Arctic char seen through the window of the largest tank at The Freshwater Institute
The Freshwater Institute primarily does research on the production of fish as a food source and focuses on growing Atlantic salmon, Arctic char and Rainbow trout, all Salmonid species that grow in cooler waters.
How is it possible to grow a fish like the Arctic char—a native to Canada and Arctic areas—in West Virginia? Arctic char has a wide tolerance to water temperature and actually grows the fastest in a water temperature of 55 degrees—that just happens to be the mean temperature of the water source on our campus.
A view of the stream that runs from Freshwater's water source.
The catfish is the most common fish grown in U.S. aquaculture.