"The Cloud of Unkowing"

After reading Nando Parrado's "Miracle in the Andes," my eyes were opened to a new dimension: that of God within us.

My friend Peter is translating "The Cloud of Unknowing" from the King James-type passages into contemporary English. It stunned me. Here you go:
http://pedromitchell.blogspot.com/

Red Lobster Endorses Fish Farming

Red Lobster Exec Endorses Fish Farming

The president of the nation's largest seafood restaurant chain on Tuesday said consumers are willing to pay more for locally produced catches of the day and he endorsed expanding the U.S. Fish farming industry. via Forbes ...

U.S. Considers Aquaculture Plunge

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US government and industry leaders are urging a headlong plunge into ocean fish farming to meet surging global demand, even as environmental activists call for a go-slow approach.

A two-day Washington aquaculture summit hosted by the US Commerce Department in June brought together advocates of a broader push into fish farming as lawmakers push to facilitate ocean farms similar to those used in Asia, Norway and Chile.

Backers of aquaculture point out that with wild fish stocks declining around the world, nearly half the seafood on people's tables comes from farms. About 90 percent of farmed seafood comes from Asia.

The United States accounts for less that two percent of the 70 billion-dollar global business, said Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, noting projections of a global shortfall of 40 million tons of seafood by 2030.

"We have an eight billion-dollar seafood trade deficit," Gutierrez said.


"We need both a strong commercial fishing industry and a robust aquaculture industry. Given the projections, there is plenty of room for both industries."

In the United States, most fish farms are on land-based tanks, with a few ocean operations for shellfish such as oysters, clams and mussels.

Legislation introduced in Congress would allow the US government to issue offshore aquaculture permits, provide incentives for research and set environmental standards.

Backers of aquaculture say it can also be a blessing for coastal communities hurt by cutbacks in fishing due to new quotas to prevent depletion of fisheries.

The push for more aquaculture has posed a dilemma for environmentalists, who worry about pollution from farms, diseases from escaped fish and other potential impacts on wild species. At the same time, most activists recognize that overfishing of wild species is a problem that can only be alleviated through increases in farming of fish.

"If it happens we want to make sure its done in the most sustainable way," said the Ocean Conservancy's Tim Eichenberg, who attended the Washington summit.

Eichenberg said strong US environmental standards could help encourage better practices in other countries.

"We don't have any jurisdiction in foreign countries, but if we're not regulating it here, we can't ask other countries to do it in a sustainable way," he said.

"Additionally, if we don't have strong standards in the US, we can't keep products out of our country that are not produced in a sustainable way."

Andrea Kavanagh of the National Environmental Trust's Pure Salmon Campaign said the proposed legislation needs tougher environmental standards.

"The bill only makes a passing mention to environmental standards," she said. "That's not good enough."

Kavanagh said better practices include farming of fish lower on the food chain instead of carnivorous species -- which are generally fed with ground-up meal from wild-caught fish. "For species like cod and halibut, you have to feed them fish and you get the fish from the wild -- and that contributes more to the problem of overfishing," she said.

She said some salmon farms use floating concrete tanks, which she said offers more protection against fish escapes than open-net tanks used by others.

"We think you can raise fish in an environmentally sustainable way and you can still make a profit," she said. "It requires a shift away from wild-caught feed and a move away from open-net cages."

Michael Rubino, aquaculture program director for the Commerce Department's National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, said he believes US operations can compete against those from other countries, including China.

Rubino said 60 percent of the cost of farm-raised fish comes from feed, and another 20 percent from hatchery operations.

"There are investors ready to go to three miles and beyond" once the proper regulations are in place, he said.

"We're lacking a regulatory framework for federal waters."

Others say aquaculture represents a potential for enormous growth.

David Tze, managing director Aquacopia, a venture capital firm with holdings in aquaculture, said some investors who were looking at the Internet and computer technology a decade ago are now looking at fish farms.

"This is really a technology business," Tze told the summit participants. "It is an undervalued sector and is attracting increasing (investor) attention."

© 2007 AFP
Copyright © 2003-2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.

Let the Water Wars begin...

Idaho Press-Tribune
US Water News

BOISE, Idaho -- The state's top water official has given hundreds of farmers, dairymen and other groundwater users in southern Idaho until July 6 to quit pumping or satisfy the demands of two trout farms that say they've been forced to slash fish production because they aren't getting water they're legally due.

