March 27, 2024 • 32 mins
As the global population surges towards the 10 billion mark, the challenge of meeting the escalating food demands sustainably is an ever-pressing concern. In this episode of Science by the Slice, Dr. Ken Riley from NOAA Fisheries, Office of Aquaculture shares how aquaculture is a growing industry in the U.S. and many other parts of the world, to meet these needs of rising food demands. Dr. Riley shares from his vast experience, spanning industry, academia, and nonprofit work, to discuss aquaculture, where the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants could be one component to our future food security. This episode also covers the environmental implications of aquaculture, examining the challenges of working with different climate conditions and the importance of technology in improving efficiency. Listen to learn about this holistic approach to aquaculture, balancing the needs of humans with the health of marine ecosystems.
Resources:
PIE Center Aquaculture Toolkit: https://piecenter.com/aquaculture-toolkit/
NOAA Aquaculture Website: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/aquaculture
NOAA Office of Aquaculture Website: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/office-aquaculture
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Aquaculture Website: https://www.fdacs.gov/Divisions-Offices/Aquaculture
Transcripts available here: https://piecenter.com/media/podcast/#transcript
Are you an educator? The Science by the Slice podcast aims to inform diverse audiences about important issues in agriculture, natural resources, and public health. Check out our learning guides that were created as an educational tool to facilitate discussions related to the topics presented in podcast episodes. Download the learning guides here: https://piecenter.com/media/podcast/learn/
Music "Shelftop Speech" by Blue Dot Sessions at https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/thimble-rider/shelftop-speech/ Under CC BY license Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ricky Telg (00:04):
This is Science by the Slice, a podcast from the
University of Florida'sInstitute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences Center forPublic Issues Education. In this
podcast, experts discuss thescience of issues affecting our
daily lives, reveal themotivations behind the decisions
people make, and ultimatelyprovide insight to solutions for
our lives.
Phillip Stokes (00:35):
Welcome to Science by the Slice, I'm
Phillip Stokes, EducationCoordinator at the PIE Center.
Not long ago, my seven-year-olddaughter posed a question to me.
She asked, "How many people arethere in the world?" Like many
would, I went to my phone forthe answer, which is
approximately 8 billion people.
And this number is growingfairly rapidly. By 2050, the
(00:56):
global population is expected tobe closing in on 10 billion
people. And maybe it's a goodthing that my daughter is asking
this question, because it willbe her generation and subsequent
ones that will continue toaddress the ever pressing
concern of how the Earth'sresources will support the
population. And much of thescientific literature around
(01:19):
this topic is about foodresources. Can the world produce
enough food to feed this growingpopulation while accounting for
food preferences among differentnations, nutritional
requirements, affordability, andenvironmental sustainability.
And with a growing demand forfood, aquaculture is a growing
industry in the US and manyother parts of the world to meet
(01:43):
these needs. Aquaculture, thetopic of this episode, is the
breeding, raising, andharvesting of fish, shellfish
and aquatic plants. Basically,it's farming in water. Recently
at the PIE Center, incollaboration with the Florida
Department of Agriculture andConsumer Services Division of
Aquaculture and the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric
(02:07):
Administration, or NOAA,National Centers for Coastal
Ocean Science, we curated atoolkit to educate diverse
audiences about aquacultureoperations in Florida. This
toolkit underscores thepotential benefits of
responsible offshore practices,offering valuable insights to
stakeholders. You can access thetoolkit through the link
(02:29):
provided in the show notes. Sotoday, we're joined by one of
the experts from the project,Dr. Ken Riley, scientist and
Science Advisor for NOAAFisheries Office of Aquaculture.
Ken and I discuss theaquaculture industry and delve
into the expansion of offshoreaquaculture, the technology
driving production decisions,and the measures taken to
(02:51):
address environmental concerns.
Keep listening to gain a deeperunderstanding of aquaculture's
role in meeting global fooddemands.
Well, Dr. Ken Riley, thank youso much for being a guest on the
PIE Center's podcast, Science bythe Slice. It's so great to have
(03:12):
you here. And first, I justwanted to give you a chance to
introduce yourself. Tell us alittle bit about yourself, your
background, and the organizationthat you represent.
Ken Riley (03:21):
Hi, good afternoon.
I'm so excited to be here. I'm ascientist and Science Advisor
for NOAA Fisheries Office ofAquaculture. Our home office is
in Silver Spring, Maryland andit's right there outside of
Washington D.C. And I lead ateam of scientists and science
coordinators that work acrossthe agency to help support
strategic planning for all thescience that we do to advance
(03:42):
aquaculture development. Everyday, we're working on the front
lines to advance industrydevelopment to help produce
science advice, products, andinformation that can be used to
help in regulation andmanagement of aquaculture. I've
been with NOAA for a little over10 years, and I have a rather
unconventional path to mycurrent position at NOAA. In
(04:03):
that I've worked in industry, Iworked in academia, and I've
worked with nonprofitorganizations. I'm classically
trained in aquaculture andfisheries, meaning that I've
worked in a variety of differentuniversity settings. Many of
those were land grant or seagrant based institutions. I have
a doctorate in interdisciplinaryscience and fisheries, a
(04:24):
master's in aquaculture andfisheries, and a bachelor's in
marine biology and scienceeducation. And I've worked
around the globe in aquaculturedevelopment on food and
restoration topics. And I'lljust say that I spent a large
part of my career actuallyworking along the coast of
Florida, with so many differentspecies including clams and
(04:44):
oysters, shrimp, freshwater andmarine finfish.
Phillip Stokes (04:51):
That's great.
Yeah. And, you know, Ken, Ithink you've worked a lot in the
Gulf of Mexico, right and thenup and down the Atlantic coast.
So you have a good variety ofkind of the different waters and
the different types of I don'tknow seafood and aquaculture
that, that exists out there. Iwill say this. So when I think
(05:16):
about seafood, you know,something comes to mind for me.
And when I think aboutaquaculture, something else
comes to mind. Right. And sothey're related, of course, but
there is a little bit of adifference there. If you could
just kind of provide ourlisteners a little bit of an
overview of what aquaculture is.
(05:36):
So we know we have a baseline ofwhat we're talking about.
