By Paul Lebowitz

SAN DIEGO – The dim lighting is straight out of Hunt for Red October. Instead of a periscope and helm station, a number of large dark-colored vats fill the space. Each tank has a porthole covered by a drape on the side. This is no submarine; it’s a former restaurant kitchen that’s been converted into a cowcod love nest by the dedicated scientists of the Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute.

Two research biologists are standing under the mood lights. One of them, Paula Sylvia, pulls a porthole curtain aside and points a flashlight capped with a red lens into the interior. The faint beam illuminates a rockfish that must be at least two feet long and not exactly skinny either. The fish staring back at us is something few anglers see these days. It’s a cowcod.  

The other marine biologist, Mark Drawbridge, gestures at the fish and says, “We’re starting at ground zero. Nobody else is trying to breed deepwater fish.” He isn’t exaggerating; before Hubbs collected these fish no one else had a cowcod in captivity.  

Getting the fish to Hubbs was quite a technical feat. Cowcod favor deep water. 300 feet is about as shallow as they’re found. The motivation to collect the cowcod is compelling. 

Cowcod were declared over fished in 1999. Since then, the commercial and recreational harvest of rockfish has been prohibited in deep water and in a vast area of the ocean designated the Cowcod Conservation Area.

Not only are cowcod and the other rockfish species that landed on the over fished list commercially important, the deep water rock cod were a favorite and reliable option for recreational anglers. There’s a lot to gain from rebuilt rockfish stocks. In conjunction with the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hubbs scientists are exploring the feasibility of breeding rockfish to speed up the recovery process. The rockfish replenishment program explains why a team of scientists are playing the role of fish matchmaker.  

“Cowcod are hard to come by,” says Drawbridge in a deadpan tone. Serious scientists, I suppose, would sound silly if they used terms like really, really hard. It’s clear that Drawbridge can’t overstate the difficulty and effort required to collect the cowcod brood stock now at Hubbs.

First you have to find them. Ken Franke and his Outer Limits crew have been indispensable, motoring the scientists way out to the Tanner Bank, an eight hour run from San Diego. It’s a long way to go for just four fish.  

That’s right, just four fish. Cowcod can’t be cranked up from 300 feet and be expected to survive without special measures. Decompression damages their fragile internal organs. To solve the problem Hubbs engineered a number of portable hyperbaric chambers. Yes, four of them.

Not just any cowcod will do. Drawbridge says these are extremely long-lived fish, finny Methuselahs that can reach 100 to 200 years old, although no one is really sure. Human teenagers mature faster; a cowcod can’t reproduce until it is about 25 years old.

When a suitable cowcod reaches the surface it’s rushed to a chamber. “We recompress it back to 300 feet. You can see the fish really appreciate it. Their eyes shrink back in their heads,” says Drawbridge. Safe in their compression chambers, most of the fish recuperate.

The cowcod are brought back to Hubbs’ darkened kitchen, where they are slowly decompressed over a number of days and then placed in the holding tanks. Sylvia and Drawbridge do their best to make the fish feel comfortable by pumping chilled water into the tanks and duplicating the dim lighting of the ocean depths. With a mixed population of male and female cowcod now cozy in their new homes, it should be just a matter of letting nature take its course, right?

If only it were so simple. According to Sylvia and Drawbridge, cowcod reproductive behavior is complex. “They mate a little differently than most fish. Like humans, they use internal fertilization,” says Sylvia. It hasn’t happened yet.

“There’s been no mating so far,” says Sylvia. Some things are going right. The females are hydrating their eggs, indicating a readiness to mate.  

“Conditions are obviously artificial,” explains Drawbridge. Where’s the fish Viagra when you need it?

“It’s a bit of a waiting game,” says Drawbridge. “We’re trying to create the right atmosphere, photo period, water temperature, water quality, and nutrition, give them enough room, and find the right ratio of males to females.”

The scientists are optimistic and patient.  