The order from Dave Tuthill, state Department of Water Resources director, covers 591 water rights over 16,638 acres, fewer than the 771 water rights on 33,000 acres discussed when Tuthill announced a proposed curtailment in April.

Lynn Tominaga, director of the Idaho Ground Water Appropriators:["...The problem that you run into is the lending institutions," he told The Associated Press. "If a bank knows that you don't have the water to finish out your crop and harvest, are you going to get a loan to farm?"

Great Seafood Choices...sustainably!

from the Chicago Sun-Times
BY JENNIFER OLVERA


Seafood choices for healthy oceans
Your consumer choices make a difference. Support fisheries and fish farms that are healthier for ocean wildlife and the environment.

BEST CHOICES

Catfish (U.S. farmed)

Salmon (wild caught from Alaska)

Shrimp (trap caught)

Tilapia (U.S. farmed)

Rainbow trout (farmed)

GOOD ALTERNATIVES

Cod (Pacific)

Crab (imitation/Surimi)

Scallops (Bay)

Tuna (canned light)

Tuna (canned white/Albacore)

AVOID

Chilean sea bass (tooth fish*)

Flounder (Atlantic Groupers*)

Halibut (Atlantic)

Shrimp (imported farmed or trawl-caught)

Soles (Atlantic)

*Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants. Visit www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm

Got Interviewed by Wall Street Reporter...

They got wind of our oxygen/ozone patent filings, and I got a phone call. This, after after spending a weekend putting together a video clip. I guess once you get the concepts down it's easy, but it's a whole different bag o' tricks. I've got eyestrain, but I couldn't of done the thing at all without a friend. Thanks, Mr. Peter! (I'll post that clip soon).

I guess I prattled on for the reporter a bit about the history of this process of diffusing gas streams into water, as well as the newest trials. Also covered an agreement with a DOD company for licensing this technology.

This interview can now be accessed by clicking: http://www.wallstreetreporter.com/profile.php?id=24910

Camp Lejeune Cancer Link

In Congressional testimony, Jerry Ensminger, a Marine for 24 years, lost his 9-year-old daughter to leukemia.

AP Photo by Susan Walsh

HIGHLIGHTS
• 75,000 Marines, families exposed to toxic tap water, health official said
• Chemicals in water may be carcinogens
• Children on based have had cancer and other disorders
• 850 former Camp Lejeune residents have filed legal claims

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Some 75,000 Marines and their families at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were exposed to toxic tap water that may have caused cancer and birth defects, a federal health official testified Tuesday.

Results of a new study of the base's water were released Tuesday, the same day lawmakers heard emotional testimony from families who were affected by the water, which contained 40 times the amount of toxins considered safe by today's standards.

Camp Lejeune's water supply was polluted from 1957 until 1987 by TCE, a degreasing solvent, and PCE, a dry cleaning agent. The chemicals apparently came from a dry cleaning store near the base, according to the government.

The substances are possible carcinogens.

Camp kids have cancer, disorders

Jerry Ensminger, a 24-year Marine Corps veteran, said his daughter, Jane, born in 1976 at Camp Lejeune, was diagnosed with leukemia at age 6 and died at age 9.

Jeff Byron, a former Marine air traffic controller, moved with his family into base housing in 1982, three months after his first daughter Andrea was born and two years before his daughter Rachel was born.

Rachel is developmentally disabled, has spina bifida and was born with a cleft palate, he said. Andrea has a rare bone marrow syndrome known as aplastic anemia, according to Byron's testimony.

Dr. Michael Gros, a Navy obstetrician at Camp Lejeune in the early 1980s, was diagnosed with lymphoma after living in Camp Lejeune housing, he said.

Gros said he has had to give up his medical practice and his treatment has cost more than $4.5 million.

Thomas Sinks, deputy director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the reports are anecdotal and that there has been no proven link between specific cases of illness and the contaminated water.

At least 850 former Camp Lejeune residents have filed legal claims. (From CNN.com)

***Executive Fish says: The poison in question was pumped to Marine households from 1957 and 1987, and was discovered in 1982. Why did they not cap those two wells immediately upon discovery, and take action? Test your water. Filter your water.