Ken Riley (05:40):
So aquaculture is generally the culture of aquatic
organisms, meaning, we thinkabout the way that we can farm
things and water. It generallyincludes breeding, rearing, and
harvesting of fish, shellfish,algae, and many, many different
types of organisms. And it mayinclude freshwater and
saltwater. Usually, it's forfood. Sometimes we're doing
(06:02):
things to restore populations,or stocks of shellfish or, or
finfish, or maybe even likecorals. In many places, we're
now thinking about aquaculturefor the other products that it
can be derived, such aspharmaceuticals, and other
industry or products that cancome from some of those culture
(06:23):
products. And then lastly, inFlorida specific, particularly,
there's a big industry aroundornamental aquaculture, so
growing plants and animals foraquaria. And for just pure
enjoyment.
Phillip Stokes (06:36):
What's involved in setting up aquaculture in
some of these different areas?
Ken Riley (06:40):
Sure, why don't I start at home with a place like
Cedar Key Florida, and talkabout how clam farming in the
90s really found its home andCedar Key. And the fact that
those clams are farmed on land,and bred in hatcheries. And then
they're stocked out into thishealthy coastal waters where
(07:01):
they're then allowed to cultureand grow for a period of time.
And then after about a year,they're then harvested and
brought to market. Well, that'sone example of like shellfish
farming. Increasingly now, wherethat story started in the 90s,
with clam farming, we're nowdoing oysters all around the
coast of Florida. And then as wewalk around the country, what we
(07:23):
see is that same story unfoldingin coastal communities around
the country. So when peoplethink about clam farms, they are
thinking about clams and oystersand other shellfish species in
this coastal waters. But thenincreasingly, we're thinking
about those same waters beinghome for new seaweed farms and
algae farms. And we're seeingthat, you know, emerging out of
(07:44):
Europe and Asia and then cominghere to the United States and
kind of taking hold. And then wemove on land, we're thinking
about coastal pond systems thatcan be used for raising species
like red drum or striped bass,or other species, those are
still marine, and at NOAA we dothink a lot about marine or
saltwater species. And thenthere's this whole new era
(08:06):
that's taken hold all over theglobe, attracting hundreds and
hundreds of millions of dollarsor billions of dollars. And
that's land based recirculatingaquaculture systems, or systems
where we have close containment.
We literally are recycling andfiltering all the water, and
reusing all that water intank-based systems to raise
finfish and shrimp and otherspecies.
Phillip Stokes (08:30):
So clearly, there's a reason why this is,
right now, a thriving industryand why, you know, it has moved
to a land based system. So whatare some of the reasons behind
that? And what does aquaculturereally offer to, to humans and
our food source?
Ken Riley (08:49):
Sure. So as we explore land based systems, one
of the things that's apparent isthat real estate can be rather
expensive, and can be aconstraining factor. So when we
build land based systems, it'sreally about understanding what
are all the inputs that arerequired, and in that, sometimes
it's the cost of land. It's thecost of energy. It's the
(09:13):
application and availability offreshwater or the use of water,
and the discharge of that water.
That can be some constraints. SoI don't want to lead folks to
think that land-based systemsare the only great opportunity
out there and the fact that itis part of the reason why we've
been exploring offshoreaquaculture in the Gulf of
Mexico and some other selectplaces around the nation. But
land-based systems are a centraltenant or a central part to the
(09:39):
offshore story too, because wehave to have those land-based
systems for breeding programs,for systems to reproduce, and
produce the fingerlings or theseed stock that would be used to
stock you know, grow outfacilities, whether they're in
land-based systems andpond-based systems or
potentially in the next frontierare the new, that new space that
(10:02):
we're exploring out in the open
Phillip Stokes (10:05):
You know, I think when when I go to my local
ocean.
seafood market, I don't know if,if people typically do this, but
I usually like to ask, you know,hey, where's this? Where's this
seafood coming from? And a lotof times, the answer is, oh,
hey, this salmon, it was farmeddown in Chile, it was farmed in,
(10:27):
you know, parts of Scotland or,you know, the shrimp, same kind
of thing. So is this, I mean, Ithink just to kind of round out
the discussion of aquaculture,is this what what we're talking
about as well, in this wholeconversation?
Ken Riley (10:42):
It is some of what we're talking about in the fact
that you're, you're leading intoanother particular topic of how
much seafood we import. Andyou're quickly recognizing, in
all our seafood markets, there'sa portion of the product that
we're seeing that is imported,in some places, it's really a
lot of that, that market spacein terms of the imported
(11:03):
product. And in others, we'restill celebrating kind of like
this local food system. But weget a lot of imported seafood
from South America, from Norway,from Europe and from Asia as
well. And it encompassesdifferent spaces. Now, we are,
you know, when we are thinkingabout, you know, what our
domestic aquaculture productlooks like, we're probably
(11:25):
talking about, you know,usually, we're talking about the
culture of local species, nativespecies, things that are already
part of our diet and arecomplementary to the commercial
fishing that occurs in ourcoastal waters.
Phillip Stokes (11:41):
Yeah, and I think that is kind of an
interesting point, talking aboutsome of the seafood here
domestically, we've beenconsuming for years, right?
Because it goes back to theindigenous groups that have been
here that have relied on theocean, that have relied on
different, the Guld, anddifferent systems for their food
(12:01):
source, a very nutritious foodsource, right. And so there,
there are a lot of culturalimplications. And there are some
economic implications, right, ifwe can do some of this, and
really, you know, focus on thelocal food system, I would think
there's a benefit from that,right. And so is aquaculture an
example of a way that we canpreserve some of our heritage
(12:23):
while also offering something tothe economy?
Ken Riley (12:26):
It certainly is. And it's part of how I got into the
study of aquaculture. And it'spart of my my history as well.
But let me just share in thefact that people for
generations, and as you said,for 1000s of years, have always
celebrated being tied to thesea. We have deep cultural
(12:47):
implications for coastalcommunities at those linkages
with coastal ocean, and ourestuaries and, and the ocean
itself. And so what I want toshare is that aquaculture is
part of our history. And it'spart of our story. And it spans
back 1000s of years in the factthat we've long been gardening
(13:08):
clams. And in places likeHawaii, we have fish ponds,
systems that are earlyaquaculture practices, and
they're in, in some cases, insome of the shellfish farming
communities, they're not muchdifferent today. And so we do
have that capability tounderstand that we have this
long history, that aquaculturehas always been there alongside
(13:29):
of commercial fishing. It's beena part of our story of gathering
seafood and then bringing thatto the table or to the market.
