AQUACULTURE STUDENT

GORD DURANT

What They Did Back Then

* Master of Science in Aquaculture completed1995, University of Guelph

Advisor: Professor Richard D. Moccia

Waste Control Methodologies for the Chatsworth Fish Culture Station.

ABSTRACT

The Chatsworth Fish Culture Station (CWFCS) has been operated by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and its predecessor agencies since 1935. The facility, which consists of a main and a sub-station, is located on the headwater of the Sydenham River in Sullivan township, Grey County. Ironically, despite the principal role of the facility, rehabilitating the fishery resources of the Great Lakes, the effluent, containing waste feed and fish feces, is released directly into the receiving waters, the Sydenham River and Nicholson Creek, without treatment. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment (OME) have documented effects of the wastes produced by the CWFCS on the receiving waters since 1972. The lack of a waste reduction/removal system (WRRS) at the CWFCS creates political and legal problems for OME when effluent guidelines are enforced at other aquaculture facilities. In 1992, OME requested that OMNR develop a WRRS for the CWFCS. OMNR is currently preparing a conceptual design for the redevelopment of the CWFCS. The plan includes the reconstruction of the advanced rearing and broodstock facilities at the main station, upgrading of egg incubation and early rearing to modern fish culture standards and installation of waste treatment at both the main and sub stations, (Durant, 1992). The purpose of this paper is to explore the options open to OMNR for a WRRS at the CWFCS.