More on Plastics...

By Jane Akre - Common Ground

Phthalates are plasticizers, chemicals that make our pipes more flexible and our upholstery more comfortable.

But phthalates are also one of about 70 suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) present in products ranging from makeup to detergents to children's toys. EDCs are now present in the bodies of every man, woman, child and fetus in the United States.

Pioneer zoologist Theo Colborn, in her book Our Stolen Future, reported countless examples of reproductive disorders among wildlife. Colborn traced the disorders to chemical exposure, and suggested that EDCs profoundly affect the endocrine system by mimicking natural hormones and blocking their uptake to the receptor sites.

This can disrupt everything from development and behavior to reproduction and immunity.

Even the tiniest hormone variation at certain critical points in fetal development can affect a child's future health. Two years ago, a study showed that pregnant women with higher urine concentrations of phthalates were more likely to give birth to sons with incomplete male genital development, a disorder that previously had been seen only in lab rats.

In December 2006, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to ban baby products containing certain levels of phthalates.

From The Common Ground

Bill Totten - great content!

I just stumbled on a great weblog by Bill Totten, in Japan.

He and I converge on a number of the same points. He too, is a businessperson who remains aware of the environment and our impact on it.

Kudos to you Bill - and a place in my blogroll!

Highly recommended!

I Speaketh...

Saul Albom interviews Brett Swailes, CEO of Shine Holdings, and they discuss the company's patented device works by "smashing" water in a high-pressurized cylinder. The output of this process are bubbles no bigger than 5 microns in size - too small to be seen by the naked eye - which super-oxygenates the water. Naturally, this device is perfect for America's growing aquaculture industry, as well as for wastewater cleaning businesses and even biodefense purposes, where gases such as ozone are diffused into water as a way of examining anthrax. Shine Holdings has executed a formal letter of intent to license its technology to U.S. BioDefense Inc., a Department of Defense Central Contractor developing homeland security and leading-edge biotechnologies. Under the agreement, U.S. BioDefense expects to secure an exclusive licensing agreement from Shine Holdings for an annual fee of $100,000. Listen to this podcast to learn more.

Oxygen Breakthrough!

There she sat.

Although already granted the provisional patent, after so many months of "talk-talk," (press releases and such), mostly in the fabrication and development stage, we have finally witnessed first light in our initial tests of the super-oxygenation prototype.

This device will be, we hope, the bedrock technology of the patents we filed. If it works out, it ought to produce the highest efficiency Dissolved Oxygen in the markets we targeted.

"Could you fill her up with 55 gallons - of water?"

The next photo is my first shot after doing all the plumbing with David, my brother-in-law. (I'm a klutz, he's the mechanical brain.) We just primed the thing, and got regular old bubbles - good for aquariums and such, but no cigar, at this point:

But wait! Lookie here:



That isn't dirty water, and it isn't milk, either. That is what I call first light.

For those in the know, SOTE = 60%+, bubble size ~5 microns.

Engineered protein effective against Staphylococcus aureus toxin

A research team led by the University of Illinois has developed a treatment for exposure to enterotoxin B, a noxious substance produced by the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium. The team engineered a protein, which was successfully tested in rabbits, that could one day be used to treat humans exposed to the enterotoxin.

S. aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) is a common cause of food poisoning, but if it is inhaled or produced during an infection it can elicit a systemic – and sometimes fatal – immune response in humans. In purified form, SEB is listed as a potential bioterrorism agent. Other potent S. aureus enterotoxins include the toxic shock syndrome toxin.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Fish Flavored Fish! (I Like It. Really.)

SEATTLE, WA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 21, 2007 -- HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries, Inc. (AMEX: HQS), a leader in toxin-free integrated aquaculture and aquatic product processing and the Beijing division of Newly Weds® Foods Inc. announced today that they have signed a Joint-Development Agreement, after having co-developed a process and natural flavoring giving tilapia the taste, texture and aroma of fresh ocean-caught fish.

The product is being produced in block and fillet format, catering to both retail and service industry applications of HQ's branded "TiLoveYa™" tilapia. The new product has successfully met sensory testing with a variety of industry leaders anxious to access a quality-farmed supplement to dwindling ocean-sourced product.

