[Food] Production - Aquaculture

mulroos · **Joined:** Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:00 am **Posts:** 25

I have been reading posts on this forum for some time while
becoming educated on this problem that we are all facing: survial
in a post-carbon society. While reading posts on where to go and
what to do, the problem of finances seems to be a significant
obstacle to overcome. Therefore, I offer a suggestion for
consideration: aquaculture.
It requires limited space, yet may produces substantial quantities
of protein. In addition, combining an aquaponics system an
individual can also produce vegetables and create a complete
system.
Follow this link:http://www.aquaticeco.com/
On the left click "Complete systems" and then "Fish Farms"

ararboin · **Joined:** Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:00 am **Posts:** 241

I put in 4 ponds on my place several years ago and stocked them first with trout, then switched to bass and catfish, which are more prolific and better tasting in my opinion -- plus they were free. I sein minnows from a nearby river to feed them, and there also is a natural production of fresh-water shrimp and other creatures in the stream and ponds to feed them.

A side product of the ponds is a fall harvest of "sea weed" which I use to enrich my garden soil. Ducks land on the ponds and in the spring I always have a few wood ducks that stay around to raise a family.

mulroos · **Joined:** Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:00 am **Posts:** 25

Sounds like you already have a good setup to build upon.
For those who have no land or limited access a small
eco-system can be set up in a garage that should be able
to support a family with fish and vegetables.
see: http://www.aquaponicsjournal.com/

OneLoneClone · **Posted:** Fri Nov 11, 2005 2:44 pm

I'd like to start a discussion about sustainable small scale fish farming as a potential protein source.

Our ocean, lake and river fish populations are decimated, and the water is full of heavy metals and other pollutants. You can only eat ONE crab a month from the San Francsico Bay or you risk mercury poisoning. It is the same in many areas. Without these pollutants, fish are incredibly great food rich in protein, ant-oxidents, vitamins and minerals AND they are low in fat. Fish diets make you live longer and healthier.

A fine person by the name of Modadugu Gupta has been helping teach people in the third world how to farm fish on the cheap and sustainably.

Quote:

The $250,000 World Food Prize, considered by many the Nobel Prize of food and agriculture, was awarded today to an Indian scientist credited with launching a "blue revolution" (a rapid increase in fish production) in the developing world.

Modadugu Gupta has spent 30 years creating a cheap and ecologically sustainable system of small-scale fish-farming using abandoned ditches and seasonally flooded fields and water holes smaller than the average swimming pool.

The small ponds become tiny food factories, churning out protein and income for more than 1 million families in Southern and Southeast Asia and Africa. Gupta's work has multiplied freshwater fish production in those countries by three to five times, says Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation.

In wet, low-lying countries such as Bangladesh and Laos, farmers routinely excavate soil to raise the level of their houses. This creates small ponds that fill with water in the rainy season. Roads also are built up with nearby soil, creating long, narrow ponds along roadways that can be used as fish farms.

The farmers, most of them poor women and landless farmers, typically raise as few as 200 fish, feeding the carp and tilapia farm waste such as rice and wheat bran. This creates high-protein food for their families and a cash crop for their financial needs.

USA Today : Nobel Prize for Fish Farming

Maybe all those backyard swimming pools (and community pools) in the burbs could be put to good use. In the excellent book "Back to Basics" there are a few pages on home-scale fish farming. I think small scale aquaculture (sustainable AND non-sustainable) has got a lot of potential for keeping people fed. You can feed teh fish agricultural waste products (grains and oat flakes and bugs), so it dovetails with other small-scale food production.

