permaculture

[Brent McMillan <brent@gp.org>]

Dear Permies:

I just received this from Leon Todd. I found the idea intriguing.

Sincerely:

Brent McMillan

Jon Bales and Leon Todd will attend the Green Living Festival at the 
Mitchell Park Conservatory ("The Domes") on Saturday, April 5, from 9 
a.m. to 3 p.m. They will have a UAC booth inside the Show Dome.

Aquaculture in the City
MILWAUKEE - There are many reasons the urban aquaculture movement in 
Milwaukee supports the approach of fish farming in the city according to 
John Bales one of the founders of the Urban Aquaculture Centre in Milwaukee.

Growing fish indoors is a highly productive and secure means for 
producing fish at a time when the security of our food supply is a major 
concern, he says.

He maintains that aquaculture is a growth industry with the potential to 
alleviate health concerns with wild caught fish. It also addresses the 
US seafood trade deficit that in dollar value is second only to oil.

"In addition, we know that harvesting fish from Lake Michigan waters 
does not satisfy demand, and commercial yields of fish from many areas 
of the Great Lakes are substantially below historic levels. Demand 
continues to rise, and it is clear that aquaculture must grow with the 
demand," says Mr Bales.

"The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations informs us 
that compared to Asia’s contribution to the world’s aquaculture of over 
90 per cent, all of North America contributes less than two per cent."

He adds: "Recent articles suggest that as a nation, we are not taking 
full advantage of the aquaculture research being produced by our 
excellent research institutions. The Great Lakes WATER Institute here in 
Milwaukee is a leading research center for growing yellow perch and 
sturgeon, and the transfer of technology for commercial production is 
encouraged, with new approaches welcomed by governmental agencies and 
educational institutions involved in this research and charged with its 
dissemination."

In Milwaukee, the Urban Aquaculture Center (UAC) is working to expand 
the industry using an approach that engages the community.

The UAC hopes to have Milwaukee lead the growth of urban aquaculture in 
the United States.

To address the problem of the risk involved in start-up operations, the 
UAC is seeking to have all of Milwaukee take on urban aquaculture as a 
new industry. This project requires the cooperation of all stakeholders 
— government, academia, and local businesses.

What the UAC proposes is a large-scale perch production facility and an 
education center for the public, oriented to urban agriculture, 
particularly aquaculture.

"Milwaukee is uniquely positioned for this endeavor for two primary 
reasons: its proximity to fresh water and to Growing Power, an urban 
teaching farm growing edible plants with fish in the same system." says 
Mr Bales.

"The Great Lakes WATER Institute and Growing Power are conducting 
experiments on the ability of plants, worms and bacteria to remediate 
water in a perch grow-out system. The results thus far are encouraging. 
Adult perch have done well in a greenhouse environment with only a pump 
to move water to gravel beds containing plants and beneficial nitrifying 
bacteria. This system, which closely mimics nature, shows promise."

He said there is more preliminary work to be done.

Proper design, analysis, and implementation of an urban fish farm are 
necessary to insure its success. This means a thorough feasibility study 
is needed by the stakeholders, including the public.

At all levels, a government’s commitment to provide increased support to 
the aquaculture sector is a prerequisite for the sector’s sustainable 
development, Mr Bales adds. Farming fish as an urban enterprise needs to 
be developed with the best management practices available. The UAC has 
been deliberate about assembling a board of directors with the talent 
and drive necessary to realize a possible $20 million center. Its 
initial goal is to conduct such a feasibility study.

The mission of the UAC includes preparing citizens to learn to live in a 
sustainable way through educational exhibits and community 
demonstrations on urban aquaculture and its global benefits. As a social 
enterprise, the UAC says it wants to become a destination attraction and 
develop a five-acre campus to house a research and education center, a 
production facility, restaurant and fish market.

TheFishSite News Desk

http://www.thefishsite.com/fishnews/6576/aquaculture-in-the-city

--------------------------------------------------------------
In Milwaukee Buzz
Urban Aquaculture Center offers cutting-edge fish production

Jon Bales (left) and Leon Todd "man" a booth for their proposed Urban 
Aquaculture Center.