The new product line responds to industry demand for a range of products that better imitate "sea flavor" fish without the drawbacks of ocean-caught product. HQ's "TiLoveYa™" tilapia has the following advantages over ocean-caught fish:

HQ's Pond Raised Solutions

-- Farmed tilapia is 100% sustainable and does not deplete our oceans of
its crucial bio-diversity. If we do not change current consumption practices many are predicting disaster by 2048 (See National Geographic at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/11/061102-seafood-threat.html).
-- Farmed product allows for "just-in-time" delivery to service industry
and retail consumers, unlike limited and often seasonal ocean production from such dwindling species as Pollock.
-- HQ's pond environment controls inflow and outflow of water avoiding the need for any prophylactic use of antibiotics.
-- Natural pond-grown algae provide excellent feed supplements where adequate quantities of dissolved oxygen are present, which eliminates any off-flavor from anaerobic algae cultures.
-- HQ's poly-species approach mimics nature by introducing natural bottom feeder fish and predator fish to maintain the pond eco-system.
-- Tilapia are herbivores and no fishmeal need be added to tilapia feed which could possibly introduce ocean-sourced pollutants such as heavy metals, PCBs or dioxins. Pond stability provides favorable feed conversion rates over cage-raised tilapia.
-- Finally, ponds are located away from mangrove swamp areas to preserve crucial natural habitat, and used pond water provides valuable natural nutrients to neighboring farmers' fields instead of being released into waterways providing downstream concerns to other waterway users.

Wisconsin Outbreak Spreads

The Associated Press reports that fish from Lake Winnebago, in Wisconsin, were testing positive in a virus test for a disease that causes fish to hemorrhage to death, according to state officials Friday.

The DNR held that initial test results in seven sheepshead indicated the fish were infected with viral septicemia. Bob Stark, of Fox River Navigational System Authority, said DNR warned him of the results on Friday. Stark maintains he was informed that the Menasha lock had been blocked to avert the further spread of the virus to Lake Winnebago.

Stark said, "It's a terrible thing that has happened."

Thursday, the state’s Natural Resources Board accepted an emergency ruling intended to prevent the contagion from spreading.

Fish Diseases Impact Profits

A key impediment facing aquaculture is the outbreak of disease, as fish for the harvest are usually cultivated in the stresses imposed by large populations which traditionally result in an elevated risk of bacterial or viral illness, as cited by many studies. In farmed catfish, said to suffer average losses exceeding $100 million annually, this is directly due to infection. One particularly important species in the U.S., the Channel catfish, account for well over 50% of the domestic aquaculture production; nevertheless, they are vulnerable to various damaging bacterial infections, not the least of which is enteric septicemia.

Vietnam's Shrimp Farming: Portents for US Gulf Coast?

Photo coutesy Wikimedia Commons.

According to a story on the UPI wire, dated May 4, 2007, Vietnam – like most of the third world, is now a leading shrimp supplier to the U.S. Most of the harvest is raised in its southern sections. That whole region is quite reliant upon its fishing industries. But it is there, in this particular Southeast Asian country that shrimp farming is performed much like an industry, and as such, also threatens the coastline.

Specifically, Vietnam’s fish farming industry imperils the coral reefs. Districts with highly concentrated shrimp farming operations depend upon hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, fertilizers, and disinfectants to keep shrimp productive. Many of these objectionable byproducts (and the EDCs) are discharged into the ocean, where they destroy both the reefs and the supplies of fish, which serve as a staple to locals.

Shrimp farming is a fickle business. Unseasonable variations in salinity, as well as that of temperatures can effectively kill off a shrimp crop. As shrimp become sick, the illness often spreads swiftly through waters from one pond to the next.
However, successful fish farming creates income wherever in the world it is located, be it in the more rural regions where poverty is high, or along the Gulf Coast of the United States -- so long as the operators apply high-quality sustainable practices that don't devastate the ecology or their own shrimp ponds.

It is my fervent wish to help in the development of healthier and less destructive fish farming practices through the use of affordable and effective technologies.

FDA Clears Fish of Melamine in Washington State

Read the story here, from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10226419

Whew! I feel better now.

Melamine Found in Fish Feed

Why do some folks want to grow their own fish, while others clamor for organic farm grown fish, and that from domestic sources? I presume the whole “melamine mess” has something to do with it. A brief backgrounder on the stuff wouldn’t hurt, right?

