The Adventures of Island Aquaponics

[Wayne Hall]

My adventure into Aquaponics begin purely by accident, let me explain. I was born and raised in the Islands of the Bahamas, and I am told my family roots go back to the arrival of the Eleutheran Adventurers in 1647.

As the youngest of my mothers' three boys we each got shipped off to a family member for the summer when we where growing up, and no matter where we went somebody had a farm, so every summer we all had to work the "farm". From childhood I detested doing this, it was hard work, it was hot and it definitely was not fun.

So from then I decided that the last thing that I would be doing as an adult was working in the heat, so I pursued a career in the Information Technology field, which is what I hold my Masters in, and I have enjoyed working in this field immensely.

Of course over the past several years with the Bahamian economy going south like the rest of the world, it became harder and harder to find a job which was both mentally and financially rewarding, with technology changing so rapidly and the up and coming techno-savvy wiz kids constantly at banging at the proverbial door, it didn't matter that I had experience in a variety of work environments or the maturity to stick it out to completion, no matter what position I might apply for the response was always the same, we're sorry your over qualified, blah blah blah, I'm sure most of us have heard the same thing.

So I found myself in a job which payed the bills, but left me frustrated at the end of each day, praying for something better to come along, it seemed that all I was doing was spinning my wheels and getting nowhere.

Last Easter (2010) my Aunt passed away (she was the last of my mothers generation), and coming from such a large family (my mother was the youngest of 12 children), at the funeral I saw people who I had not seen in decades, since I was a child. One of them being my older brother (he lives in Vermont, I think) who I had not seen since my mother passed away in 1995. 

We all had a chance to catch up and he was telling me about his kids and grand children and everything else going on, his health, his business, his vegetable garden. All of us where saying pretty much the same thing, spinning  our wheels and getting nowhere fast and wondering about the future as it was looking bleak for everyone. So my brother says to me why don't you try farming, everyone has to eat, and if nothing else at least you will have something to eat.

I was like yeah right not in this lifetime, but he had planted the seed, and as I lay in my bed at night I got to thinking you know he is right all of us have to eat.

Living in the Bahamas, like any other county has it good and bad sides, the good being that it is "paradise", the bad however being that we produce so very little as a country ourselves (approx 1.1% of our GDP comes from agriculture), and are dependent on tourism and financial services sector (approx 75% of GDP, 60% and 15% respectively), that we import 90% of our food, and with the global economy being what it is, the cost of food here in the Bahamas is sky-rocketing. On the island of Abaco, a gallon of milk can cost in excess of $8.00 depending on where you purchase it from, locally grown tomatoes retail for $1.85 a pound or more, as I like to say welcome to "Paradise" just bring lots of money.

Of course the government of the Bahamas has been trying to promote food sustainability for decades, and over the last few years have been trying to encourage more and more Bahamians to go into agriculture. I pondered and talked with my friends and colleagues and anyone willing to listen and share ideas about agriculture. Everyone said the same thing, very labour intensive, very little profit, and cheaper to import. Look at all the farms that have been around and failed, and the story is always the same, nothing grows well in the Bahamas, we are a bunch of islands with very little soil, made up of mostly hard limestone which only works if you supplement the nutrients i.e. fertilize it to death literally.

So much for that idea, however my friend Peter, who like me has always thought outside the box, said what about aquaponics? Like everyone else I had the same response "Whats that?" so he sent me a link, which made me go "hmmm", and the next thing you know I am researching the internet trying to get as much information as I could about this thing called aquaponics. After many late nights reading everything I could find out about aquaponics, I said you know this would actually work here in the Bahamas (we are considered a sub-tropical climate) with the right setup.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources requested assistance from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), to develop a five year plan for the agricultural and fisheries sector, which was only just made available last year. Its an interesting read, but most notably there is no defined policy or plan for development of an aquaponics industry.

So this is how I got interested in aquaponics, as I continue to write more I will detail my adventures and share with you the my progress, until another post. 

 

 

 

 

[TCLynx]

There is the rub, All the stuff to do aquaponics is definitely not free.

[Wayne Hall]

ROFL  yes they could but then they would be willing to make a contribution, well hopefully anyway

[TCLynx]

White collar workers could have rooftop gardens at their offices too, sounds good to me.  Go up to the roof and graze on salad and bbq a fish for lunch.

[Wayne Hall]

Yeah thats the truth, living in "Paradise" is nice but it definitely is not cheap, 1 gallon of milk goes for the most affordable price of only "US$ 8.00", locally grown tomatoes retail for $1.80 a pound, and of course the best bargain today is locally gown watermelons for a the low low price of 0.89c a pound.

I like the idea of rooftop aquaponics for use by the local hotel restaurants, but the only drawback is that all the hotels have unions, thus the "salary and benefits" the staff get are better than most white collar workers, and of course there is the issue of the "other owners" helping themselves to the product.

But then again I guess no matter where you live one will always encounter these type of issue.

 

Another Fine Day in Paradise 

[TCLynx]

spend a lot of money is what you do to live on an island like that.

[Greg McCord]

Wow what I would do to live and work there too.

[Averan]

TCLynx:

I have that same thought all the time!  There's a business model in there somewhere....installing rooftop AP systems for hotels that have their own restaurants.

[Kobus Jooste]

I see so much of what I've been going through here in South Africa in what you write.  I have to say I think the economy is flat or dying for most people other than politicians and their spin doctors.  I got into sustainability issues before the downturn, but in a third world country such as mine, talk about sustainability and finding funding for projects is difficult when most municipal coffers are dry as dust.  The fact that there is a looming food crisis does not seem to alarm many people either.  I'm in the process of hunting for some form of stable job too, as the R&D stuff that I have been doing up until now is not keeping up with inflation.

 

Keep going at the aquaponics because as your brother said, at least you can eat your produce if you do not sell it.  I sometimes think that the world will need to go through a major food crisis before the purse holders will be willing to part with the funds needed to support aquaponics properly.  We also need to re-evaluate what we value in life.  Just a few decades ago, being able to put food on the table was a typical activity for most people.  "working the dirt" was not a sign of poverty, but of self-reliance.  We need to go back to that spirit!

 

All the best with your ventures.

[TCLynx]

I was just there not too long ago doing a New York Life Meeting (I do AV for corporate meetings for a living, though I would love to be able to afford to quit) and I spent much of my time thinking what a great place for aquaponics the Bahamas would be.

I was staying at a hotel where my room overlooked a huge area of roof over the hotel restaurant and I kept thinking that it would be a perfect place for aquaponics to grow some of the food to serve in the hotel.