#aquacultured

[reasonsforhope]

"When Francois Beyers first pitched the concept of 3D ocean farming to the Welsh regulators, he had to sketch it on napkins. 

Today the seafood farm is much more than a drawing, but if you walked along the Welsh coastal path near St David’s, all you’d see is a line of buoys. As Beyers puts it: “It’s what’s below that’s important.”

Thick tussles of lustrous seaweed suspend from the buoys, mussels cling to its furry connective ropes and dangling Chinese lantern-esque nets are filled with oysters and scallops. 

“It’s like an underwater garden,” says Beyers, co-founder of the community-owned regenerative ocean farm, Câr-y-Môr. The 3-hectare site is part of a fledgling sector, one of 12 farms in the UK, which key players believe could boost ocean biodiversity, produce sustainable agricultural fertiliser and provide year-round employment in areas that have traditionally been dependent on tourism. 

Created in 2020 by Beyers and six family members, including his father-in-law – an ex-shellfish farmer – the motivation is apparent in the name, which is Welsh for “for the love of the sea”. ...

Pictured: Drone shot of Câr-y-Môr, which is on the site of abandoned mussel farms. Image: Scott Chalmers

Ocean farming comes from the technical term ‘integrated multi-trophic aquaculture’, which means a mixture of different seaweed and shellfish species growing together to mutually benefit each other. But it’s not just a way of growing food with little human input, it also creates ocean habitat. 

“You’re creating a breeding ground for marine animals,” explains Beyers who adds that the site has seen more gannets diving, porpoises and seals – to name a few – since before the farm was established.

Ocean farms like Câr-y-Môr, notes Ross Brown – environmental research fellow at the University of Exeter – have substantial conservation benefits.

“Setting up a seaweed farm creates an exclusion zone so fishermen can’t trawl it,” explains Brown, who has been conducting experiments on the impacts of seaweed and shellfish farms across the UK. 

Brown believes a thriving ocean farming industry could provide solutions to the UK’s fish stock, which is in “a deeply troubling state” according to a report that found half of the key populations to be overfished. “It would create stepping stones where we have safe havens for fish and other organisms,” he adds. 

But UK regulators have adopted a cautious approach, note Brown and Beyers, making it difficult for businesses like Câr-y-Môr to obtain licenses. “It’s been a tough old slog,” says Beyers, whose aim is to change the legislation to make it easier for others to start ocean farms. 

Despite navigating uncharted territories, the business now has 14 full-time employees, and 300 community members, of which nearly 100 have invested in the community-benefit society. For member and funding manager Tracey Gilbert-Falconer, the model brings expertise but most importantly, buy-in from the tight-knit local community. 

“You need to work with the community than forcing yourself in,” she observes. 

And Câr-y-Môr is poised to double its workforce in 2024 thanks to a Defra grant of £1.1 million to promote and develop the Welsh seafood industry as part of the UK Seafood Fund Infrastructure Scheme. This will go towards building a processing hub, set to be operational in April, to produce agricultural fertiliser from seaweed. 

Full of mineral nutrients and phosphorous from the ocean, seaweed use in farming is nothing new, as Gilbert-Falconer notes: “Farmers in Pembrokeshire talk about their grandad going down to the sea and throwing [seaweed] on their farms.” 

But as the war in Ukraine has caused the price of chemical fertiliser to soar, and the sector tries to reduce its environmental impact – of which synthetic fertiliser contributes 5% of total UK emissions – farmers and government are increasingly looking to seaweed. 

The new hub will have capacity to make 65,000 litres of sustainable fertiliser annually with the potential to cover 13,000 acres of farmland. 

But to feed the processing hub, generate profit and reduce their dependency on grants, the co-op needs to increase the ocean farm size from three to 13 hectares. If they obtain licences, Beyers says they should break even in 18 months. 

For now, Beyers reflects on a “humbling” three years but revels in the potential uses of seaweed, from construction material to clothing.  

“I haven’t seen the limit yet,” he smiles."

-via Positive.News, February 19, 2024

[reportsofagrandfuture]

[probablyasocialecologist]

Farming carnivorous fish in Europe harms fishing communities in West Africa by depriving them of a resource fundamental to their nutrition and their livelihoods. Salmon are carnivorous, and farmed salmon depend on the nutrients provided through fish oil in particular, gained through grinding up smaller, wild fish. At Feedback, we have evidence that in feeding these smaller fish (sardines, sardinella, ethmalosa, etc.) to Scottish farmed salmon, major micro-nutrient losses occur. How can we allow an industry driving biodiversity loss, environmental pollution, and food insecurity to simply go on with business-as-usual?

[...]

Our research shows that in 2020, nearly 2 million tonnes of wild fish were required to produce the fish oil supplied to the Norwegian farmed salmon industry and that throughout this feeding process, one-quarter of the wild fish ground up is lost. Furthermore, the amount of fish sourced off the West African coast (FAO area 34) to supply fish oil to the Norwegian salmon farming industry in 2020 could have provided between 2.5 million and 4 million people in the region with a year’s supply of fish. 

[...]

The extraction of fish from West Africa by corporations headquartered in the Global North for the benefit of mainly high-income consumers in Europe, North America and Asia has far-reaching consequences, further entrenching global inequity and food insecurity. Thus, the continuing expansion of industrial aquaculture is fuelling a type of food imperialism. 

[wetmek]

My very overgrown Fluval flex showcasing why Hygrophila polysperma is considered a noxious weed. The Sparkling Gourami absolutely love the dense growth of the stems.