Justus von Liebig, way back in 1834, first synthesized Melamine. Many consider the German chemist as "father of the fertilizer industry." Whatever. (He can go back upon his pedestal after a short time, says I).

After reports emerged linking melamine to pet illness and deaths, a recall of pet food by Menu Foods and additional pet food producers subsequently ensued, followed by a media barrage.

Sorry, but truth be told, the stuff’s also in poultry feed; in hog feed; and has been additionally discovered in some fish feed. Yep, it’s that old white melamine, got us in its spell – a.k.a. Plastic. Didn’t my mom have some of the first Melamine® non-ceramic dinner plates? First time I dropped a plate, it went: "clack." Oh, well.

Web watchdog group Food & Water Watch recently condemned industrial fish operation “Kona Blue,” after it was announced that its fish were supplied with melamine fortified feed and the firm subsequently suspended its sales.

I chronicled the dearth of FDA bottled water inspectors in my book: “The Cancer Link.” Seems that there was all of ONE full time inspector(s) on hand to monitor the whole of the multi-billion dollar American bottled water industry. The denuded budgets of the U.S. federal regulatory agencies are surely doing their part in jeopardizing American fish consumers, especially with rising fish imports.

The Buzz Builds...

With some trepidation, I placed a call to the very busy editor of a fish-farming publication. I needed some advice, but instead ended up leaving just a voicemail.

A couple of days afterwards, said editor unexpectedly called me back, and after some polite banter I told her that this call would probably be an imposition on her important time, so I would be brief. We ended up talking for about an hour, and she thanked me for the diversion. She was wonderfully informative, and we ended up having more than a few laughs.

She happened to mention that on those days when she can no longer stand the intensity, she sometimes finds herself in a casual conversation that somehow comes back around to her job as an editor of a fish-farming magazine. She said: “It seems everybody has been asking me the same question lately: ‘Do you think I might be able to raise my own fish?’” I laughed a little too loud, I guess, and she asked: “Does that sound dumb to you?”

I told her of the story that comprises the very first entry in this blog. (It was the same story, just different people). I said I thought that perhaps we were witness to something that was generating a lot of buzz. We decided that people were suspicious about all the things being put into their food. Together, it seems that organic everything is more and more in demand, as each year goes by. We spoke about the perceived increase in consumer demand for domestic-raised fish. Altogether, a grand discussion with someone who is out there with an ear to the tracks, well ahead of the world as it is currently reported, albeit in the non-industry press. Thank you, Fraun. By the way, there is a great article here: http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/35/shifting-the-seafood-market-to-aquaculture and here: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=us-has-huge-appetite-for&chanId=sa003&modsrc=reuters

Grow Your Own Fish - In a Greenhouse.

Greenhouse Aquaponics: here is easily the most complex aquaculture process. (Photo from eagelspringcom.net) Situated inside a greenhouse, it requires intensive management and machinery: pumps, oxygenators or aerators. Using plants, the need for filtration is greatly reduced or eliminated. While you can grow herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, remember that fish live in the water. Nutrient resources for greenhouse aquaculture need be completely organic. Fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides are a definite no-no.

Grow Your Own Fish - redux!

Recall, if you will what I posted early-on. I said:

There are 4 basic types of aquaculture (simple to complex):
Home Systems
Cage Systems
Flow-Through
Greenhouse Aquaponics

Well, I never blogged about aquaponics...mea culpa! I repent. See the next 2 posts, oh interested readers. New and Improved! (Yech!) Learn how to grow your own fish. Again.

I Visit Kurtz's Fish Hatchery

A mélange of feisty fish - (Kurtz Fish Hatchery)

Aerial View of Kurtz Fish Hatchery

What a visit! KURTZ'S FISH HATCHERY has been in the neighborhood since 1958, and I never stopped by until the other day. They carry fish for stocking. While I was shown around their ponds, I just kept saying: "Wow!" Richard Kurtz just chuckled. He's still as excited about the business that his dad started so long ago as I was, there for the very first time. Must be catching. (Pun intended). Think about it, though - here was almost 100 acres of Bass, Bluegills, Stripers, Catfish, Crayfish, Tadpoles, Koi, and Aquatic Plants - all in 35 ponds, and I was just dumbstruck at the irony of it all.