But aquaculture also offers manytechnological advances today,
that we can use moderntechnologies to produce more
seafood. And we can do that in away that is also sustainable.
Phillip Stokes (13:50):
Yeah. And you mentioned before, exploring the
possibilities of offshoreaquaculture, right, that's one
of the newer frontiers, right? Iguess I would say, you know,
what are some of those newtechnologies and applications
that NOAA and otherorganizations are really looking
to explore to enhance ourseafood production and for food
(14:12):
and for, you know, other otherservices as well?
Ken Riley (14:15):
Sure. So the first thing that we need to think
about is that real estate piece.
And so whether it's on land, orwhether it's in the coastal
ocean, I'm developing tools toessentially evaluate what is the
best available location or siteis really important. It's
important on land because it'sabout pickings, you know, access
and resources and aninfrastructure that's going to
(14:38):
be supported on that land. It'sequally or maybe even more
important in the coastal ocean,because we're doing this in a
three dimensional environment,where you know, the ocean has
depth and it has environmental,variance or change over time and
understanding, you know, whatare the environmental conditions
of our coastal oceans that wouldsupport aquaculture growth. And
(15:01):
so fully understanding andhaving essentially a good sense
of data and information systemson how our ocean behaves, what
is the climate of the ocean,understanding where to situate
and site farms is really, reallyimportant. And as NOAA, as a
(15:22):
leading agency on oceanobservation, weather
observation, it kind of puts usin the front seat there with
spatial planning and sitinganalysis. And then from there,
logically goes to engineeringand design of systems that can
withstand those ocean systemsand and the storm systems and
(15:43):
hurricanes that comes throughthere. And we're making
strategic investment inengineering and design and help
supporting the community ofengineers that are working on
those kinds of systems. And thenthinking through the species,
and identifying what are thecandidate species to farm in
those environments, whether it'sfinfish, shellfish, or seaweeds.
(16:05):
And then going all the waythrough how do you harvest and
bring those products to market?
How do you bring them to marketalongside wild caught products?
And then how do you make surethat you achieve market values
and prices that have asignificant return on
investment? So that businessplan is sustainable.
Phillip Stokes (16:28):
You know, it's really interesting hearing you
share this, Ken, because itreally does parallel what you
think about with traditionalland-based agriculture, right?
When you're you're picking plotsof land, you're looking at the
the soil and the climate of thatparticular area. And what can be
grown there, you know, what arethe different candidates that
(16:49):
can be grown in that area? Imean, and I know aquaculture is
essentially, it's farming inwater, but I mean, there's a lot
of transferable and relatablecomponents there. Would you say
that's true?
Ken Riley (17:04):
I completely agree.
You know, as I shared, prior toNOAA, I did a lot of teaching.
And so one of my favoriteclasses to teach was to take
students out of the classroom,and let's go walk along the salt
marsh, and look at like, thedifferent environments within a
salt marsh environment that havedifferent energy regimes. We
pick up handfuls of dirt andtalk about the consistency of
(17:26):
the soils, and are those soilsthe right soils for farming
oysters, or for farming clams.
We'd look at the wave climateand the energy across that site.
We'd do that in the coastalenvironment, we would go out in
the ocean and let students havetheir first experiences
sometimes on boats and vesselsand understand, you know, what
(17:47):
is it like to ride on a boat togo to work every day for five
miles. And that you might haveto do that, you know, year
around in the hot summer. Andyou might have to think about
transporting and keeping ice onthe boat to keep your product,
you know, safe and qualityproduct to get it to market. Or
you might have to think about inlight of like, working under
those harsh conditions sometimesto be able to, to work on the
(18:11):
farm. And it is not, whiletechnology can help us with some
efficiencies, it's stillfarming. And we should always
think of aquaculture as a sectoror part of the agricultural
industry.
Phillip Stokes (18:24):
So when we're looking at the big picture, and
we're thinking about selectingthe different areas for for
aquaculture production, right,and all of those different
variables that we have toconsider, there are impacts and
maybe I would think sometimesimpacts that we have to mitigate
(18:47):
for, but then also maybe somelike positive impacts, right?
Like, you know, shellfish mightbe there to kind of filter out
some of the the algae and cleanup some of the water. And in
some areas, maybe the fish areproviding some of those waste
products. And so I would thinkthere are, you know, different
things to consider, you know,kind of the byproducts and the
(19:11):
products of doing farming in anaquatic environment like that.
Ken Riley (19:17):
Sure. And I'd say that as we think about
agriculture, agriculture hasimpacts, right? For sure. And
it's it's good to put in thecontext of the fact that we are
growing food, food productionoften has and sometimes has
those negative impacts, but wecan also have those beneficial
impacts. And the easiest case tomake, the story is with like,
(19:41):
shellfish farming in the factthat you're able to find waters
that are healthy and highquality and have sufficient
water quality to farm our food.
And then that means that we'refarming that food in a way that
we're also going to be able torecreate and continue to fish
and use that water body. In manyplaces, we're seeing
(20:05):
eutrophication or areas thathave a lot of nutrients that are
running off the land from pointsource, nonpoint source
pollution. And in those cases,those shellfish farms can help
improve the water quality, theycan improve the water quality to
the to the fact that perhapsthat even things like sea
grasses and things can thenrecover and become to flourish
and those kinds of systems. Andthen sometimes, aquaculture and
(20:29):
even shellfish farming can haveimpacts on the environment. And
it, and sometimes those impactscan be characterized as short
term impacts where theenvironment is incredibly
resilient, such as when we go inand we harvest shellfish,
sometimes I start harvestactivities do have temporary
impacts, but then theenvironment itself is able to
(20:51):
quickly recover. And again, forthat whole water body, you're
able to maintain those greatfarming parameters and
essentially the shellfishfarmers are becoming sentinels
for the environment, they'reprotecting the water quality,
they want to make sure thatthey're always able to farm and
harvest their oysters out ofthat water. I used the example
with shellfish. But we shouldalso talk about the fact that if
(21:14):
we are talking about offshoreand fish farms and those types
of operations that we too haveto consider about those impacts.