If anyone has any good links, thoughts (or experience) please post. Here are some links to get an idea of whats possible

Utilizing Different Aquatic Resources for Livelihoods in Asia - A Resource Book

General Issues and Principles

Community-Managed Aquatic Resources

Lake/Resevior Based

Brackish Water/Wetlands

gt1370a · **Joined:** Sat Apr 02, 2005 1:00 am **Posts:** 421

In the South, most ponds have bluegill, catfish, and largemouth bass. The bluegill breed like crazy, eat anything, and can survive just about anything, very resilient fish. The catfish are bottom feeders and work kind of like snails or suckers in a fish tank to keep things clean. Bass are hunters and they manage the population of fish (and are fun to catch). It's best to have a spring fed pond so the water stays clean, but bluegill will even survive in muddy cow ponds (but they'll taste like mud too).

frankthetank · **Posted:** Fri Nov 11, 2005 7:47 pm

A family friend bought a little spread in Southern WI which is full of springs/streams/rivers/etc. On his land he has a spring come right out of the side of some rock and it cascades into a very nicely constructed pond which holds a large amt of Brown trout (were talking big fish!). Just a gorgeous setup! The water stays around 50F year round. If i can get some pictures i'll post them. He's been feeding them hotdogs!

As a kid i always wanted my own "fishing hole" and still today it'd be nice. I would probably stick with bluegills or bream(they don't breed if i remember correctly). You could almost feed them anything. I guess around here with so much fishing nearby, it's probably not necessary. I'll probably just have to eat the polluted Mississippi River fish post peak!

Windmills · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2005 9:11 am

I dated a girl whose father had a small fish pond on his property. He had a line hanging across the pond on which he used to clip dead birds and rodents. Once they were infested with maggots, he'd shake the line and the maggots would fall down onto the water for the fish to eat.

I'm not sure if that was the sole source of food, nor how small farm economics would work in such a situation, but it might be useful to get us thinking about creative ways to feed fish. What we might think of as waste could somehow be used to provide food, by attracting insects, for example. At the very least, it's kinda funny.

frankthetank · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:02 am

That is interesting. Insects or worms would probably be the cheapest. I bet somehow you could have a worm farm and then use the worms to create good soil (compost) and then breed/feed the fish the excess worms? All these inground pools in the burbs could be turned into ponds...!

OneLoneClone · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2005 2:31 pm

Here are some graphics from the "Back to Basics" book.

the pic below is a continuation of the pic above

and here is a graphic of a REALLY small scale fish farm

frankthetank and windmill, I like your earthworm idea, dovetails nicely with agricuture. The dead bird/maggot thing is great too, but pretty grisly... :twisted:

xerces · **Posted:** Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:36 pm

Has anyone maintained successfull fish ponds? If so, just how efficient are these for meat production?

americandream · **Posted:** Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:02 pm

Very apt post for this article linked below (also calls bio-fuel crops into question as well in terms of marine impact (assuming we have sufficient resources to fertilise fuel cropping on the scale that transitions us into this renewable, intact from crude loss))...very depressed by the prognosis:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/ocean ... ory?page=2

pstarr · **Posted:** Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:13 pm

xerces wrote:

Has anyone maintained successfull fish ponds? If so, just how efficient are these for meat production?

I believe catfish, crayfish, and shrimp are raised commercially in ponds in the US. I think they are rotated in flooded fields with vegetable crops and their waste provides nutrients in the rotation. Catfish is certainly reasonably priced.

rwwff · **Posted:** Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:21 pm

xerces wrote:

Has anyone maintained successfull fish ponds? If so, just how efficient are these for meat production?

Have not done what you are thinking about, but have some experience with farm ponds. Natural, unassisted carrying capacity is much less that you might wish. To boost it, you need to input food, aeration (fountain thing), and some amount of flow through to keep buildup of fish excreation down without going into a massive algae bloom.

Commercially viable fish may depend heavily on region. Tilapia and catfish are popular farmed fish, some regions like carp as well.

Basically, you want a fish that you can feed corn or other grain products; as opposed to one that depends on animal protein.

Go wiki on Tilapia for more good info.

katkinkate · **Posted:** Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:19 am

They have a long tradition of raising fish in the rice paddies throughout Asia. Also you don't have to maximise production in a pond to make it worth while. A small dam with some fish in it will provide variety in protein for the residents of the farm, without a lot of extra effort beyond some careful initial planning. You don't have to continually pour energy and nutrients in if the system is set up to be mostly self-sustaining.

skyemoor · **Posted:** Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:34 pm

This thread is for those of us who raise fish or aquatic plants to share their successes and lessons learned.

[Food] Production - Aquaculture

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