ROCKFISH REPLENISHMENT PLEASE – The Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute is well known for its success with white seabass enhancement. Now Hubbs scientists are trying to raise rockfish to replenish depleted species. Their biggest challenge is the cowcod. Merely collecting these deepwater fish poses daunting technical problems. In contrast, Hubbs has already managed to produce bocaccio. PHOTO COURTESY HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE

LOVE NEST? – It doesn’t look like much with the lights turned on, but the research scientists are doing their best to make cowcod and other deep water rockfish comfortable in the big vats. If they provide the proper nutrition, water temperature and quality, give the fish enough room, and find the right ratio of males to females, the sensitive cowcod will mate. The normal mood lighting can’t hurt. PHOTO COURTESY HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE

FISH FARM – Hubbs raises more than rockfish at its San Diego facility. Their market aquaculture research program is examining the feasibility of raising halibut, yellowtail, and striped bass for human consumption. Domestically raised gamefish could take commercial pressure off wild stocks. PHOTO COURTESY HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE

BABY BUTTS – The halibut brood stock at Hubbs are amazingly productive. Some number of the 20 females spawns every night during the warmer months. Their offspring, thousands of tiny halibut, fill tank after tank. PHOTO COURTESY HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE

“As a general rule of thumb, it takes 20 years to learn to mass produce a fish species,” says Drawbridge.

“Recovery will take at least 100 years if we just stop fishing. We can help stocks rebuild faster,” says Sylvia.

The rockfish replenishment program is a project with a long view to the future. You or I may not have the opportunity to fish for cowcod again, yet judging by Hubbs’ history with white seabass there’s little doubt of their eventual success. Their work on other rockfish species is more encouraging. For example, they’ve managed to produce juvenile bocaccio. Drop a few dollars in the donation basket the next time you see the good folks of Hubbs at a fishing or boating show.

Aquaculture for the Market
In addition to the rockfish rebuilding project, Hubbs scientists are hard at work studying how to raise other commercially important fish. Here the goal is production straight for the fish market. Currently Hubbs is breeding and rearing California halibut, California yellowtail, and striped bass in a tank farm at their bay-side complex in San Diego.

This is not your average home aquarium. Sleek, powerful yellowtail swim lazily in an above-ground pool larger than a two-car garage. The football-shaped juvenile yellowtail in the adjacent tank certainly looked a lot fatter than their wild cousins. With all that tasty hamachi swimming around, I couldn’t stop my mouth from watering. Aside from satisfying future hunger pangs, why should anglers be excited by the work taking place here?

Drawbridge has a ready answer. “Growing high quality seafood takes the pressure off natural stocks.” That makes sense. If halibut can be farmed economically, there will be little reason to fish wild stocks commercially. Less pressure should equal better recreational fishing.

2006 White Seabass OREHP Update
Drawbridge and Sylvia can’t hide their excitement over the Ocean Resources Enhancement Program. Since 1986 Hubbs has been raising white seabass for release in California’s coastal waters. Every one of those fish has a tiny coded wire tag implanted in its cheek. The tags can only be detected with a special device; they aren’t visible to the eye.

Returned tags provide the Hubbs team with invaluable data including information on white seabass movement, diet, and growth and survival rates. Anglers can help Hubbs produce more future white seabass catches by turning in the heads of today’s sport-caught fish. Hubbs keeps a listing of their conveniently located head collection stations handy on their website (www.hswri.org).

Hubbs released its millionth white seabass in 2004, but it was only in 2001 that annual production reached 100,000 per year. According to Drawbridge, white seabass take four to five years to reach legal size (28 in.). Starting this year the Hubbs staff hopes to see the number of tag returns jump.

Drawbridge can hardly wait to put the new tag data to use. “The stories the fish tell are encouraging. The species couldn’t be harder to study from a research standpoint. When you release them you find out pretty quick how big an ocean it is,” said Drawbridge as he gestured with his arms spread wide. Tag returns will help Hubbs learn how to optimize production. “What’s the best size for release, the best season for the highest chance of survival? What deficits do the fish have compared to wild fish? It’s a never ending series of questions.”