And as a nation, we have some ofthe strictest regulations around
the globe in terms of how weprotect our environment. At
NOAA, we have mandates toprotect fish habitat to protect
(21:35):
water quality, to protectsensitive and protected
resources like whales anddolphins and sea turtles. And so
we take all those considerationsin siting farms offshore, we
take those considerations intoengineering those farms and
making sure those farms arecompatible with the environments
(21:56):
where they're located. And thenin considering the discharge
from those farms, we also takeinto consideration and we model
and do scenario planning andpredict how the environment is
going to respond to thosenutrients and in those additions
into the environment. And manycases, we're looking for the
(22:16):
optimal environment whereessentially the environment has
incredible resilience andability to recover and be able
to absorb those nutrients in thesystem.
Phillip Stokes (22:28):
Yeah, you know, it, it really does seem like,
and I know you presentedpreviously in a webinar that we
hosted as well. And thinkingback to that as well, all of the
decisions that are being made,you know, at least in the U.S.
domestically, when we'rethinking about aquaculture,
there's a lot that goes intothem. You know, there's a lot of
(22:50):
science and a lot of preparationthat goes into that that most
people aren't going to see, youknow, unless you're kind of
behind the scenes really workingon that. And I think that is
really important to share, youknow, the science of, like you
said, modeling out, you know,what are some of those best
locations and really accountingfor all of that. So Ken, if you
(23:11):
could just walk me through maybewhat that process could look
like from identifying a locationand thinking about some of the
kind of implications that wouldtake place with an aquaculture
production.
Ken Riley (23:27):
Sure. So let's talk about, just really quickly, the
different forms of aquaculture.
Sure. So inherently land-basedsystems are going to be those
decisions, deciding is going tobe you know, largely local
decisions, local municipalitiesand local ordinances to govern
business development that's in acounty or coastal county in a
(23:47):
state around the country. And indeveloping those farming
operations, those folks may workwith folks at a land grant or
sea grant institution, andoftentimes, that's extension.
And so they are there toextension personnel or sales,
essentially there with boots onthe ground such that they can
(24:08):
help people understand how tobuild an aquaculture operation
on land. They do that verysimilarly, in coastal waters. So
these are like nearshore coastalwaters, estuaries bays, where we
might build a shellfish farm forclams or oysters, particularly
in the Gulf Coast region. Maybeit was seaweed too, because
(24:30):
seaweed is an important growingsector of aquaculture, and those
land grant, and so yourinstitutions have academic
researchers, and they have folksthat work in extension and are
constantly there and availableto help folks with some of those
decisions about siting andplanning for aquaculture in
these state waters, and theyalso will work along other state
(24:54):
offices to help them understandthe rules. and regulations for
aquaculture development, as wemove further offshore with the
potential for offshore farming,that's beyond state borders and
in federal waters and in theopen waters of the ocean, such
as the Gulf of Mexico. And inFlorida, that's about nine miles
(25:17):
off the coast of Florida. Theconversation changes a little
bit in the fact that thoseproponents that want to develop
those businesses will also relyon the sea grant, land grant
institutional support. Butthey'll turn and they'll have to
have support from federalagencies. Because those permits
for that may be required will befrom the Army Corps of Engineers
(25:41):
and the Environmental ProtectionAgency. And that's a little bit
of a more complex process. Andat NOAA, we have regional
aquaculture coordinators thatwork to help folks navigate that
situation to understand what arethe rules, and regulations and
policies that are there to helpwith siting those farms and
permitting those farms. And thenin NOAA we have scientists and
(26:05):
science programs that can helpprovide science advice or
science information that goeseverywhere else that applies
across the board, from spatialplanning, and siting to identify
that real estate or those oceanneighborhoods where we're going
to build the farms, all the waythrough understanding what is
the engineering? How do weapproach aquatic animal health?
(26:26):
How do we work on the market andharvest and market side of
things. And then lastly, acrossthe entire spectrum of NOAA, and
the universities and othernonprofit organizations, we all
work in the space of educationand planning for what the
workforce development might looklike. And that's really, really
(26:47):
important to understand who'sgoing to be the next generation
of folks to go to work on thosefarms.
Phillip Stokes (26:54):
Yeah, and I mean, that's a great
explanation. And I would thinkthat with what is required in
this industry, you know,business owners and operators
would need all of that support.
I mean, there's probably a goodamount of risk and certain
occasions. And so, you know,deciding to go into business,
into this type of fisheriesoperation with aquaculture.
(27:16):
Yeah, it would be prettyimportant to get that support
from federal and state and localgovernments and regulators.
Ken Riley (27:26):
I completely agree.
The other thing I'd like to addis, at NOAA, and a particularly
proud reason that I work forNOAA, is that farmers across the
country turn to know every dayfor our weather products. Most
people know, when it comes toforecasting weather with
satellite information or otherocean and environmental sensors
from across the country andaround the globe. NOAA puts out
(27:48):
daily weather forecasts. And sowe kind of work in that same
space that our row crops and ourother livestock farms are
working and looking at thoseweather forecasts, we're
thinking about too, how we atNOAA can not only help on the
regulatory and the permian side,but how can we provide that
ocean intelligence, thatweather, that information, that
(28:09):
predictable forecasts to helppeople understand what it's like
to work in our coastal waters,as well as in those that are
further offshore.
Phillip Stokes (28:20):
You know, Ken I, I do want to give you a chance
to kind of wrap up and sayanything else that might be on
your mind. But you know, onething I was thinking about, as
we were talking is sort of theyou mentioned recreation. And in
even like, you didn't use thisterm, but even I would say
ecotourism. Right. And so I canremember some years back, I
(28:41):
visited the area of Port St.
Joe, it's not too far fromApalachicola, and I remember
being out in the bay, and justbeing on a paddleboard, and
going over, this was beforeHurricane Michael, by the way,
and going over the bay, and itwas very shallow. And in that
area, there was a lot ofclamming, you could do some
(29:02):
clamming in that area, justrecreationally. But the water
was so crystal clear. It waslike you were, it was like
you're at a touch tank at anaquarium. It was, you could see,
you know, it's maybe only aboutfour or five feet deep at times.
