aquaculture is “the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of marine plants and animals.” which can be facilitated in bodies of water and in large tanks on land. however, the intent behind aquaculture isn’t merely to create mass networks of fish-farms. rather, the idea is to build sustainable, individualized farms that cultivate specific species complementary to their environments. with 90% of the world’s large fish stocks being threatened by overfishing, this developing field is becoming increasingly relevant. 

aquaculture is in its infancy in oman; the country has pursued projects in earnest while acknowledging aquaculture as a crucial “key pillar” to diversify its economy. however, resource allocation and policy work remain. still, many remain eager to see how it could evolve. rumaitha al busaidi is an omani marine scientist who has supervised a number of successful aquaculture projects in the country. according to her, aquaculture has the potential to serve dual purposes both economically and environmentally, helping the country to slowly diversify its economy away from oil and gas. 

following a devastating cyclone in 2007, many traditional farms began hemorrhaging profits as their groundwater inputs had become salinated. al busaidi believes that building sustainable fisheries at these sites can help farmers and oceans recover from the major hit. tilapia fish do not occur naturally in oman, but aquaculture has helped farmers to explore a new source of revenue.

“how do you utilize a source now that’s no longer viable 100% for full-scale agriculture and use it to kind of close the loop and use it for another resource? that’s when fish [farming] came about,” says al busaidi.

oman is merely a case study of the potential of aquaculture, as it is gradually becoming a dynamic industry across the globe. 35 countries produced more farmed than wild-caught fish in 2014, according to the national oceanic and atmospheric association. the u.s. aquaculture industry produced 626 million pounds of seafood in 2017, according to paul hawken’s drawdown. 

while the solution can clearly create food, the potential to scale back the effects of climate change is especially fascinating. seaweed, for example, has been hailed as an unexpected source of biofuel. the marine plant gets the bulk of its weight from oil that can be converted into biofuel for cars, trucks, and even airplanes. the world’s energy needs could be met if 3% of the world’s oceans were set aside for seaweed farming, according to drawdown. 

one of the most notable things about aquaculture is that it has split off into a number of promising sub-technologies. “oyster-tecture,” for example, is an emerging field within aquaculture that focuses on “artificial oyster reefs and floating gardens to help protect coastal communities from future hurricanes sea-level rise and storm surges,” according to drawdown.

meanwhile, oysters are also able to absorb large amounts of carbon and, more importantly, filter out nitrogen. maryland state is dedicated to the restoration of oyster reefs on its eastern shore while oyster farming. each year, its harris creek reefs are estimated to remove an amount of nitrogen equivalent to 20,000 bags of fertilizer—a service valued at more than $1.7 million, according to the chesapeake bay foundation.

alas, aquaculture isn’t exactly a climate plan buzzword. much of the text of the green new deal and the biden plan for climate change and environmental justice centers on land-based approaches. in oman at least, aquaculture farms are nowhere near becoming the norm. 98% of fishing fleets in the country are traditional fisheries run by local fishermen, according to al busaidi. however, she maintains that the promise of a highly-developed aquaculture industry shouldn’t be ignored, especially when it comes to engaging young people in the conversation. 

“it’s a profession that a lot of young people are moving away from because it’s not cool anymore to be a fisherman,” says al busaidi. “much of the work is around determining how we make aquaculture cool again. how do we make fisheries cool?” 

cool-factor or not, aquaculture could be the oceans’ saving grace. environmentalists have asked how to save the oceans from overfishing, pollution, and the increasingly visible effects of climate change. however, maybe that inquiry should be turned on its head. maybe seas and oceans can be developed to be self-sufficient, and ultimately capable of protecting the planet. 

the field requires quite a bit of bolstering, but in the interim, countries can explore dedicating resources toward specialized aquaculture farms, while distancing themselves from the fishing practices that have resulted in today’s environmental dilemmas. the rise of aquaculture is a testament to the fact that when it comes to new technologies and community-oriented sustainability solutions, discovery is nonstop.

“this latest capture is disturbing,” said mark fritts, a u.s. fish and wildlife services ecologist based in lacrosse, wisconsin. “we’ve never seen that many fish caught at the same time in this region.”

in the upper mississippi and illinois rivers, asian carp reproduce rapidly, have no natural competitors and out-compete native fish for food supply and space, which devastates native fish populations – in some streams, they make up 75% of fish biomass. asian carp, which can weigh between 60 and 110 pounds, are also notorious for jumping up to three meters out of the water when spooked by boat motors or loud sounds – creating a public safety risk and threatening a $7-billion sport-fishing market.

despite prevention measures, like government-contracted asian carp fisherman and dam barriers, asian carp have been slowly spreading upstream to the upper mississippi river and the great lakes. prior to this, fritts believed that most of the population in the upper mississippi river was confined below the quad-city region in illinois and iowa. now, he’s not so sure.

james lamer, a large river ecologist with the illinois natural history survey, said heavy flooding in the mississippi river basin last spring may have caused the fish to spawn upstream.

or, it could’ve been sheer luck.

according to lamer’s research, asian carp play favorites. from 2013 to 2016, lamer and his team in illinois tagged and tracked asian carp migration through the illinois and mississippi rivers’ channels in search for some sort of pattern. they found that carp species and hybrids are more or less mobile based on different water temperatures, flow and volume, which makes their spread a little bit more predictable.