Up on the adjacent hill I saw the very buildings where "Schooled Fish" and I used to stock our grain bins, and fan systems. I must've seen the place a hundred times, but never noticed it until now. I mean, this is where everybody around these parts goes to stock their lakes, ponds, and their own hatcheries - for going on 50 years now. I guess the whole Zen of the moment was from all that life. I've never felt that sort of vibrant electricity before. I feel like I'm writing another cheesy "advertorial" the likes of which I would be compelled do monthly for the paper, but I really am quite moved.

Closest feeling to this was flying my plane out of the whipcrack world of the Northeast corridor's air traffic controllers, at night, and waking up in the morning to miles and miles of grain fields, blowing to and fro in the wind, to travel in and around the small towns and businesses, visiting all the interesting people, doing our "human thing." Life there seemed less complicated, but always, somewhere in the background, was the subsonic buzz of all that life bursting forth from those fields that stretched out from horizon to horizon.

Then again, maybe it's that cough syrup I took after lunch.

Christine Mitchell

Christine has a heart as big as Texas, with a mind that grabs hold of technology issues like a steel trap onto a groundhog's hind parts. Plays a good guitar, and don't be messing with this girl at Scrabble, if you value your ego. Chris is the culprit who persuaded me to start blogging, so blame her.

A seriously good writer, (she'll deny it, likely as not), her blog posts manage to range as far afield as do her travels, lecturing as she does at college campuses in: Dubai, London, Victoria, Al Ain (UAE), and Pittsburgh, and from topics as varied as her notorious rants on David Hasselhoff, thoughts on Maria Muldaur, Content Management (CMS), Dreamweaver, politics, and poetry to her thoughts on race relations.

Check her out at: http://www.christinemitchell.com/

Red Tide?

(Photos: Wikipedia: LaJolla, CA Red Tide,
& Western Baltic Sea Dead Zone)

I remember the Tampa TV guy looking sternly into the camera, saying something about how Red Tide was now expected off of Clearwater by midweek. They showed footage from beach points to the south - and all the dead fish, and countless complaints from motel operators about empty rooms. Apparently, a lot of people complained about respiratory ailments. Naturally, being young, arrogant, and indestructible, we almost all cried out in unison: "We ain't 'fraid a no Red Tide." (Even before "Ghost Busters," we were all talking like that. Yeah.)

Naturally, we hadn't even gotten within 1/4 mile of Red Tide. One snoot full of the aerosol toxins - not necessarily the dead fish smell, either - and you got the "Red Tide Religion" right quick, as the Florida crackers used to say. It burns the throat, the sinuses, the lungs, and causes the eyes to get all puffy.

It's not new - it's just worse than ever. The logs of the Spanish mention fish kills in Tampa Bay, and New World sources mention it starting in 1840. Now, some say you can swim in the stuff. If you wanna swim in it, well, go ahead. For those who actually advocate this practice, I'd like to suggest some fine things these folks could eat. (Well, that, too). But I was thinking more along the lines of scallops, clams and oysters - dipped in a pungent, slightly rust colored soup. Swim in it? Nope, not me. (Cracker speak: "Hail, no.")

Red tide and algal blooms are influenced by nutrient loading from humans, yielding things like nitrates and phosphates. If you raise fish in a pond, certain algae, when eaten by the fish, will yield an unpleasant taste. Algae tend to love nitrates - like fertilizers - and they give off some rancid smells.

Wherever algae grow, some naturally dies. This same dead organic stuff becomes a food source for bacteria. This same bacteria increases and uses up the available oxygen in the water, (DO or dissolved oxygen). When the DO declines, many fish cannot live. Got pond scum or algae? Oxygenate.


Ever hear of Dead Zones? (I'm not talking Stephen King, or even cell phones, but a real life phenomenon). Caused mainly by fertilizer runoff, the most notorious is in the good ole' Gulf of Mexico - about 20,000 square kilometers, compliments of all the runoff from the Mississippi River. Don't bother fishing in the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, by the way. No fish. Dead zones, of low dissolved oxygen, are now worldwide.