By Molly Snyder Edler

OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer

E-mail author | Author bio
More articles by Molly Snyder Edler

Published April 2, 2008 at 12:16 a.m.

Tags: urban aquaculture center, leon todd, jon bales, urban fishing, fishing

If things look a little greener around here this April, there's a good 
reason. Our editorial staff is busy expanding the ideals of Earth Day 
into a month-long celebration of energy conservation, alternative 
transportation, recycling tips and about a million ways you can be a 
better friend to the planet. Welcome to Green Month, Milwaukee.

Within 10 years, the fishing industry will find it necessary to modify 
practices because long term mass capture of fish resulted in a shortage 
of schools and many that are plagued with toxic pollutants like mercury 
and PCBs. The outlook sounds grim – especially for a city filled with 
fish fry lovers – but Jon Bales and Leon Todd have a solution for Milwaukee.

They proposed an Urban Aquaculture Center (UAC), a large-scale 
production and educational facility, to serve as an "urban fish farm." 
The center would provide a solution to many of the environmental 
problems associated with unsustainable current fishing practices.

The proposed UAC includes a 150,000-sq. ft. indoor aquaculture / 
agriculture facility with an attached greenhouse located on five acres 
of redeveloped land, ideally along the Hank Aaron Trail and Menomonee 
River or a large, unused factory site.

Also, the center would feature classrooms for school groups, free 
demonstration to the public, a "lazy river" boat ride that floats 
through sustainable urban farming exhibits, restaurant, gift shop and 
fish market.

"My vision for the Urban Aquaculture Center is to develop a fish 
production-oriented center in a pleasant setting in Milwaukee to 
demonstrate that aquaculture is a viable and sustainable farming 
enterprise in a green urban environment," says Bales.

The production facility will utilize a recirculating aquaculture system 
treats the water with clarifiers, filters or trays of edible plants, and 
then the fish reuse it. According to Todd and Bayles, this system 
produces many more fish that those grown in rural ponds.

"It's all about growing good protein, free of environmental 
contaminants, in a recirculating system which doesn't pollute," says Todd.

Bales was raised in Milwaukee, attended Bay View High School and 
graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) with a degree 
in botany. He served with the U.S. Navy as a flight instructor and 
carrier pilot in the Mediterranean Sea. During the '90s, he was 
appointed Commissioner for the Housing Authority in Milwaukee. He 
recently sold his coffee plantation and trout farm in Costa Rica, and 
now wants to promote fish farming to the people of Milwaukee.

Todd received an MBA from UWM School of Business Administration and a BA 
in Latin & Greek Classic Studies at Northwestern Lutheran College. In 
1975, Leon was elected to the MPS Board of School Directors, held a 
city-wide seat and served until 1981. He was a candidate for state 
superintendent in 1977 and was re-elected to a MPS district seat in 1994 
and again in 1995.

The Urban Aquaculture Center is Todd's next venue for expressing his 
vision for education and employment development. "This is a new paradigm 
in thinking 'outside of the bun' to replace the manufacturing jobs lost 
over the last three decades in Milwaukee," he says.

The UAC concept is a national prototype and, if created, would give 
Milwaukee the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of urban 
aquaculture. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United 
Nations recently stated: "Aquaculture, probably the fastest growing food 
producing sector, now accounts for almost 50 percent of the world's food 
fish and is perceived as having the greatest potential to meet the 
growing demand for aquatic food."

"Many local organizations are working tirelessly to bring the local food 
movement into the city with new urban ideas, encouraging future 
generations to get back to the land and grow and eat close to home, 
rather than importing from places far off," says Bales. "The Urban 
Aquaculture Center is hoping to bring Milwaukee into the 21st century in 
terms of fish production and to provide an innovative solution to 
several environmental problems involved with fish."

The UAC partners with Growing Power, the Great Lakes WATER Institute and 
other public and private organizations. For more information about the 
UAC, please visit their Web site.

Jon Bales and Leon Todd will attend the Green Living Festival at the 
Mitchell Park Conservatory ("The Domes") on Saturday, April 5, from 9 
a.m. to 3 p.m. They will have a UAC booth inside the Show Dome.

Related links:

http://urbanaquaculturecenter.com/