[tootditoot]

Requested by @tuvinn ! Love to see fish with "cats" in their name, definitely need more of that in my life

[howlfromthecore]

Earth Activist Training

EAT is a permaculture design course run by Starhawk (and a rotating cast of accomplished permaculturists). It's immersive, comprehensive, and beautiful.

Not very many PDCs talk about how permaculture principles can be applied to social movements. And so few retreats have truly nourishing and excellent food. Here's the website; there are a number of educational offerings beyond the main in-person PDC. I encourage you to give it a look if you want to learn more about this amazing field we call permaculture.

https://earthactivisttraining.org/

[solarpunkbusiness]

Meet Indonesia's eFishery, first unicorn startup in global aquaculture

Founded in 2013, eFishery is an Indonesian startup that uses IoT devices and an online platform to solve problems faced by fish farmers. The company's growth story is a great example of how specialized tech companies are proving their worth in Asia.

eFishery offers an IoT system that can be installed in fish farms. The feeders are equipped with sensors. The sensors monitor fish farm conditions. The distributor uses sensors to detect external data, such as fish movement, and adjust the timing and amount of feed. 

Moreover, it's connected to a solar panel, so it's self-powered. It's designed for fish farms that don't have access to electricity.

Read how a fish farming company became a unicorn AND its all solar powered!

[juliiluvvsyu]

Image 1 : Southern river otter - Lontra provocax

Fun fact: Southern river otters live in freshwater with riparian vegetation. Riparian vegetation protects the water from hot summers and cold winters, shielding the waters so that the aquatic life living there won't become distressed.=(^.^)=

Image 2 : Asian small-clawed otter - Amblonyx cinereus

Fun Fact: asian small-clawed otters are the smallest of all other otter species. They also have whiskers called vibrissae that detects movement of prey in the water. ( ^w^)

Image 3 : Marine otter - Lontra Felina

Fun Fact: Marine otters are the only species with the genus Lontra that is found in marine habitats. Sometimes they even eat fruits! （╹◡╹）

September 19 , 2023(*^o^*)

@meowzerswhirlingsomewhere

[moopsy-daisy]

NEW SOLARPUNK IDEA. I don't think I've ever been in a house with a cistern, but apparently it's a thing. USE IT!

[seeshelter]

Candy enjoying the new 3 tunnel configuration!

[autistickaitovocaloid]

puts you in a fishtank with the colourful aquarium gravel at the bottom

(dw it has a nice cave to hide and a bubbly filter)

waow

[asiaphotostudio]

China, 2000 Nanning, Guangxi, China. 中国 広西 南寧市 西郷塘区 Photography by Michitaka Kurata

[penpalpls]

New fish. Names????

[azuredrg]

environmental justice is a topic i am very very passionate about i just never bring it up until something comes up and i'm like guys i actually will kill someone if we don't start giving a fuck about deforestation

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I Wonder what you think of people fishing (in general). I personally would love to learn how to fish and learn how to catch specific fish with bait and even mount some cool catches, but sometimes, I ask myself if this aligns with my moral standings. I’m personally pescatarian and love eating fish, but can’t help feel sorry for them while eating them.

I also know that fishing does help with regulating/population-control of specific fish. 🧐

Anyways, I’d love to know how you feel about eating fish and fishing fish whilst also loving fish and appreciating fish. 🐟

(I’ve used the word fish multiple times haha, fish fish fish fish 🐠)

I get what you mean! It's a whole moral conundrum and a half, I'll say.. ^^' I used to enjoy fishing myself, my family and I would go to the local pond and do catch and release fishing; I liked it because it was the only time I could properly see and handle fish, as otherwise they were out of sight under the water. Some years back though, I became very conflicted about fishing just for enjoyment due to the inevitable stress it causes the fish to be pulled out of the water by their mouth and roughly handled on land. Sometimes fish don't recover from the shock and end up dying anyway. I felt awful thinking back on all the fish that must've suffered at my own hands. The last time I went fishing was probably about three years back, I haven't fished since. Although I haven't 100% decided that I'm never in my life fishing again, it's probably safe to assume I won't be fishing for a long, long while... @~@

That's how I feel about myself fishing, but when it comes to others fishing, I really don't mind. Everyone can decide for themselves what they wish to do, and where their stance on fishing lies. Even if I don't like eating most fish, it is a fact that fish can be more sustainable than other animal meat and eating local native fishes is a very good alternative to just buying from the store! Much like you said, fishing can be used to control populations of fish, like invasive species (lionfish come to mind immediately), which is also very good! Fishing is also just a fun hobby to have and brings a lot of enjoyment to many people, haha.

Much like commercial fishing, leisure fishing can have bad impact on fish and fish populations, but it doesn't have to be that way! One can take measures to fish in a way that doesn't harm the overall population and causes the fishes minimal stress, take for example my good friend! She has kept fish as pets and loves them much like I do, but she still fishes. She sands down the barbs on her hooks, and when she fishes with the intent of eating, she quickly puts the fish down. She holds the belief that if you're planning on having meat in your diet, you have to get comfortable with the idea that animals have to die for that diet, and also be sure that the animals didn't have to die in a more painful and stressful way than what was necessary. I pretty much agree with her.

So yeah! To make a long, rambly story short, I don't want to fish myself but I'm otherwise pretty neutral on the topic. Other people can go fish as much as they want to, but I only wish that people would make it easier on the fishes themselves! Their lives are valuable too and I think it is a fisher's responsibility to make sure they are treated with dignity and mercy.

Man, I ended up writing fish and fishing and fishes so many times myself, they don't even look like real words anymore! Fishfishfishfishfishfishfishfishfishfishfishfish!