http://www.mbl.edu/mrc/outreach/sustainable_aquaculture/news.html

List of words pulled from this article for maybe the making of a crossword puzzle: Initial, Rearing, Measurable, Astonishing, Forward, Fallow, Expenses, Relentless, Indeed, Indigenous, Palatable, Prevented


Maybe we can get some attention from the current leader of the United Nations.

January 2009 MBL Sustainable Aquaculture Program: Progress Report on Fish farming in Haiti

1.
With great thanks to the many individuals and organizations who have supported us, we submit this report to inform and summarize for you how your contributions have been used, what progress we have made towards initial goals, and where we see this project going from here. The thousands of hours we have spent dedicated to developing fish rearing methods for the people of Haiti—in the lab at the Marine Biological Laboratory, experimenting in our Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute greenhouse (affectionately known as “mini- Haiti”), and on the ground in Haiti— is now yielding measurable results. Working in Haiti is often frustrating; we have encountered sometimes astonishing obstacles. We have, however, overcome enough of them to generate forward momentum and can now see real progress being made. During the past year, fish have been harvested in ponds that were previously fallow. Families who cannot afford food other than rice and beans now have fish dinners, and revenue generated from selling fish is available for school tuition, medicine, and other important expenses. The wonderful people of Haiti have reaped these benefits as a result of your help and faith in our project, and their own relentless struggle to better the quality of their lives. All our efforts have shown us that, working together, it is indeed possible to improve the human condition.

2.
During the first two years of this project we explored development of a nutritionally balanced fish feed using indigenous plant material from Haiti. Several species of plants were chosen based on their nutritional composition. Sufficient quantities of these plants were imported from Haiti to create varying pellet “recipes” and to conduct feed trials. After many trials we finally developed and identified a successful formula. This plant-based feed was palatable to the fish, could be made using methods congruent with the local culture and available technologies, and it made the fish grow. The impeding factor to successfully implementing this product, and that which has prevented the indigenous-plant-feed concept from working in rural Haiti, is that most Haitians simply do not have disposable time to devote to making the feed. Life in Haiti is an hour-by-hour struggle. Typical families spend 3-6 hours/day hauling water; there is simply not enough time to devote to making fish food when human bellies are empty. A better technique was needed.

3.
Further time spent working and living in Haiti eventually produced for us a paradigm shift in our approach to the problem. The new question was not about how to develop an indigenous fish feed formula, but rather, how to produce high quality fish protein using minimal resources, including people hours.

4.
Research and experimentation has led us to determine that Periphyton Aquaculture Technology (PAT), is the technique best suited for farming fish in Haitian ponds. Periphyton is the green slimy algae-like growth that develops on submerged objects in almost any aquatic environment. Pheriphyton is familiar to us as the organic matter that causes people to slip and slide on river or pond rocks, but more importantly, it serves as an extremely nutritious protein sources for higher aquatic organisms. Depending on the nutrients available in the water, periphyton can provide as much as 100% of the essential amino acids necessary for fish to grow. Tilapia, the species of fish being farmed in Haiti, are not only morphologically adapted to feed on periphyton, but they are attracted to it as a food source and are extremely efficient in converting periphyton into high quality fish flesh. The quantity of fish produced using the PAT technique is reliant and directly proportional to the quality of the fertilizer available in the pond water (typically provided via compost added to ponds), and to the amount of substrate surface area available for the periphyton to grow on. If properly prepared and composted, a Haitian pond using the PAT technique will produce fish mass equal to that of one utilizing expensive (if available!) commercial fish food.

5.
In March 2007 we conducted a full day training seminar in L’Acul, Haiti, teaching 16 Haitian community leaders, known as “animators,” how to prepare ponds and rear fish using PAT methods. Each of these animators, (who serve as the equivalent of U.S. agricultural extension agents), oversees the work of 30-50 fellow villagers in specific regions of Haiti. Following the training session, the animators were responsible for returning to their home areas, and for teaching their fellow Haitians to implement PAT techniques in 50+ ponds that were, at the time, fallow due to lack of food for the fish.

6.
Rearing fish without the apparent use or introduction of “fish food” is a difficult notion for anyone to understand, especially for those in a culture that has historically never raised fish. Our initial efforts to develop the fish farmers’ trust in this odd concept were agonizingly slow. Patience and perseverance on behalf of the animators, and considerable time spent in Haiti by our project coordinator, Nick Warren, has resulted in a gradual acceptance of PAT. People are seeing fish harvested and are gaining confidence in this method. Furthermore, we are beginning to see unprompted replication of the technique by others.

