Aquaculture Production Of The Zooplankton Species Americamysis Bahia: Comparing On-site Production At The Waikiki Aquarium To Importation

Abstract

An aquaculture production system was constructed at the Waikīkī Aquarium in the fall of 2016 that produces mysid shrimp zooplankton (Americamysis bahia). From November 2017 to February 2018, the Waikīkī Aquarium (WAq) required an average of 5,751 live mysids per week that were imported as feed with current import rates of $0.08 per animal or$24,000 annually. Fixed and variable budgets were used to evaluate the economics for the mysid culture system. Sensitivity analyses of labor costs, the sale of excess mysid production, and the discount rate were also conducted using stochastic modeling of in-house domestic yields to estimate the expected the net present values (NPV) of domestic production in comparison with imports. The indirect benefits of domestic production were qualitatively evaluated. Results showed that WAq had a greater (>0) NPV across a variety of cost and benefit scenarios and a less expensive $.05 mysid versus the imported $.08 mysid.