But you could see the bottom youcould see all of the different
(29:22):
organisms. And it was just suchan incredible ecosystem down
there. And, you know, I justthink it's really great that in
this industry, we can we canlive with, work with, and
recreate in this environment andin this space. So I don't know
if there's there's not really aquestion there. But I do want to
(29:43):
open it up. I think there's justa lot of social components. We
get something from it, but alsoit's just a great place to be as
well.
Ken Riley (29:51):
I'll just say that.
Aquaculture tourism is a growingpart and a fast growing part of
ecotourism and food tourism as awhole. In my home state in North
Carolina, we have an oystertrail, and the concept of going
on a vacation and you'reintegrating stops on your
vacation with your family to goout to visit an oyster farm or
(30:14):
to go out and see an oysterrestoration site, or to go eat
oysters, you know, they've justbeen harvested at the dockside.
Those are all important part ofgrowing part of tourism. And
it's also an important part ofhow we communicate about
aquaculture. And it's aninherently organic way that we
can teach people how to beconnected with their food, how
(30:37):
to truly understand aquaculture,and it's coming to every
community around America wherewe have aquaculture. And in
Florida, that's just about everycommunity in Florida because
almost every county in Floridahas some kind of aquaculture
happening in their backyard.
Phillip Stokes (30:56):
Yeah, and that's wonderful. And I do think it's a
great way to connect people totheir food and create that
appreciation and really buildthat knowledge. Is there
anything else Ken that youwanted to share? Before we close
out today?
Ken Riley (31:09):
I just say that we're, we're always listening.
And so having podcasts andplatforms like this. Hearing,
you know, our stakeholders andour communities voice their
concerns, developingcommunication products to help
people fully realize theopportunity that we have here on
understanding, you know, what isour sustainable seafood solution
(31:32):
for the future, what that mightlook like, and a seafood
solution that incorporates wildcaught fish and shellfish and
products alongside of foreignproducts. It's an important part
of how we get to food securityin the country. So I appreciate
you having us here today andlook forward to continuing to
work with you.
Phillip Stokes (31:52):
Well, Dr. Ken Riley, it was a pleasure. And
thank you for being on the PIECenter's podcast Science by the
Slice and thanks so much.
Ricky Telg (32:01):
Science by the slice is produced by the UF/IFAS.
Center for Public IssuesEducation in Agriculture and
Natural Resources. Thanks forlistening to today's episode.
Subscribe to Science by theSlice on your favorite podcast
app and give us a rating orreview as well. Have a question
or comment? Send us an email topiecenter@ifas.ufl.edu That's
(32:24):
piecenter all one word at IFASI-F-A-S dot U-F-L dot E-D-U.
We'd love to hear from you. Ifyou enjoyed today's episode,
consider sharing with a friendor colleague. Until next time,
thanks for listening to Scienceby the Slice.
This is Science by the Slice, a podcast from the
University of Florida'sInstitute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences Center forPublic Issues Education. In this
podcast, experts discuss thescience of issues affecting our
daily lives, reveal themotivations behind the decisions
people make, and ultimatelyprovide insight to solutions for
our lives.
Phillip Stokes (00:35):
Welcome to Science by the Slice, I'm
Phillip Stokes, EducationCoordinator at the PIE Center.
Not long ago, my seven-year-olddaughter posed a question to me.
She asked, "How many people arethere in the world?" Like many
would, I went to my phone forthe answer, which is
approximately 8 billion people.
And this number is growingfairly rapidly. By 2050, the
(00:56):
global population is expected tobe closing in on 10 billion
people. And maybe it's a goodthing that my daughter is asking
this question, because it willbe her generation and subsequent
ones that will continue toaddress the ever pressing
concern of how the Earth'sresources will support the
population. And much of thescientific literature around
(01:19):
this topic is about foodresources. Can the world produce
enough food to feed this growingpopulation while accounting for
food preferences among differentnations, nutritional
requirements, affordability, andenvironmental sustainability.
And with a growing demand forfood, aquaculture is a growing
industry in the US and manyother parts of the world to meet
(01:43):
these needs. Aquaculture, thetopic of this episode, is the
breeding, raising, andharvesting of fish, shellfish
and aquatic plants. Basically,it's farming in water. Recently
at the PIE Center, incollaboration with the Florida
Department of Agriculture andConsumer Services Division of
Aquaculture and the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric
(02:07):
Administration, or NOAA,National Centers for Coastal
Ocean Science, we curated atoolkit to educate diverse
audiences about aquacultureoperations in Florida. This
toolkit underscores thepotential benefits of
responsible offshore practices,offering valuable insights to
stakeholders. You can access thetoolkit through the link
(02:29):
provided in the show notes. Sotoday, we're joined by one of
the experts from the project,Dr. Ken Riley, scientist and
Science Advisor for NOAAFisheries Office of Aquaculture.
Ken and I discuss theaquaculture industry and delve
into the expansion of offshoreaquaculture, the technology
driving production decisions,and the measures taken to
(02:51):
address environmental concerns.
Keep listening to gain a deeperunderstanding of aquaculture's
role in meeting global fooddemands.
Well, Dr. Ken Riley, thank youso much for being a guest on the
PIE Center's podcast, Science bythe Slice. It's so great to have
(03:12):
you here. And first, I justwanted to give you a chance to
introduce yourself. Tell us alittle bit about yourself, your
background, and the organizationthat you represent.
Ken Riley (03:21):
Hi, good afternoon.
