if you know me, you may know about my (recent) conflicted feelings about farm-raised seafood as well as overfishing in the wild. then, VETA LA PALMA's (frames and Flash warning! see this pdf and another pdf from the website) aquafarm and bird sanctuary gave me hope. Veta la Palma's biologist, Miguel Medialdea, has spearheaded a system that is:
1) A fish farm that doesn't feed its own fish - the system is totally self-renewing, and the fish eat only algae and phytoplankton that already exist in the water.
2) A fish farm that measures its success by the health of its predators who feed on the fish - It is a thriving bird sanctuary, where hundreds of avian species stop by and feed upon 20% of the farm's fish and fish eggs. In fact, a group of pink flamingoes is said to fly over a hundred miles each way from where they brood (a place where the soil is better for them to nest).
3) A fish farm in which water leaves cleaner than when it was introduced - Water running through the farm is purified, not polluted, as a result.
read an article about Manuel Medialdea and Veta la Palma from Time Magazine called SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE: NET PROFITS by Lisa Abend, and watch this TEDtalks with chef DAN BARBER of Blue Hill Farms in New York.
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