(This video has audio narration)

In December, 2002, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Open Ocean Aquaculture project transferred 3,000 haddock from a nursery pen located at the UNH Coastal Marine Lab to a submersible fish cage five miles off the coast of New Hampshire. The fish transport operation was assisted by New Hampshire Commercial fisherman Allan VanGile, captain of the F/V Special K, as well as his first mate, Jack Thompson. At the fish cage, divers move the haddock in orange transfer containers from the boat to the cage. Divers then open the containers releasing the haddock into the cage. The cage is a submersible Ocean Spar Sea Station that is fully enclosed with netting around a tensioned rim 50 feet in diameter and central spar 30 feet tall. These haddock will remain in this cage for approximately two years while researchers evaluate how well they thrive in the offshore environment. This experiment is a cooperative project with Heritage Salmon of New Brunswick, Canada, which has successfully cultured haddock inshore, but knows it must move offshore if finfish culture is to grow and succeed as a viable commercial industry.