Hilo aqua center money OK'd
Advertiser Staff
HILO, Hawai'i — Gov. Linda Lingle released $2 million to complete construction of the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center, planned for two Hilo sites.
Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center: www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~pacrc
The center is designed to boost marine science and aquaculture study and research, and to encourage commercial aquaculture, fisheries and eco-tourism.
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The University of Hawai'i-Hilo project will convert a wastewater treatment plant in Keaukaha into a water-quality laboratory with indoor and outdoor tanks, pearl oyster and fish hatcheries, a classroom and offices.
Six miles away in Pana'ewa, UHH will develop quarantine facilities, freshwater ponds and integrated agriculture-aquaculture farming systems as part of the same project. The center also will include office space on the UHH campus.
The $5.7 million project is being paid for mostly by the state and county, along with nearly $2 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. It is scheduled for completion next year.
Hilo is one of the few places where warm seawater, warm freshwater and deep cold seawater are readily available. With aquatic habitats such as tide pools, estuaries, coral reefs, rocky shorelines and the deep ocean nearby, it is possible to grow most types of fish, shellfish and algae throughout the year.
The new center is a project of the university, the county, the Keaukaha Community Association and the state Aquaculture Development Program.