I'm so excited to be here. I'm ascientist and Science Advisor
for NOAA Fisheries Office ofAquaculture. Our home office is
in Silver Spring, Maryland andit's right there outside of
Washington D.C. And I lead ateam of scientists and science
coordinators that work acrossthe agency to help support
strategic planning for all thescience that we do to advance
(03:42):
aquaculture development. Everyday, we're working on the front
lines to advance industrydevelopment to help produce
science advice, products, andinformation that can be used to
help in regulation andmanagement of aquaculture. I've
been with NOAA for a little over10 years, and I have a rather
unconventional path to mycurrent position at NOAA. In
(04:03):
that I've worked in industry, Iworked in academia, and I've
worked with nonprofitorganizations. I'm classically
trained in aquaculture andfisheries, meaning that I've
worked in a variety of differentuniversity settings. Many of
those were land grant or seagrant based institutions. I have
a doctorate in interdisciplinaryscience and fisheries, a
(04:24):
master's in aquaculture andfisheries, and a bachelor's in
marine biology and scienceeducation. And I've worked
around the globe in aquaculturedevelopment on food and
restoration topics. And I'lljust say that I spent a large
part of my career actuallyworking along the coast of
Florida, with so many differentspecies including clams and
(04:44):
oysters, shrimp, freshwater andmarine finfish.
Phillip Stokes (04:51):
That's great.
Yeah. And, you know, Ken, Ithink you've worked a lot in the
Gulf of Mexico, right and thenup and down the Atlantic coast.
So you have a good variety ofkind of the different waters and
the different types of I don'tknow seafood and aquaculture
that, that exists out there. Iwill say this. So when I think
(05:16):
about seafood, you know,something comes to mind for me.
And when I think aboutaquaculture, something else
comes to mind. Right. And sothey're related, of course, but
there is a little bit of adifference there. If you could
just kind of provide ourlisteners a little bit of an
overview of what aquaculture is.
(05:36):
So we know we have a baseline ofwhat we're talking about.
Ken Riley (05:40):
So aquaculture is generally the culture of aquatic
organisms, meaning, we thinkabout the way that we can farm
things and water. It generallyincludes breeding, rearing, and
harvesting of fish, shellfish,algae, and many, many different
types of organisms. And it mayinclude freshwater and
saltwater. Usually, it's forfood. Sometimes we're doing
(06:02):
things to restore populations,or stocks of shellfish or, or
finfish, or maybe even likecorals. In many places, we're
now thinking about aquaculturefor the other products that it
can be derived, such aspharmaceuticals, and other
industry or products that cancome from some of those culture
(06:23):
products. And then lastly, inFlorida specific, particularly,
there's a big industry aroundornamental aquaculture, so
growing plants and animals foraquaria. And for just pure
enjoyment.
Phillip Stokes (06:36):
What's involved in setting up aquaculture in
some of these different areas?
Ken Riley (06:40):
Sure, why don't I start at home with a place like
Cedar Key Florida, and talkabout how clam farming in the
90s really found its home andCedar Key. And the fact that
those clams are farmed on land,and bred in hatcheries. And then
they're stocked out into thishealthy coastal waters where
(07:01):
they're then allowed to cultureand grow for a period of time.
And then after about a year,they're then harvested and
brought to market. Well, that'sone example of like shellfish
farming. Increasingly now, wherethat story started in the 90s,
with clam farming, we're nowdoing oysters all around the
coast of Florida. And then as wewalk around the country, what we
(07:23):
see is that same story unfoldingin coastal communities around
the country. So when peoplethink about clam farms, they are
thinking about clams and oystersand other shellfish species in
this coastal waters. But thenincreasingly, we're thinking
about those same waters beinghome for new seaweed farms and
algae farms. And we're seeingthat, you know, emerging out of
(07:44):
Europe and Asia and then cominghere to the United States and
kind of taking hold. And then wemove on land, we're thinking
about coastal pond systems thatcan be used for raising species
like red drum or striped bass,or other species, those are
still marine, and at NOAA we dothink a lot about marine or
saltwater species. And thenthere's this whole new era
(08:06):
that's taken hold all over theglobe, attracting hundreds and
hundreds of millions of dollarsor billions of dollars. And
that's land based recirculatingaquaculture systems, or systems
where we have close containment.
We literally are recycling andfiltering all the water, and
reusing all that water intank-based systems to raise
finfish and shrimp and otherspecies.
Phillip Stokes (08:30):
So clearly, there's a reason why this is,
right now, a thriving industryand why, you know, it has moved
to a land based system. So whatare some of the reasons behind
that? And what does aquaculturereally offer to, to humans and
our food source?
Ken Riley (08:49):
Sure. So as we explore land based systems, one
of the things that's apparent isthat real estate can be rather
expensive, and can be aconstraining factor. So when we
build land based systems, it'sreally about understanding what
are all the inputs that arerequired, and in that, sometimes
it's the cost of land. It's thecost of energy. It's the
(09:13):
application and availability offreshwater or the use of water,
and the discharge of that water.
That can be some constraints. SoI don't want to lead folks to
think that land-based systemsare the only great opportunity
out there and the fact that itis part of the reason why we've
been exploring offshoreaquaculture in the Gulf of
Mexico and some other selectplaces around the nation. But
land-based systems are a centraltenant or a central part to the
(09:39):
offshore story too, because wehave to have those land-based
systems for breeding programs,for systems to reproduce, and
produce the fingerlings or theseed stock that would be used to
stock you know, grow outfacilities, whether they're in
land-based systems andpond-based systems or
potentially in the next frontierare the new, that new space that
(10:02):
we're exploring out in the open
Phillip Stokes (10:05):
You know, I think when when I go to my local
ocean.
seafood market, I don't know if,if people typically do this, but
I usually like to ask, you know,hey, where's this? Where's this
seafood coming from? And a lotof times, the answer is, oh,
hey, this salmon, it was farmeddown in Chile, it was farmed in,
(10:27):
you know, parts of Scotland or,you know, the shrimp, same kind
of thing. So is this, I mean, Ithink just to kind of round out
the discussion of aquaculture,is this what what we're talking
about as well, in this wholeconversation?
Ken Riley (10:42):
It is some of what we're talking about in the fact
that you're, you're leading intoanother particular topic of how
much seafood we import. Andyou're quickly recognizing, in
all our seafood markets, there'sa portion of the product that
we're seeing that is imported,in some places, it's really a
lot of that, that market spacein terms of the imported
(11:03):
product. And in others, we'restill celebrating kind of like
this local food system. But weget a lot of imported seafood
from South America, from Norway,from Europe and from Asia as
well. And it encompassesdifferent spaces. Now, we are,
you know, when we are thinkingabout, you know, what our
domestic aquaculture productlooks like, we're probably
(11:25):
talking about, you know,usually, we're talking about the
culture of local species, nativespecies, things that are already
part of our diet and arecomplementary to the commercial
fishing that occurs in ourcoastal waters.
