Commercial Aquaculture on the St. Regis Mohawk Reserve

To attempt to bring fishing back to Akweasasne community, the Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment (AFTE)has been committed to providing research and development in the field of aquaculture. We have been working with them to promote aquaculture for Akwesasne as a source of food and jobs. Recognizing that the St. Lawrence is a valuable resource to be used in this effort, the AFTE since 1989 has been doing research with cage culture on a small scale to prove that fish can be safely raised in the river using pelleted fish food. Several studies have shown that fish will not bio-accumulate contaminants if not feeding in the food chain. The fish originally used by the AFTE are now held in our ponds as brood stock. For several years we have successful in raising fry to fingerling stock. To achieve commercial harvest to propose to grow fish out in a cage in the river system. The AFTE purchased a large cage to serve this purpose but do not have the funds to place the cage in the river for use. We would like to use the producer grant to acquire the necessary material needed to complete the large cage project and place it in the river. We would then fill it with 5000 fingerlings from our stock of yellow perch to measure the cage effective use in a riverine environment. This species has a high demand in our area.