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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
<http://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.