“the water temperatures are still really low, and that’s when they can aggregate,” lamer said. “lacrosse might have got lucky and just got a lot of fish in that one haul just because the carp tend to congregate during those cold-water temperatures in certain areas.”

from his research, lamer knows that april weather brings favorable conditions to asian carp in illinois’ contained backchannels, which is a crucial time for government-contracted fishermen and researchers to extract invasive carp from the streams.

but due to the spread of coronavirus throughout the united states, lamer said they might not be able to get out on the water and curb their spread.

“the only thing that we can do in the meantime is analyze data and try to figure out what we have going on with the data we have,” he said.

but lamer isn’t too concerned – his research gives some hope to midwestern waterways. asian carp are finicky about their environment. their preference for deep waters could keep them out of uninfected areas if the water levels continue at their current low levels, like they have been for the last couple of weeks.

“long story short, i think any damage of not fishing for the one to two months off the water due to coronavirus can be mitigated when fishermen return to the water,” he said.

even if water conditions are perfect, history shows the mississippi’s unpredictable environment can be a natural barrier to carp mobility. for example, lamer’s tagged carp had an abundant year in 2016, but had barely any sign of reproduction the next two years. lamer and his team think it’s because changing water flow pushed unhatched carp eggs out of the upper mississippi’s uninfected waters.

lamer is keeping a positive attitude, but the “ifs” are adding up. in the worst-case scenario, asian carp spread to uninfected waters and decimate native fish populations and the fishing economy.

the midwestern waterways’ fate is up to mother nature.

“asian carp have very variable recruitment and reproduction, and so if we had the water conditions are stable for them like they were in 2016, then it could be problematic if we’re not out there removing fish,” lamer said. “if conditions aren’t conducive to spawning or movement and all of the gates stay in the water because we don’t get major flooding, it may not be as problematic.”

“it’s kind of a gamble – we’re hoping for the latter,” he added.

fritts is less concerned, too. last year mississippi’s flooding set back his team’s research, and he said every year has its own challenges.

“my rocket is set on launch as soon as they give me permission to get back out there. but we’ll just do what we can. these forces are bigger than us and we’ll just do our best,” he said.

the project is a polyculture based solution, a highly productive floating ecosystem.it is a flexible one able to adapt its dimensions to the local food production needs and can be located close to many mega-cities or dense populated areas with a physical water access (seas-lakes-rivers). in example, but not restricted to, places like ny, chicago, seattle, tokyo, singapore, mumbai, jakarta, cairo, hk, shangai, sao paulo, doha, osaka, bangkok, shenzen, bahrain, abu dhabi,dubai, istanbul, los angeles, montreal, jeddah, kuwait city, seoul, karachi, sydney, and a long etc.

this is not science fiction. it is a serious and viable solution. it is not meant to ‘solve’ all of humanity’s hunger problems or to replace existing traditional agriculture; this is not the idea at all. the driver behind the project is to open a new initiative which can be complementary and compatible with other existing production methods in order to help reduce food risk associated problems in different areas of the globe.

what we propose
the project deals with the symbiosis / combination of different existing technologies in order to produce what we need more of, fresh and healthy food closer to our home. the top level of the smart floating farms will integrate the green energy production facilities (photovoltaic plant combined with skylights). the resultant green power generated along with induction of natural sunlight, will be used for the second level layout of the hydroponic farm (growing crops). the waste byproducts from these crops can be further used for feeding the fishes on the lower level (fish farming), while the waste from the fish farms can recycled as fertilizers for the hydroponic farm – thus a self-sufficient cycle and recycle process. passive and active desalination methods are considered. the facilities will be protected in their perimeter via a series of inflatable wave protectors, thus avoiding wave risks and other climate threats.

the sff project could be built out of well tested materials, technologies, and systems, which are already in use around the globe, in a way, we don’t need to invent new construction technologies, its all available in the market. the sff footprint has a shape of a rectangle inspired by asia’s traditional grid-shape fish floating farms, an efficient configuration which is rational and allows for maximum space for production.