I became a marine biologist because I believed that there was a future in aquaculture. I was very interested in growing lobsters, but for reasons beyond the scope of this site, there is no advantage to growing lobsters in captivity. But I saw a future in fish farming.
I became a marine biologist because I believed that there was a future in
I met a guy fortunate enough to be born with a trust fund. He was using his money to try to grow Tilapia in New England. At this time, Tilapia was not imported into the US, so it was more of an exotic fish. But as it turned out, growing Tilapia was tough to do in New England. Tilapia requires 80° water, and in the winters in New England, it becomes very expensive. He found a crop to grow alongside the Tilapia to supplement the cost. Over the top of the tilapia tank were basil plants being grown hydroponically. Water from the fish containing fish waste was pumped into the hydroponic garden and over the basal. It then flowed back into the fish tank. In the end, I believe he made more money selling the basil than he did the fish and it turned out to be an impractical endeavor.
Tilapia Tank
Basil growing over tank
A trout farm in Sunderland, MA, was for sale. It grew brook trout. I designed a system incorporating the brook trout farm with the aquaculture and attempted to get funding. It’s too high a risk for regular investors, but I hoped the government would be interested. It was not. However, we did sell some interesting products from the trout farm. Baby brook trout was canned and sold as Trout Nouveau, a gourmet specialty food product.
Tilapia (not my legs)
Brook Trout runway