Officials from the Oceanic Institute and Hawaii Pacific University dedicated a new laboratory facility Thursday that will help train Hawaii’s workforce in aquaculture, agriculture and food security.

The 5,000-square-foot annex to the Oceanic Institute’s Learning Center at Makapuu will be home to three separate laboratories with state-of-the-art analytic equipment, including a device that can map the DNA of shrimp. The Oceanic Institute is one of the world’s leading centers for aquaculture research. About 90 percent of the world’s white shrimp brood stock comes from the Oceanic  Institute.

The $3 million facility will provide hands-on teaching space for laboratory analysis, with video teleconferencing capabilities that will allow students and researchers around the world to participate in the program, said Shaun Moss, Oceanic Institute acting president.

The facility was built with a grant from the U.S. Commerce Department.

Marine science and aquaculture technologies developed at the facility will be transferred to businesses in Hawaii and the Pacific region, Moss said. The center also will focus on developing a trained workforce for the aquaculture industry, he said.

“This facility will address two critical issues: job creation and sustainability,” Moss said. “It will help with the challenges we face with economic development in Hawaii.”

Research at the Makapuu facility also can be applied to the development of feed production for cattle and other livestock, said Geoffrey Bannister, HPU president.

“With the world population growing from 4 billion in 1973 to 7 billion today, the issue of sustainability is key,” Bannister said. “We’re seeing unprecedented changes in demand for land and water use,” he said.

The Oceanic Institute also is using its aquaculture research to help restore Native Hawaiian fishponds around the state. In addition to technical assistance, the Oceanic Institute provides fingerling moi and mullet to various fishponds, said Chad Callan, research scientist at the Oceanic Institute.