Tilapia Fish Farming

Fish Farmers Cooperative Learning
Tilapia Farmers Home
About Us
Tilapia Farming
Tilapia Best Feeds
Organic Tilapia
Tilapia e books & Links
Tilapia Tech Chat
Contact Us
Consultant Services

Organic Fish Farming - An Economic Advantage

Biology Professor Martin Schreibman, Brooklyn College.

 

Traditional organic farming systems “rely on ecologically based practices, such as cultural and biological pest management, and virtually exclude the use of synthetic chemicals in crop production and prohibit the use of antibiotics and hormones in livestock production.”

[Briefing Room: Organic Farming and Marketing, 2004]

================================================================================================ 

 

Organic is defined as materials-based, process-oriented certification program that certifies livestock systems that are closed and managed. The Organic Seal is awarded to agricultural and aquacultural products which have been grown and processed according to USDA's National Organic Standards and certified by USDA-accredited state and private certification organizations.

 ================================================================================================

 

What is organic production?

 

USDA Definition and Regulations: The Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), enacted under Title 21 of the 1990 Farm Bill, served to establish uniform national standards for the production and handling of foods labeled as “organic.”  Defining “organic aquaculture” is very much a work-in-progress and, for many reasons. Internationally, organic fish farming is not a concern and fish is farmed without much strict standards like in USA.

 

The OFPA Act authorized a new USDA National Organic Program (NOP) to set national standards for the production, handling, and processing of organically grown agricultural products. In addition, the Program oversees mandatory certification of organic production. However, fish farmed internationally is not under the same scrutiny. Most imported Tilapia consumed by American families is not monitored by USDA.

 

The Act also established the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) which advises the Secretary of Agriculture in setting the standards upon which the NOP is based. Producers who meet standards set by the NOP may label their products as “USDA Certified Organic.”

 

Organic Farmed Fish and Consumers Benefits

 

  • Expected or prescribed nutrition without added preservatives and/or hormones.

  • Quicker access to fresh fish market within hours of harvest  
  • Shorter distances from fish farming markets assures availability
  • Locally grown fish farms generate related employment opportunities.
  • Organic fish farming complies with strict sanitary US Dept of Agriculture standards.
  • Organic fish contributes to communities' health through certified nutritional values.

 

Market Statistics - Organic Fish and our ecology

  • Our ocean's edible species may enter endagered species listing by 2048

  • Demand for organic fish and produce continues to be preferred products
  • Organic fish demand will surpass supply in only a few more years - 2012

Organic Fish Market Demand

  • Tilapia is now the 4th most consumed fish in the US behind Tuna
  • Demand for organic fish in retail grocery stores and natural food stores keeps growing

  • Organic fish demand is steadily growing for nutritional value

 

================================================================================================================================

 

Organic Farming Outlook

 

It offers a unique opportunity to American fish farmers to domestically grow fish within controlled "organic environments" and raise healthy, fresh and naturally grown fed fish.  This fullfills the expectation of consumers today and future trends for organic edibles. The American fish farmer can raise fresh Tilapia and fill the market void created by non-organic fish growers.

 

All market indicators point to the consumer desire to purchase naturally, fresh growing vegetables and animal food. Awareness of the relationship between health and diets indicate the American consumer desire to avoid eating frozen and chemically preserved food. Tilapia fish organically grown falls within the class of fresh, unfrozen food and its demands grows daily nationwide.

 

================================================================================================================================

                                                                                                                                   

 

Fifteen Minutes with.......................................

Dr. Martin Schreibman and Tilapia Aquaponic Farming

By Logan Sachon

 

Martin Schreibman is a man with a vision for the future, and that vision involves a lot of fish tanks - in downtown Brooklyn. Watch Video above.

 

Like many progressive thinkers, he is a proponent of creating better food, more jobs, and a better life for people in cities. But his preferred method for accomplishing all this - urban aquaculture - means he is at times viewed as both a revolutionary on the cusp of greatness and as a scientist working on the intellectual fringe. A few years ago, many would have put him in the latter category. But these days, with sustainable and green living en vogue, Schreibman and his ideas are a hot commodity.

 

Founder and director of the Aquatic Research and Environmental Assessment Center at CUNY’s Brooklyn College, Schreibman is attracting attention for his idea that New York can be a bustling hub of aquaculture-bred commerce, and he’s testing the waters in the basement of the AREAC building in Brooklyn. His belief (and there’s a certain gospel in the numbers of fish in tanks in his basement) is that the time is nigh for urban fisheries to join urban gardens in contributing to sustainable cities. Fisheries create food and jobs, and they replenish depleted fish populations.

 

As far as Schreibman is concerned, it’s a win-win-win, no matter how you slice it.

 

You are a neuroendocrinologist. Tell me a bit about how you transitioned from studying osmoregulation to becoming a champion of urban aquaculture.

 

Gee, I like that title - champion of urban aquaculture. This is a driving force with me now. I worked with fish since my graduate school days, which was a long time ago, in lieu of working with rats and hamsters and rabbits - stuff like that. One of the projects we spent a lot of time on was the relationship between environment and genetics and age at puberty and what controls maturation, sexual development, and that sort of stuff. Our interest in reproduction of fishes led us to work on questions of inducing maturation and spawning in captivity by regulating the neuroendocrine system. Further on down the line, we developed a center which had broader implications.

 

Did you have a light-bulb moment, when you saw that what you were doing could actually lead to something completely different?

 

I think everything just developed step-by-step. I do get these light-bulb moments, and most people say, “Martin you’re crazy, stupid idea, blahblahblah.” And some of them come to pass. I used to drive by this landfill, a waste treatment plant, and I would see this smoke go up. It’s New York, it’s cold out there, and I would think, “Why don’t they harness that energy that’s being dissipated and grow tropical fish?” And my colleagues would go, “Martin you’re losing it.” But now many places are utilizing the waste energy that is coming out of our landfills and water treatment plants to do that very thing.

 

Did your interest in sustainability come from your childhood, or did it develop later?

 

It developed later. The whole issue of aquaculture, urban aquaculture - these systems are perfect for growing a lot of fish in a small area, and they are very environmentally friendly. So working with aquaculture, it became clear that there were a lot of opponents to aquaculture. I always point out that, it’s not my term - people use it, but it’s the Blue Revolution. I point out that we had the Industrial Revolution, and the Green Revolution, and we have all these problems that we’re still living with 100 years later. So whatever problems that we have in aquaculture are problems that we need to address, rather than run from. And one of these is the issue of sustainability. That’s one of the things we’re trying to work on. We’re trying to find alternate food sources for these animals so we don’t have to feed them fish meal and fish oil.

 

Are you familiar with the Slow Food movement?

 

Slow Food, yeah, there’s a big push in New York. A magazine just came out called Edible Brooklyn. There’s a big push and great interest, and the proliferation of the green markets is uncanny. This sudden thrust of eating what you’re growing and being the farmer.

 

Can Slow Food go hand-in-hand with aquaculture?

 

Back to the Blue Revolution. These are issues that need to be contended with. Certainly there are energy costs associated with this technology, but there are energy costs with flying them and trucking them to the place of consumption. So there are trade-offs on that. New York is now growing lambs and making cheeses that are not indigenous to this area. I guess it’s called progress.