Dead Zones, like algal blooms, ARE reversible. As a case in point, after the old Soviet Union collapsed, the Black Sea dead zone (formerly the biggest in the world) almost disappeared. Why? Fertilizer became very expensive, and dropped in usage from 1991 to 2001. Fishing has come back! (So has the fertilizer. Oh, well.)

Florida

Later this week I travel back to Florida. Oh, Florida! So many memories: the incredible sprawl of the metro areas along most of the Gulf Coast; the beauty of the relatively untrammeled Panhandle and the white sands that await in places along the coast like Perdido Key, west of Pensacola. Add a final jog along that same beach roadway, into the quaint coastal side of Gulf Shores, and voila - you in Alabama now, son.

Let's say you spurn Interstate 75 altogether, and opt, instead, for a jaunt along the former main thoroughfares from way down in South Venice all the way up to Crystal River. Going north, that would take in, first, metro Sarasota and Bradenton, then over the Sunshine Skyway, (I wouldn't take you through Ruskin, Gibsonton and Tampa just for old-times). Get onto U.S. 19 and go through Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, past Weeki Wachee and continue up through Homosassa. What does that get you? One hundred and fifty odd miles of mostly 8-plus lanes of traffic. Actually, the Florida as I remember doesn't really exist anymore, at least until you get ever further north - another 11 miles past the ever more distant Yankeetown-Inglis area. For is really just after that that U.S. 19 hooks suddenly to the northwest - and you fold the space-time continuum to observe the quirky desolation of earlier times as it comes crashing into view. Whee.

Go about 20 miles to Otter Creek, take a left on Florida 24, go another 20 and visit the place that many - Floridians and no - consider more than a lot like Key West, circa 1970. That would be Cedar Key, right on the Gulf of Mexico. This reminds me of another story...

Flow-Through Fish Farming/Aquaculture

Flow-Through: These systems (this one, as available from www.tamcofish.com)uses a diverted flowing cold water source. You construct a separate raceway for the fish. The oxygen levels should be sufficient. Writer Steve Van Gorder has said that with but a little (a few gallons) spring water you can grow trout all year. Make certain to talk to authorities at Fish and Wildlife and/or Soil Conservation before you mess with their streams (ahem)...I plan to go into detail on all of these examples...

Cage System

In a cage system, in a stream, lake, or pond, the frame is most often constructed of PVC, while the netting itself is rigid. The whole cage structure itself is anchored. The idea is to add fingerlings, feed, add oxygenation if needed, and harvest.

Grow Your Own Fish!

There are 4 basic types of aquaculture (simple to complex):
Home Systems
Cage Systems
Flow-Through
Greenhouse Aquaponics

This photo, to the left, is like one above-ground pool—similar to a Home system.

When the only available water is from a hose, a vinyl-lined above ground pool can be located in a basement, garage, or a yard. For a couple hundred dollars up to a couple thousand, (do fish REALLY need those ladders?) a 3-foot high, 12 foot-diameter pool will hold about 2000 gallons of water. When using unfiltered water, writer Steve Van Gorder says to expect only ~ 13 lbs of fish per year. BUT!! If you remove waste, ammonia, AND you oxygenate, that figure jumps to more than 100 pounds of fish. Almost a 10-fold increase! (And, it's not very expensive, stay tuned...)

Something Fishy Going on 'Round Here

The first time I told anybody, it went sort of like this: “Hey! We just filed for a patent for fish farming.”

“Oh yeah…what’s it gonna do?”

“It super-oxygenates water.”

“Oh yeah? You think I can raise fish in my basement?”

I was speechless. I wrote the experience off to my eclectic choice of friends. I figured who (in their right mind) would really want to raise fish in the basement of an inner-city house? Probably somebody who might advocate the wearing of tin foil hats. (http://www.virtualberks.com/tinfoilhat/)

I gave a speech and a PowerPoint presentation to a group a couple of weeks later. Guy comes up to me afterwards, saying: “Can I raise homegrown fish in my backyard?” I got two more such questions that night. Again, silence reigned supreme. I sought the sage advice of a Fellow Fish, and it was decided we had better look into the whole topic. We don’t plan to get involved with “grow-your-own” fish farms, but it seemed like there was suddenly an awful lot of interest out there. I found out a bunch of stuff. So, I thought I’d blog it. So, standby for what I found out…