Todays Boston Globe has a story about an increase in the populations of Starfish in the waters surrounding New England. It’s a pretty funny way that they present it; they begin by suggesting that they are a threat to the shellfish population of the area, especially the shellfish farmers, oysters in particular, but if you read the entire article the ending might just surprise you.
One of my professors at URI, Dr. Rice, is quoted in the article. The man is a walking encyclopedia of aquaculture and fisheries knowledge.
Kind of excited in a nerdy kind of way today because I had been looking after some trout for my aquaculture class since the beginning of the semester with some classmates and today we were assigned to Zebrafish duties.
I intend to pursue a career in a Zebrafish facility so it’s rather exciting to get my first exposure to Zebrafish in the academic setting. Our plan is to create a new generation of Zebrafish from the existing population. So we have seperated a male and 3 females to a mating chamber to do their thing. Hopefully we will have some eggs in the next day or two.
Tonight on the Food network there is a show called “Will Work for Food”
I just saw an ad for it on T.V. and tonights episode will feature an abalone farm in California. While I’ve never seen the show, it looks very interesting. Their website has a bunch of videos from past episodes covering a bunch of different jobs not just in the Aquaculture and fisheries areas but other food related areas also.
I was just reading and article on Cnn.com talking about how the G-7 are concerned about the buy american clause in Obama’s stimulus plan. I’m actually excited that there is such a clause in there because it seems to be common sense that we would be expected to buy american whereever possible so that we can keep demands for american goods high. I think that other coutries should implement this type of policy also. I have been saying for weeks that I had not seen anything where american’s were prompted to buy american made products. I’m not claiming that this idea of mine is original, I grew up in Ireland and remember back to the late 70’s & early 80’s where there was a “Guaranteed Irish” campaign with ads on the television and radio and Irish goods carried the “guaranteed Irish” symbol. I don’t know just how effective this campaign was but I tend to think of that campaign when buying stuff and try to buy local when possible.
The guaranteed Irish campaign didnt make me protectionist by any means it actually made me buy local when I am buying anything. Of course not everything is made locally and many times buying locally is not economically possible but the campaign does make you think.
I actually just looked around the internet and I found that the “Guaranteed Irish” campaign is still in effect and it is pretty cool.
I think that the “buy american” idea is great and have been doing it my self for weeks. What do you think about it?
In an article on Science Daily yesterday, they mention that up to 75% of fish oil can be replaced with vegetable oil in fish feed.
Currently most of the fish feed sources its lipid content from wild fish and this has been a source of contriversy for a while, after all how can a groowing aquaculture industry be helping wild fish stocks if the wild fish stocks are a source of food for the farmed fish?
Well this could be a step in the right direction, if fish feed could replace most of the fish oil with vegetable oils then this could only be a win-win for both the aquaculture and agriculture folks right?
What I am wondering is how it will affect food stocks? Now we have corn going to bio-fuel production, which in turn causes an increase in world corn market prices. Now we are talking about vegetable oils going to aquaculture, will that also drive the cost of vegetables up?
Obviously there are trade offs that have to be made and the fact that it takes pressure off of wild stocks can only be a good thing.
On Friday January 30th 2009, we visited the premises of Coastal Aquaculture Supply (C.A.S.) in Cranston, Rhode Island. There we were met by the proprietor, Mr. Brian Bowes, who accompanied us into his warehouse which was filled with his main retail product plastic piping and also to a smaller extent, aquaculture supplies.
Mr. Bowes proceeded to give a very informal presentation on the aquaculture industry from an entrepreneurs view point. His presentation was very informative as he explained some alternate careers within the aquaculture industry. Mr. Bowes explained that there are many career choices for graduates who in his words “do not want to get their hands wet”. He displayed various products that were produced as part of a support network for aquaculture, ranging from display posters to personal organizers which were bound with the skin from Wolf fish.
Mr. Bowes also exhibited some of the aquaculture products that C.A.S carry as part of their inventory. These products included “Chinese Hats” which are manufactured in France and are used for Spat collection in oyster fisheries. While he was presenting some of the products, Mr. Bowes explained that there is a challenge presented to him in obtaining U.S. manufactured products, this made me think that U.S. based fish farms may be facing larger costs than their counterparts in various parts of the world, especially in times of a weak dollar. Other products that C.A.S. carries are rope which is imported from Portugal, Aqua-trays from Australia and hanging bags from Canada.
Mr. Bowes explained that when growing-out shellfish using the bag-tray method, that the bags sit on racks which can rise no more than 18” from the sea bed in order to be compliant with regulations set forth by the Army Corp of Engineers. Also mentioned was the fact that unlike fin-fish farming there is no feed costs due too the fact that shellfish are filter feeders and the natural occurrence of the food in the seawater. He mentioned that here is also no inoculation cost associated with shellfish.
Mr. Bowes also provided us with some samples of Fish Farming News, which I found to be an extremely informative news source and have already sent in my subscription, he also mentioned that there are three major growers organizations in the U.S. and thought that of the three,the Pacific Growers Organization is the best.
Finally during a brief Q & A, Mr. Bowes explained that he has seen definite growth in the Aquaculture industry using the example that there were just three growers when he entered the business, and now there are more than twenty.
Overall the trip to C.A.S provided me with a positive image of the aquaculture industry and its potential for future growth.
Last week the B.C. Pacific Salmon Forum issued a 96 page report detailing their findings. The forum had been set up to provide recommendations that would help “protect and enhance the viability of wild salmon and their economic, social and environmental benefits” and “increase public confidence in fisheries management generally, and aquaculture in particular, in the marine environment; and enhance the economic, social and environmental sustainability of aquaculture for all coastal
communities.”
After four years of study the report recommends a series of things that could be implemented in order for the native wild stocks to thrive while at the same time allowing for Salmon farms to grow economically. I was very heartened at least by the vision of this report because for too long I have been hearing about one or the other, i.e. the growth of farming or the protection of wild stocks. Finally it seems we are really moving to words the “Eco-Economy” described by Lester Brown in his book of the same name! I recommend this book for those of you armchair and sideline economists ans ecologists. You don’t have to buy it, it’s available for free in it’s entireity online although I bought it because I believe in supporting the authors of good books. (While they are still living)
Now here’s a truly great experience for those of you that are into peace and tranquility. The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is offering yoga classes which take place in front of a huge exhibit that features Beluga whales. I haven’t been able to get into the whole yoga thing myself but the wife is brilliant at it. If this were in Boston I’m sure I would attend. I’m pretty sure that I would constantly be losing my balance and falling over because I don’t anything could keep me from following the Whales as they pass by.
Classes are for all ages on Sunday Mornings.
So yesterday I was going through an article on cnn.com that outlined what was cut from the stimulus bill in negotiations between the Democrats and Republicans. I must admit, I was excited about it because I was sure that this was ‘the’ moment that the need for a strong aquaculture industry in the U.S. would be recognized.
After reading it though I was defintiely disappointed to find it under the list of things that was cut entirely. How do they justify this? We import approx 50% of all consumed fish and the world demand for seafood is growing daily, we know that the wild fish stocks are on their last legs and yet during a time when we have a great chance to be a leader in the world market. I guess that we will have to sit back and watch the world pass us by in this area…. Look for more and more fish appearing on your local fish markets shelves that are sourced outside the U.S. and come back and let me know where they are coming from.