7.
The irony of rearing fish in Haiti using PAT is that many of the most technologically advanced nations in the world are rapidly working to employ these same techniques. As Haitian fish farmers follow the procedures we have taught them, they produce fish using one of the most sustainable and environmentally responsible methods available—they are also producing a wholly organic product. According to the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), only .01% of the world’s cultured fish can be certified as organic. For anyone facing the blight of not malnutrition, the possibility of replacing a mud cookie with one of the most valuable sources of protein on earth is remarkable. To accomplish this in a sustainable fashion using minimal effort or resources is even more remarkable. We are employing every effort to make it happen.

8.
During our most recent visit to Haiti, October 17-24, 2008, we witnessed the harvest of a pond managed by two Haitians who had attended our initial training seminar. Fish in this pond were raised using the PAT technique exclusively, with manure, leaves and minimal human labor the only inputs. Approximately two pounds of small fish were originally stocked into the pond, and nearly 25 pounds were harvested! While 25 pounds is only a fraction of what the pond is capable of producing, it is a great start. The harvested fish were sold, traded, and eaten by numerous people. To see so many people provided a nutritious meal and income generated as well, was inspiring for us. But perhaps even more inspiring was the enthusiasm expressed by the fish farmers to repeat the process and try to do it even better next time! Willingness for fish farmers continue their efforts and unprompted replication at other ponds is a great indication that worthwhile results come from PAT ponds– this is what we had been waiting for.

9.
In October we also had the chance to investigate rumors that new fishponds were being built in more remote Haitian villages. Many hours of hiking led us to find 21 recently constructed small ponds, complete with compost, substrate, and fish! Nobody was paid to build these ponds, and we are still not certain how PAT arrived in these far-removed areas, but clearly word of our new technique has traveled. Haitians are beginning to have faith in this method of rearing fish and they are learning it from each other, a true hallmark of sustainability.

10.
On another front this year,

[- this may be where the writer of this article is brining in the selfish monetizing part of this - your thoughts on this? -]

we are very pleased to report that we have formally established collaborative research efforts with several world-renowned experts in the field of low resource aquaculture. An emerging network of scientists is working to address sustainable aquaculture around the globe, and we are very fortunate to now have a close working relationship with two of the top researchers in this field: Dr Ana Milstein, of the Dor Biological Station, Israel, and Dr. Md. Abdul Wahab, of the Bangladesh Agricultural University. Drs. Whab and Milstein have dedicated their professional careers toward developing low resource fish production methods. In conjunction with their joint visit to meet with us in Woods Hole this Spring, we had the opportunity to sponsor a symposium hosting some of the top U.S. researchers working to address similar issues. Twenty-five dedicated experts attended our symposium; information shared at this collective was phenomenal, and the combined expertise of these eminent scientists was pledged to us at the close of the meeting. Their support, in conjunction with the facilities and scientific talent available at the MBL, will allow us to further perfect and refine the production of fish protein in a sustainable fashion.

11.
Farming fish using periphyton works, but there remain important questions to be answered. Technical issues we would like to address are:
- improvement of the nutritional composition and fertilizing impact of compost used in the ponds;
- establishment of better design and construction methods for substrate;
- development of mechanisms for incremental harvesting; reduction in the proliferation of larval fish;
- implementation of value-added methods to preserve, store and sell harvested fish (i.e. smoking [like done in Alaska and Brazil and other places], salting, pickling etc.); and,
- investigation of ancillary soil-based crops that can be used to complement and bolster fish production.

Finally, knowledge gained and not shared is worthless. Thanks to coverage by API and UPI press services, the international exposure our work in Haiti has received has prompted inquiries from other impoverished areas of the world faced with similar issues of low resource food production.

As we refine and prove techniques in both the lab and the field, we hope to
- launch a broad information dissemination campaign permitting others to easily duplicate what we have learned.

12.
As budgets permit and we continue research to address these challenges and perfect techniques, we need to spend as much time as possible working in Haiti, where ultimately, all our solutions must be successfully applied. At this juncture we are well aware that navigating through the social challenges and instituting new practices in Haiti requires a continued physical presence there. Haiti is more of a “Show me” state than Missouri. It is our hope that when further successes are demonstrated, replication will continue to follow, with more and more families able to improve their quality of life. Everyone has had a brief glimpse of hope and success but until the successes are repeated and enhanced they are fragile. The Haitian people are beginning to trust us, we need to further bolster this trust and do everything possible to keep the momentum moving ahead.

13.
Thank you for your interest in, and financial and moral

[ - why is it that "moral" can be seen as the earth rotating on its axis, and "ethics" can be seen as all the planets revolving around the sun? just as aside -]

support of our efforts. We hope this report will serve to inform you of the progress you have helped to make possible. Many impoverished people are now a little better off, and are poised to continue to improving the quality of their lives as a result of your help. We are eternally grateful.