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Why We May Be Able to Start Feeding Ourselves From Urban Waters Again | 
Alternet
http://www.alternet.org/food/why-we-may-be-able-start-feeding-ourselves-urban-waters-again?akid=9642.269594.DthlFZ&rd=1&src=newsletter738000&t=16

Why We May Be Able to Start Feeding Ourselves From Urban Waters Again

Small-scale vertical farms -- some of the first in the country -- are 
designed to grow multiple species of seaweed and shellfish, have small 
footprints and provide an array of environmental benefits.

October 25, 2012  |

This article was published in partnership with GlobalPossibilities.org.

They are back: blue mussels and menhaden have returned to Long Island 
Sound this year in huge numbers. On this 40th anniversary of the Clean 
Water Act, we can celebrate their homecoming as a sign of the progress 
made reviving our Sound. More needs to be done, but this welcome news of 
cleaner waters opens the opportunity to begin farming the urban sea.

Aquaculture has rightly earned a reputation for growing low quality 
seafood at the expense of the environment, but a new form of 
ocean-friendly farming has emerged right here in Long Island Sound. 
These small-scale vertical farms -- some of the first in the country -- 
are designed to grow multiple species of seaweed and shellfish, have 
small footprints and provide an array of environmental benefits. Picture 
them as three-dimensional gardens, where seaweed, mussels and scallops 
grow at the top of the water column, stacked above oysters and clams below.

Eating local seaweed may seem exotic, but it's coming to a plate near 
you. While shellfish have seen turns as both delicacies and a staple 
food source in our region for hundreds of years, the seaweed that grows 
alongside them is less familiar. It shouldn't be, though: a native 
seaweed like Nori contains more vitamin C than orange juice, more 
calcium than milk, and more protein than soybeans. And it might surprise 
those of us on the hunt for Omega-3's to learn that many fish do not 
create these heart-healthy nutrients -- they consume them. By eating the 
plants fish eat, we get the same benefits. Already restaurants such as 
Beyond Sushi in Manhattan have crafted entire menus around these sea 
vegetables, and a bevy of gourmet chefs are working on recipes to make 
locavores swoon.

The best news is that these farms do more than grow food: in every 
sense, they restore rather than deplete. Matched up against land-based 
farming, these new ocean farms win every time. Seaweed and shellfish 
require no inputs--no land, no fertilizer, no fresh water--and since 
they grow three-dimensionally, they use space more efficiently than 
their land-based counterparts.

Shellfish and seaweed also act as filters, drawing out nitrogen and 
heavy metals -- the primary objective of the Clean Water Act. While an 
important nutrient for humans, excess nitrogen from residential and 
agricultural runoff into the Sound regularly triggers large-scale algae 
blooms that deplete oxygen levels, killing marine life and forcing beach 
closures. With a single oyster filtering up to fifty gallons of water a 
day, even small farms can have measurable impacts on water quality. 
Farms in waters polluted by heavy metals are cultivating shellfish and 
seaweed not for food production, but for the continued rehabilitation of 
the Sound. One local initiative, spearheaded by the Bronx-based 
nonprofit Rock the Boat and Dr. Charles Yarish of the University of 
Connecticut, grows kelp and mussels in the Bronx River to filter out 
mercury and other pollutants. Other local projects are even building 
oyster reefs to protect New York from storm surges and flooding.

Still not convinced? Local ocean farms are also emerging as a viable 
source for alternative energy. As the fastest growing plant in the 
world, kelp is capable of producing over 2,000 gallons of biofuel per 
acre annually -- five times higher than the ethanol produced by corn and 
up to 30 times more per acre than soybeans. With companies like RPM 
Sustainable Technologies already working with Long Island Sound farmers 
to source kelp for their biofuel operations, the promise of growing 
alternative energy in local waters is on its way to becoming a reality.

Ocean farms open both new and old pathways for economic development. A 
decentralized system of small-scale operations could revitalize life 
along the shoreline, first by creating new green jobs on farms and in 
the biofuel industry and then, as the sea recovers, perhaps opening up 
old fisheries and bringing back traditional means of making a living. In 
April, the New Amsterdam Market staged a one-day outdoor fish market at 
the old Fulton Docks in lower Manhattan, demonstrating that the 
neighborhood has the potential to be home to local seafood, not just 
financial markets.

Our urban sea promises to be one of our region's great comeback stories. 
After forty years of slow but steady progress under the Clean Water Act, 
it is time to deputize a new generation of ocean farmers to protect our 
Sound and grow the green economy.

Bren Smith is the owner of Thimble Island Oyster Co, the first vertical 
multi-species ocean farm in Long Island Sound.

Zan Romanoff is the Program Coordinator at the Yale Sustainable Food 
Project.