Virginia Tech seafood research center opens in Hampton with hopes of growing food
A new Virginia Tech facility has labs that will research how to keep diseases from spreading through seafood packaging, develop new fish feeds and even grow fish from cells.
The $10 million Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research Extension facility opened this week and sits between seafood wholesalers L.D. Amory and Co. and Graham & Rollins Inc., adding to the city’s waterside seafood hub. It’s three stories with a parking garage beneath.
Researchers already have started working on a feed for fish made from sorghum, which will be more cost-effective and environmentally friendly than traditional feed made from fish. Most fish feed requires more water than a plant-based product. Researchers will observe and experiment with the fish in aquaculture systems, large drums of water in which water is pumped in and filtered from the Hampton River.
Students and professors also are working with a $10 million, five-year grant to grow seafood.
Overfishing and pollution have left many aquatic animals vulnerable, but growing the meat could be a sustainable way to enjoy a grilled fish fillet or a crab slathered in butter. The specimens can be grown from stem cells from animals and turned into tissue and fat. Researchers are also using an airtight room to study pathogens such as salmonella in seafood packaging. The bacteria can be transmitted through containers and make people sick.
“So many of our coastal communities are reliant on seafood for jobs,” said Michael Schwartz, Virginia seafood AREC director. “We see this new building as giving us that much more capacity to help keep Virginia’s seafood industry growing.”
Virginia Tech has been working with Amory’s and Graham & Rollin’s since 1975 and has worked with government agencies and businesses to develop technologies and strategies for the industry. The old lab is next door to the new one and was converted from an oyster and crab processing facility, but flooded regularly. It was closed in May and is now owned by the city and will be part of a redevelopment project.
The AREC was built on 15-foot pillars to keep it from flooding. The project was funded by the Virginia Tech Foundation, local and federal funds including a grant issued by the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and private donations.
Everett Eaton, 262-902-7896, everett.eaton@virginiamedia.com
