Advances in biotechnology have made aquaculture the fastest growing food producing sector in the world with a total production of 73.8 million tonnes in 2014, reaching a total value of 160.2 billion USD (FAO 2016). This includes a wide variety of fishes and bivalves that are now being cultivated to meet food demands. However, because many of these aquatic species do not reproduce naturally in captivity, assisted reproduction in terms of induced gamete production and artificial fertilization is frequently required to produce offspring. Therefore, accurate knowledge is needed to develop and implement techniques to manipulate breeders, successfully fertilize eggs, and rear embryos/fry, as basis for hatchery and aquaculture production. In this context, studies in our lab are conducted to (among others):

• Assess the impact of nutrition, environment, genetic, and endocrine factors on gamete quality from wild and/or farmed breeders

• Optimize reproductive success by evaluating the influence of sperm and egg quality on fertilization success and ensuing offspring performance 

• Decipher mechanisms of gamete activation

• Establish standardized assisted reproduction and embryo incubation techniques

 

Success criterion is achievement of large-scale production of viable gametes potentially leading to the production of “high-quality” larvae/fry.  Some of the facilities and equipment that we use to meet our scientific goals and objectives are shown below.