Phillip Stokes (11:41):
Yeah, and I think that is kind of an
interesting point, talking aboutsome of the seafood here
domestically, we've beenconsuming for years, right?
Because it goes back to theindigenous groups that have been
here that have relied on theocean, that have relied on
different, the Guld, anddifferent systems for their food
(12:01):
source, a very nutritious foodsource, right. And so there,
there are a lot of culturalimplications. And there are some
economic implications, right, ifwe can do some of this, and
really, you know, focus on thelocal food system, I would think
there's a benefit from that,right. And so is aquaculture an
example of a way that we canpreserve some of our heritage
(12:23):
while also offering something tothe economy?
Ken Riley (12:26):
It certainly is. And it's part of how I got into the
study of aquaculture. And it'spart of my my history as well.
But let me just share in thefact that people for
generations, and as you said,for 1000s of years, have always
celebrated being tied to thesea. We have deep cultural
(12:47):
implications for coastalcommunities at those linkages
with coastal ocean, and ourestuaries and, and the ocean
itself. And so what I want toshare is that aquaculture is
part of our history. And it'spart of our story. And it spans
back 1000s of years in the factthat we've long been gardening
(13:08):
clams. And in places likeHawaii, we have fish ponds,
systems that are earlyaquaculture practices, and
they're in, in some cases, insome of the shellfish farming
communities, they're not muchdifferent today. And so we do
have that capability tounderstand that we have this
long history, that aquaculturehas always been there alongside
(13:29):
of commercial fishing. It's beena part of our story of gathering
seafood and then bringing thatto the table or to the market.
But aquaculture also offers manytechnological advances today,
that we can use moderntechnologies to produce more
seafood. And we can do that in away that is also sustainable.
Phillip Stokes (13:50):
Yeah. And you mentioned before, exploring the
possibilities of offshoreaquaculture, right, that's one
of the newer frontiers, right? Iguess I would say, you know,
what are some of those newtechnologies and applications
that NOAA and otherorganizations are really looking
to explore to enhance ourseafood production and for food
(14:12):
and for, you know, other otherservices as well?
Ken Riley (14:15):
Sure. So the first thing that we need to think
about is that real estate piece.
And so whether it's on land, orwhether it's in the coastal
ocean, I'm developing tools toessentially evaluate what is the
best available location or siteis really important. It's
important on land because it'sabout pickings, you know, access
and resources and aninfrastructure that's going to
(14:38):
be supported on that land. It'sequally or maybe even more
important in the coastal ocean,because we're doing this in a
three dimensional environment,where you know, the ocean has
depth and it has environmental,variance or change over time and
understanding, you know, whatare the environmental conditions
of our coastal oceans that wouldsupport aquaculture growth. And
(15:01):
so fully understanding andhaving essentially a good sense
of data and information systemson how our ocean behaves, what
is the climate of the ocean,understanding where to situate
and site farms is really, reallyimportant. And as NOAA, as a
(15:22):
leading agency on oceanobservation, weather
observation, it kind of puts usin the front seat there with
spatial planning and sitinganalysis. And then from there,
logically goes to engineeringand design of systems that can
withstand those ocean systemsand and the storm systems and
(15:43):
hurricanes that comes throughthere. And we're making
strategic investment inengineering and design and help
supporting the community ofengineers that are working on
those kinds of systems. And thenthinking through the species,
and identifying what are thecandidate species to farm in
those environments, whether it'sfinfish, shellfish, or seaweeds.
(16:05):
And then going all the waythrough how do you harvest and
bring those products to market?
How do you bring them to marketalongside wild caught products?
And then how do you make surethat you achieve market values
and prices that have asignificant return on
investment? So that businessplan is sustainable.
Phillip Stokes (16:28):
You know, it's really interesting hearing you
share this, Ken, because itreally does parallel what you
think about with traditionalland-based agriculture, right?
When you're you're picking plotsof land, you're looking at the
the soil and the climate of thatparticular area. And what can be
grown there, you know, what arethe different candidates that
(16:49):
can be grown in that area? Imean, and I know aquaculture is
essentially, it's farming inwater, but I mean, there's a lot
of transferable and relatablecomponents there. Would you say
that's true?
Ken Riley (17:04):
I completely agree.
You know, as I shared, prior toNOAA, I did a lot of teaching.
And so one of my favoriteclasses to teach was to take
students out of the classroom,and let's go walk along the salt
marsh, and look at like, thedifferent environments within a
salt marsh environment that havedifferent energy regimes. We
pick up handfuls of dirt andtalk about the consistency of
(17:26):
the soils, and are those soilsthe right soils for farming
oysters, or for farming clams.
We'd look at the wave climateand the energy across that site.
We'd do that in the coastalenvironment, we would go out in
the ocean and let students havetheir first experiences
sometimes on boats and vesselsand understand, you know, what
(17:47):
is it like to ride on a boat togo to work every day for five
miles. And that you might haveto do that, you know, year
around in the hot summer. Andyou might have to think about
transporting and keeping ice onthe boat to keep your product,
you know, safe and qualityproduct to get it to market. Or
you might have to think about inlight of like, working under
those harsh conditions sometimesto be able to, to work on the
(18:11):
farm. And it is not, whiletechnology can help us with some
efficiencies, it's stillfarming. And we should always
think of aquaculture as a sectoror part of the agricultural
industry.
Phillip Stokes (18:24):
So when we're looking at the big picture, and
we're thinking about selectingthe different areas for for
aquaculture production, right,and all of those different
variables that we have toconsider, there are impacts and
maybe I would think sometimesimpacts that we have to mitigate
(18:47):
for, but then also maybe somelike positive impacts, right?
Like, you know, shellfish mightbe there to kind of filter out
some of the the algae and cleanup some of the water. And in
some areas, maybe the fish areproviding some of those waste
products. And so I would thinkthere are, you know, different
things to consider, you know,kind of the byproducts and the
(19:11):
products of doing farming in anaquatic environment like that.
