Rethinking the Urban Environment, Part II: 'St. Peter's Fish'

From: Morningstar Fishermen (link)

'Tilapia go by many names. The moniker "St. Peter's fish" comes from the story in the Christian Bible about the apostle Peter catching a fish that carried a coin in its mouth, though the passage does not name the fish.^[3] While the name also applies to Zeus faber, a marine fish not found in the area, a few tilapia species (Sarotherodon galilaeus galilaeus and others) are found in the Sea of Galilee, where the author of the Gospel of Matthew accounts the event took place. These species have been the target of small-scale artisanal fisheries in the area for thousands of years.^[4][5] In some Asian countries including the Philippines, large tilapia go by pla-pla while the smaller types are just tilapia.^[6]

Tilapia go by many names. The moniker "St. Peter's fish" comes from the story in the Christian Bible about the apostle Peter catching a fish that carried a coin in its mouth, though the passage does not name the fish.^[3] While the name also applies to Zeus faber, a marine fish not found in the area, a few tilapia species (Sarotherodon galilaeus galilaeus and others) are found in the Sea of Galilee, where the author of the Gospel of Matthew accounts the event took place. These species have been the target of small-scale artisanal fisheries in the area for thousands of years.^[4][5] In some Asian countries including the Philippines, large tilapia go by pla-pla while the smaller types are just tilapia.^[6]'

From: Blue Ridge Aquaculture (link)

'...MARTINSVILLE, Va. — It doesn’t look like a farm. From the outside it looks like any other manufacturing building in an industrial park. Step inside, however, into the humid office area and it is obvious something different is going on.

Blue Ridge Aquaculture (BRA) in Martinsville, is the world’s largest indoor fisheries. In its 100,000-square-foot facility on less than two and a half acres of land, BRA raises more than 4 million pounds of protein every year in the form of tilapia. In contrast, using the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association statistics, less than 10,000 pounds of beef could be produced on the same acreage and not in an industrial park.

Tilapia is a valuable source of protein, and it is growing in popularity. Demand for the fish quadrupled in the four years leading to 2007 and has continued to grow. The National Marine Fisheries Service ranks tilapia as the fifth most popular seafood in the United States.

BRA uses an indoor recirculating aquaculture system to grow tilapia to 1.5 pounds at harvest, with a stocking density of 1.5 gallons of water per fish. Unlike other large-scale animal production, which may require the prophylactic use of antibiotics and growth hormones to overcome stress caused by high animal densities, the tilapia actually benefit. Being packed together makes the fish less territorial and aggressive and improves health and growth rates.

“The fish grow better that way,” said Jim Franklin III, BRA vice president. “These fish are bred for this facility. We could increase the density. The density of the fish is not an issue; it’s water condition....”

These two organizations say it (there are many more) better than I can. Fish-framing and Indoor Fish-Farming are potentially viable economic activities for urban and rural areas.

For example, this could be done in Plainfield; all that is needed is the will, gumption and ingenuity to put all the pieces together. Plainfield could husband a pilot project run by Union County College in conjunction with Plainfield High School as the beginnings of a new academic program in Aquaculture with funding to come from grants -the hard part.  Doing it this way takes some of the pressure off of having to be profitable right away, gives more time to work the kinks out (and there will be kinks) and develops a local talent pool.

Next more on Aquaculture: 'Skyscrapers in the Mist/Midst'

Rethinking the Urban Environment, Part I: 'Sleeping with the Fishes'

Lack of imagination is the major impediment to the revitalization of the Urban Environment. Politicians continue to ply the same old industrial 20th Century Solutions to 21st Century Problems. Need urban development? Slap up some Condos, build some roads and run some job training programs are typical solutions that go nowhere. It seems that most communities and most people never bother to challenge themselves to come up with a holistic solution capable of creating an affordable, sustainable community which benefits everyone in the community.  Which leads me to the first part of this series? 

'Sleeping with the Fishes': 

New Jersey use to be a truck farming center supplying local produce to the major urban centers in the area, Newark, New York and Philadelphia. All that changed, with the advent of the interstate highway system and cheap oil leading, to urban sprawl replacing the farms. We now get not only our exotic food but our regular every day food from all over the country and all over the world from California, Chile, China, etc. This works well so long as food is cheap and plentiful and there is the rub. As the rest of the world rapidly industrializes and we subsidize the production of biofuels, the era of 'Cheap and Plentiful' food for Americans is coming to an end. The rest of the world wants what we got and are willing to bid the price up to get it. Fresh water is becoming a scarce resource and the oceans are quickly becoming depleted of edible fish stock. This crisis won't be going away any time soon but its solution can benefit our community. How? 

Indoor urban fish farming -OK, you can stop laughing. It turns out that if you are going to rethink the urban environment this a good place to start as a proof of concept.  'For example, using a RAS (RECIRCULATING AQUACULTURE SYSTEMS, click for details) it is 

possible to product over 100,000 pounds of fish in a 5,000 square-foot building, whereas 

20 acres of outdoor ponds would be necessary to produce an equal amount of fish with 

Traditional open pond culture...'  Ask yourself, how many 5000 square-foot buildings that are empty or underutilized do we have along the Raritan Valley RR corridor in Plainfield?

Advantages of an Indoor System

• The fish stock is protected from predators, weather changes and natural calamities
• With high control over temperature, water quality and feeding, it is possible to produce fish faster and at any time during the year
• Closed, indoor aquaculture systems are often considered as more friendly to the environment because they require less water and result to less waste. As an alternative to marine aquaculture, it doesn’t result to the pollution of coastal waters with drugs, chemicals and antibiotics
• It avoids the usual danger of fish escapes associated with traditional open net pens and cages system of fish farming in coastal waters
• It allows higher stocking densities, requiring smaller spaces and lesser management needs. As such, it can save a farm owner labor and time to manage a farm
• It allows production facilities to be near the market, saving transportation costs'

So in the future could Plainfield be 'Sleeping with the Fishes?'

To be continued…