Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The C-Box things at one point were being given away in the Gold Coast, though I think it was more of a test the market thing then actually being prepared to do this, as I tried hard to grab a couple.


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Over the last 6 months my Dad has been contracted to the construction of the new Huon Aquaculture facility near Hobart in Tasmania and speaking to him yesterday the 90 million dollar complex is due to be completed around January next year.

Due to diminishing dissolved oxygen levels in the Maquarie river from the 500 million dollar salmon farming industry, Huon are going inland. There also has been a lot of concern around pollution to waterways for the mussel and abalone farming.

I've got some pics but unsure if I'm aloud to post them up for public viewing but I think that the aquaculture world in Tasmania is alive and well.

"We know how to build efficient and robust airplanes... The problem is we don't have experienced pilots ready to fly them"

Though only 1-2% of aquaculture worldwide is RAS... It becomes more necessary every day. in the future, it will be the only way to produce what we need without destroying our ecosystems.

Where is that quote from Ryan?

You never know Stuart; Ryan may think deep thoughts while doing physical work and it may be original (well apart from the stats).

maybe that could actually be "the only way to produce what we need after destroying our natural systems"

which ties in to Charlies comment "There also has been a lot of concern around pollution to waterways for the mussel and abalone farming."

Given Tasmania is one of the more unpolluted parts of the world......

And the quotation marks.

Agreed DLF Perth- Seems we only try to change AFTER we destroy, not when we see it as a future possibility. Google image search the shrimp farms in Asia flowing back out into the ocean and you will see miles of Alga blooms. Hell we've already killed off a huge portion of the gulf of Mexico and there is no life whatsoever...but who cares, it's not a heavy tourist destination

Stu beef- I do have deep thoughts from time to time (lol)but I heard this from Lars Pederson of Denmark in a round table discussion 4 years ago at the aquaculture engineering summit in Roanoak, Va. The panel was asked what they see holding back the future development of large scale RAS.

As a designer and pilot, I have found this to be one of the biggest hurdles for future development of aquaculture and AP for that matter. You can't buy experience and experience is exactly what we need.

I used to work with a wise man named Yoshi Horishima. He was in his 80's when we began working together and was crucial in the development of land-based shrimp farming... This guy literally helped write the book. He also made a profound statement that stuck in my head and always will. He said "Engineer can not grow fish" (to a group of engineers and me lol). 60+ years in the industry, projects on 6 continents, lifetime devotee... Couldn't have said it better. They make great designs, size everything to specs, know by theory that everything should work a certain way... But 95% could not grow fish in the system they designed. Sounds crazy but... Look at the history of aquaculture and it's spot on. The easiest thing in the world to do is design a system hand it off to somebody and get on with your life. Then when something doesn't work out like the calculations say they should, there are a myriad of excuses all putting the failures on the operators, not the designers.

And again, that's not EVERY engineer b/c there really are some brilliant guys out there but there's only so many and many times a single project will keep them tied up for years. We need more brilliant guys.

I've been writing a lot of stuff to investors and government over the last few years.

Basic summary is.

Water is the current primary limiting factor on agricultural production.

Feed Lots, Factory Farms, Stand Alone Aquaculture and Hydroponics reduce the limitations placed upon by water by using capital, energy and expertise.

Integrated aquaculture and hydroponics can achive the same independence from water but with less capital and less energy.

Capital can be made to be available, there are efficient and renewable sources of energy...

The last limitation is expertise.

If it wasn't for the quotation marks I would have assumed it was yours.

I hope you have managed to get some lunch into you Stuart

Wondered if I was the only one who caught that. damn auto correct.

Yeah Auto correct... damm auto correct.