The Ontario Aquaculture Research Centre - Alma (previously known as the Alma Aquaculture Research Station or AARS) is a state-of-the-art aquaculture research and development facility, which became fully operational in April of 1993. It was first established by OMAFRA and the University of Guelph to assist the commercial fish farming industry in Ontario. The facility is the backbone of the Fish Production Research Program, providing up-scale systems for aquaculture researchers at the University of Guelph and other institutions.

The centre consists of 10 buildings and facilities and 365 fish-rearing units that allow for production and research of a full range of fish, from eggs to broodstock. 

Research areas and outcomes

See current research at the Ontario Aquaculture Research Centre [1].

Primary areas of research at the Alma centre are breeding and genetics, culture methodology, fish health, welfare and behaviour, nutrition, growth and reproductive physiology and waste management.

The centre offers quarantine facilities for the controlled importation of exotic species or strains of fish and provides facilities for pilot testing and scale-up research. It is also a venue for education and training programs at the graduate, undergraduate, college, and high-school levels, as well as training, industry demonstrations and technical transfer to the private sector.

The quarantine unit has successfully introduced Atlantic salmon, Arctic char and new strains of spring-spawning rainbow trout to the Ontario aquaculture industry.

Since 1993, more than 170 research studies involving rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon, Arctic char, lake sturgeon, lake whitefish and Nile tilapia have been conducted.