FRANKLIN – Maine’s effort to develop the nation’s first halibut aquaculture industry has taken a big step forward.

Scientists at the University of Maine Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research announced Monday that an Atlantic halibut at the Franklin facility has become the country’s first halibut to spawn in captivity.

The 65-pound female – one of 70 brood stock at the research center – released eggs four times during May, according to operations manager Nick Brown.

“There are no other Atlantic halibut brood stock in the country,” Brown said. “The fish has been here two years, and two years is the very earliest a halibut can spawn in captivity.”

The 70 wild halibut were captured in the Gulf of Maine under a special permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service, he said.

Brown – who was involved in halibut research in the United Kingdom and Canada before coming to Maine – said none of the eggs survived, but that is to be expected the first time a halibut spawns in captivity.

Next year’s spawning should be much more productive, he said.

The spawning is just one of the victories in the center’s efforts to determine if Atlantic halibut can be raised commercially in Maine.

Brown said he and his staff are feeding several hundred larval halibut that were hatched from a small batch of eggs the center received from the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans in New Brunswick.

The eggs were fertilized by the adult male fish at the aquaculture research center and kept in absolute darkness under strict temperature control to simulate the cold, deep waters that are habitat for wild larval halibut.

The fish lived on the nutrients in their yolk sacs before being moved to brightly lit tanks where they now are feeding on live zooplankton that was reared at the research center, he said.

Brown said the spawning event and the fact the larval fish have moved on to live feed marked a milestone in the development of a U.S. halibut aquaculture industry.

Mike Hastings, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, said the Franklin center is really moving ahead with attempts to culture halibut – a species that was fished commercially in Maine until stocks were depleted in the 1880s.

Both Norway and Scotland began farming halibut 10 to 15 years ago, but Maine is attempting to develop a totally land-based operation, he said. Nova Scotia also is experimenting with growing halibut in land-based tanks, according to news reports.

Hastings said one of the economic questions the Franklin project will answer is the cost of pumping and circulating salt water through land-based fish tanks.

The Franklin research center was an Atlantic salmon and arctic char fish farming operation that went out of business in 1997, and the University of Maine purchased it in 1999, he said.

“Franklin has six freshwater wells, but it is the only hatchery in the state that is on the ocean, so it can pump salt water,” Hastings said.

Hastings said Maine salmon farmers see halibut as the most attractive alternative to salmon.

“It’s a mild-flavored white fish that is very popular,” Hastings said. “And it brings a good price.”

Nick Houtman, a spokesman for the University of Maine, said last year’s landed price for halibut was $4.39 a pound. Maine reported commercial landings of halibut at 12,800 pounds during 2001, he said.

Houtman said there is no commercial fishery for halibut in the Gulf of Maine.

The University of Maine has received a $1.2 million grant to enlarge the Franklin research center from the federal Economic Development Administration. The renovation will provide more tank space for cold-water fish and laboratory space for businesses to perfect aquaculture techniques before implementing them on a larger scale.

Last year, the USDA announced a $25 million investment in the university’s aquaculture program. Approximately half of those funds is expected to be spent in Franklin with the other half going to the aquaculture research program at Orono.