mimic a range of natural environmental conditions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa study<\/a> shows a species of tilapia grows 15% faster in a system that recirculates artificial saltwater than in freshwater. This key finding comes from the new Tuahine Research and Education Center (TAREC<\/abbr>), which is meeting the needs of Â鶹´«Ã½\u2019s<\/span> growing aquaculture industry by researching sustainable food sources from our bodies of water.<\/p>\n

While researchers expected this result, it is a significant finding because a recirculating system saves water and is being “increasingly adopted… especially in inland areas or areas with less access to water or other resources,” said Andre Seale, professor at the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences<\/a> and lead author on the study.<\/p>\n

\"researchers\"
TAREC<\/abbr> has two recirculation aquaculture systems, allowing for research on aquatic organisms reared in different salinities such as freshwater or saltwater.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By demonstrating that Mozambique tilapia can thrive and grow more quickly in saltwater, this research opens the door to studies on sustainable aquaculture where changes in salinity can improve the health, production and nutritional value of fish used for food. Added to the lower environmental footprint of employing a recirculating system, where most of the water is recycled, another benefit of identifying conditions where fish grow faster is a shorter time to market.<\/p>\n

Sustainable food production<\/h2>\n

The study also describes the potential for employing recirculating aquaculture systems toward sustainable food production. These systems allow for the rearing of various aquatic species of local interest, and the exploration of approaches to mitigate energy consumption and waste production while training the next generation of aquaculture researchers and practitioners.<\/p>\n

Built with two recirculation aquaculture systems, TAREC<\/abbr> allows for research on both freshwater and saltwater species. Since its opening in 2024<\/a>, the center has become a platform for projects from NOAA and UH<\/abbr> Sea Grant College Program<\/a> (Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Sea Grant).<\/p>\n

The 8,600–square–foot TAREC<\/abbr> facility in Mānoa is a partnership among the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a>, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Sea Grant and School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology<\/a>. TAREC<\/abbr>\u2019s success demonstrates the collaborative innovation of multiple partners and the center\u2019s role in Â鶹´«Ã½\u2019s<\/span> sustainable food production.<\/p>\n

\"aerial
Since opening last year, TAREC<\/abbr> has done vital research for UH<\/abbr> through NOAA and the UH<\/abbr> Sea Grant College Program funding.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Tuahine Research and Education Center study showed how a species of tilapia grows 15% faster in a system that recirculates artificial saltwater than freshwater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[212,1363,158,92,635,9,438],"class_list":["post-220763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-manoa-research","tag-publication","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-sea-grant-college-program","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-sea-grant","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220763"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220811,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220763\/revisions\/220811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}