Arctic Char In Sustainable Farming

2:54 AM in Aqua, arctic, char, farming, in, sustainable

Arctic Char Growing In Tanks

My experiences raising Arctic Char in land based farms using tanks and raceways, with groundwater supplies and water recirculation aquaculture systems, have been positive overall.

I am what you may call a Charr fanatic since the early eighties and most of my experience has been hard won. The road to now has had its share of bumps and even a couple of cliff sized falls. There have fortunately also been some sunny times and even pay days. It has been interesting and rewarding in many ways but also frustrating at times.

I have grown Char at stocking densities that exceed the normal for rainbow trout or salmon in similar farming systems. In a properly designed and operated land based farm, this factor can lead to increased production amounts per unit of rearing space. The high density stocking characteristics of the species can allow the production intensification necessary in controlled systems and provide increased economy of scale, helping to offset the increased costs of building eco-friendly land based fish farms.Full article published at northernaquafarms.com "Arctic Charr Aquaculture - History and Experiences in Canada"

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Salmon Farming Here To Stay

9:30 AM in Aqua, farming, here, salmon, stay, to

Report:

KINGSTON, R.I., March 9 (UPI) -- U.S. residents are eating four times as much salmon as they were 20 years ago, most of it imported farmed salmon.
Researchers at the University of Rhode Island found that the value of wild salmon caught in the United States and Canada dropped from $800 million to $300 million between 1980 and 2004, the Providence Journal reported. In 1980, only 2 percent of the salmon sold globally was farmed, which grew to 65 percent in 2004.

"The Great Salmon Run: Competition Between Wild and Farmed Salmon" by Cathy A. Roheim and James Anderson of URI and Gunnar Knapp of the University of Alaska concludes that wild salmon cannot supply the market farmed salmon has created.

Full story Science Daily

Its an important point thats reached when harvesting the wild cannot satisfy the demands of the population. History demostrates that dewindling capture quanities of all wild animals and harvests of wild foods were the main deriving forces that created the need for all types of agriculture.

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Hobby Farming and Good Food

5:53 AM in and, Aqua, farming, food, good, hobby

Many people are starting to use simple easy to build low cost aquaponics systems to grow fish, veggies and herbs at home. It can be a rewarding and relaxing hobby, one that also produces great tasting food in a sustainable manner without using artificial fertilizers or pesticides.

These mini sized eco-friendly aqua farm units can be built as a “do it yourself” project and a family activity that provides wholesome nutritious food year round. They can be set up in the garage, basement, shed, empty building etc.

Is the idea of growing your own fish and vegetables without using chemicals, is appealing to you? If so read this article.

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Aquaculture Cod Walloped — Newfoundlands cod farming industry

10:34 PM in —, Aqua, aquaculture, cod, farming, industry, newfoundlands, walloped

Lindsay Royston
From the November 21-December 4, 2005 Issue of Canadian Business Magazine

If you dont have a Newfie accent and walk into any of the bars on George Street in downtown St. Johns, its a safe bet a bartender will dare you to kiss a codfish. If you pucker up and throw back a shot of Screech, you will qualify as an honorary Newfoundlander. Its a small but telling example of how, despite the decline and fall of the Atlantic cod, the fish that sustained Newfoundland for centuries still has its hooks in the province — its culture, its lingo and its popular imagination.

Perhaps thats part of the reason aquaculture — an industry that promised to revive the cods economic importance — was so widely embraced in Newfoundland. After the wild fishery faded in 1992, the tiny coastal towns and coves that depended on cod became even tinier — they have lost upward of 10% of their populations. Former fishermen who stayed in rural Newfoundland instead of migrating to larger centres like St. Johns or Corner Brook found employment prospects bleak, and the many fish processors dotting the province were forced to run at significantly less than capacity. Amid the hard times, fish farming has come to hold an especially strong allure. "Aquaculture is the very best opportunity for some rural communities and regions to derive livelihoods from the sea far into the future," says Mike Rose, executive director of the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association (NAIA) and Newfoundlands leading aquaculture advocate. As in New Brunswick, salmon aquaculture is now established in Newfoundland — 2003 revenue came in at $6.7 million. Yet the farming of cod held out the promise of rejuvenating the provinces most important and traditional industry in a way that, unlike the wild fishery, might have proven sustainable.

Too bad Newfoundlands cod aquaculture experiment has ended up in the tank. The industrys failure is a tale of poor execution, difficult economic realities and bad luck that is all too familiar to those living on the Rock.

Full Story Link

As an aquaculturist and a Newfoundland born lad, its sad to see such a downturn in events.

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Aquaponics use in sustainable fish and plant farming

1:57 PM in and, Aqua, aquaponics, farming, fish, in, plant, sustainable, use

Aquaponics use in sustainable fish and plant farming

This post provides a quick review of the NorthernAquaFarmsCom recently updated web page containing an introductory article that describes aquaponics in simple terms.

The Following is an exert from the article:

Modern day aquaponics is essentially the rebirth of age old practices to farm vegetables, herbs and fish in a self contained eco-system. It is an eco-friendly way to naturally produce quality food for home use or for sale. This scalable farming method is experiencing renewed interest worldwide with many small home growers and large operations employing the process as a means of producing sustainable fish and plant crops. Read More

Northern Aqua farms has also added a new web store offering a wide range of Aqua Farming and Hobby farming Books, Ready to assemble Home Aquaponics Systems, outdoor apparel and outdoor equipment and gear.

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Introducing New Closed Loop Aqua Farming Blog

4:42 PM in aqua, blog, closed, farming, introducing, loop, new

To better define and provide information on aquaculture and aquaponics, I have begun a new blog that will focus on the topic of Closed Loop Aqua Farms. Where land based aquaculture is integrated with aquaponics and other farming methods designed to make maximum use of resources and farming bi-products. The new blog is titled Closed Loop Aqua  Farms. It can be found at this link

I will continue to post information here that is more specific to Aquaculture only particularly intensive land based farming using water recirculation systems. Of course recent and relative news will be blogged on both sites where appropriate.

This should help provide my readers with more more information that is better presented.

The new blog will focus more on the topic of aquaponics and poly-culture farm scenarios.

Closed Loop Aqua Farming Blog

The Image below is an illustration of the Closed Loop process that I will be blogging on.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy reading my stuff. If you do tell a friend about it!

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Aqua Farming Information Tour

11:36 PM in aqua, farming, information, tour

Recently Updated: A series of arcticles about aqua farming linked together in a page tour format. The tour covers topics relating to Aquaculture, industry history, farmed species, sustainable methods, design technologies and other subjects.

I have been asked many times, the question What Is Aquaculture? I am often tempted to answer "It means farming fish" that answer wouldnt be wrong, but it isnt totally right either. You cant really give a just description of a diverse industry with a short sentence answer. Perhaps the following will better serve as a description of the industry.

Aqua Farming Information Tour

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