• Identify consumer preferences and demand for fish products
• Estimate consumers’ willingness-to-pay for important food safety and quality informational attributes embedded in aquaculture products
• Assess the competitiveness of aquaculture products with regards to food safety versus imported aquaculture products

• Determine the existing and near-term (5-10 years) market for striped bass species in the Midwest region of the US for food consumption
• Analyze the competitive advantages of rearing a euthyhaline species (Striped Bass) in Illinois/Midwest using regional saline water resources
• Locate appropriate saline water resources in Illinois and examine water quality for compatibility with striped bass production

The objectives of this project are:

• To develop optimal in vitro methodology for Asian carp muscle hydrolysis using largemouth bass (LMB) endogenous digestive enzymes obtained from adult LMB.
• To evaluate the effect of Asian carp muscle protein hydrolysates obtained using methodology in Objective 1 as a first feed for larval LMB.

The main bottleneck to further development of sustainable and intensive aquaculture in Midwest is improvement of larval fish rearing technologies and larval fish nutrition. The main objective of this project is to develop detailed protocols for larval largemouth bass rearing in indoor facilities that will help to support high survival and growth performance of this species in its young age.