Ken Riley (19:17):
Sure. And I'd say that as we think about
agriculture, agriculture hasimpacts, right? For sure. And
it's it's good to put in thecontext of the fact that we are
growing food, food productionoften has and sometimes has
those negative impacts, but wecan also have those beneficial
impacts. And the easiest case tomake, the story is with like,
(19:41):
shellfish farming in the factthat you're able to find waters
that are healthy and highquality and have sufficient
water quality to farm our food.
And then that means that we'refarming that food in a way that
we're also going to be able torecreate and continue to fish
and use that water body. In manyplaces, we're seeing
(20:05):
eutrophication or areas thathave a lot of nutrients that are
running off the land from pointsource, nonpoint source
pollution. And in those cases,those shellfish farms can help
improve the water quality, theycan improve the water quality to
the to the fact that perhapsthat even things like sea
grasses and things can thenrecover and become to flourish
and those kinds of systems. Andthen sometimes, aquaculture and
(20:29):
even shellfish farming can haveimpacts on the environment. And
it, and sometimes those impactscan be characterized as short
term impacts where theenvironment is incredibly
resilient, such as when we go inand we harvest shellfish,
sometimes I start harvestactivities do have temporary
impacts, but then theenvironment itself is able to
(20:51):
quickly recover. And again, forthat whole water body, you're
able to maintain those greatfarming parameters and
essentially the shellfishfarmers are becoming sentinels
for the environment, they'reprotecting the water quality,
they want to make sure thatthey're always able to farm and
harvest their oysters out ofthat water. I used the example
with shellfish. But we shouldalso talk about the fact that if
(21:14):
we are talking about offshoreand fish farms and those types
of operations that we too haveto consider about those impacts.
And as a nation, we have some ofthe strictest regulations around
the globe in terms of how weprotect our environment. At
NOAA, we have mandates toprotect fish habitat to protect
(21:35):
water quality, to protectsensitive and protected
resources like whales anddolphins and sea turtles. And so
we take all those considerationsin siting farms offshore, we
take those considerations intoengineering those farms and
making sure those farms arecompatible with the environments
(21:56):
where they're located. And thenin considering the discharge
from those farms, we also takeinto consideration and we model
and do scenario planning andpredict how the environment is
going to respond to thosenutrients and in those additions
into the environment. And manycases, we're looking for the
(22:16):
optimal environment whereessentially the environment has
incredible resilience andability to recover and be able
to absorb those nutrients in thesystem.
Phillip Stokes (22:28):
Yeah, you know, it, it really does seem like,
and I know you presentedpreviously in a webinar that we
hosted as well. And thinkingback to that as well, all of the
decisions that are being made,you know, at least in the U.S.
domestically, when we'rethinking about aquaculture,
there's a lot that goes intothem. You know, there's a lot of
(22:50):
science and a lot of preparationthat goes into that that most
people aren't going to see, youknow, unless you're kind of
behind the scenes really workingon that. And I think that is
really important to share, youknow, the science of, like you
said, modeling out, you know,what are some of those best
locations and really accountingfor all of that. So Ken, if you
(23:11):
could just walk me through maybewhat that process could look
like from identifying a locationand thinking about some of the
kind of implications that wouldtake place with an aquaculture
production.
Ken Riley (23:27):
Sure. So let's talk about, just really quickly, the
different forms of aquaculture.
Sure. So inherently land-basedsystems are going to be those
decisions, deciding is going tobe you know, largely local
decisions, local municipalitiesand local ordinances to govern
business development that's in acounty or coastal county in a
(23:47):
state around the country. And indeveloping those farming
operations, those folks may workwith folks at a land grant or
sea grant institution, andoftentimes, that's extension.
And so they are there toextension personnel or sales,
essentially there with boots onthe ground such that they can
(24:08):
help people understand how tobuild an aquaculture operation
on land. They do that verysimilarly, in coastal waters. So
these are like nearshore coastalwaters, estuaries bays, where we
might build a shellfish farm forclams or oysters, particularly
in the Gulf Coast region. Maybeit was seaweed too, because
(24:30):
seaweed is an important growingsector of aquaculture, and those
land grant, and so yourinstitutions have academic
researchers, and they have folksthat work in extension and are
constantly there and availableto help folks with some of those
decisions about siting andplanning for aquaculture in
these state waters, and theyalso will work along other state
(24:54):
offices to help them understandthe rules. and regulations for
aquaculture development, as wemove further offshore with the
potential for offshore farming,that's beyond state borders and
in federal waters and in theopen waters of the ocean, such
as the Gulf of Mexico. And inFlorida, that's about nine miles
(25:17):
off the coast of Florida. Theconversation changes a little
bit in the fact that thoseproponents that want to develop
those businesses will also relyon the sea grant, land grant
institutional support. Butthey'll turn and they'll have to
have support from federalagencies. Because those permits
for that may be required will befrom the Army Corps of Engineers
(25:41):
and the Environmental ProtectionAgency. And that's a little bit
of a more complex process. Andat NOAA, we have regional
aquaculture coordinators thatwork to help folks navigate that
situation to understand what arethe rules, and regulations and
policies that are there to helpwith siting those farms and
permitting those farms. And thenin NOAA we have scientists and
(26:05):
science programs that can helpprovide science advice or
science information that goeseverywhere else that applies
across the board, from spatialplanning, and siting to identify
that real estate or those oceanneighborhoods where we're going
to build the farms, all the waythrough understanding what is
the engineering? How do weapproach aquatic animal health?
(26:26):
How do we work on the market andharvest and market side of
things. And then lastly, acrossthe entire spectrum of NOAA, and
the universities and othernonprofit organizations, we all
work in the space of educationand planning for what the
workforce development might looklike. And that's really, really
(26:47):
important to understand who'sgoing to be the next generation
of folks to go to work on thosefarms.
Phillip Stokes (26:54):
Yeah, and I mean, that's a great
explanation. And I would thinkthat with what is required in
this industry, you know,business owners and operators
would need all of that support.
I mean, there's probably a goodamount of risk and certain
occasions. And so, you know,deciding to go into business,
into this type of fisheriesoperation with aquaculture.
(27:16):
Yeah, it would be prettyimportant to get that support
from federal and state and localgovernments and regulators.
Ken Riley (27:26):
I completely agree.
The other thing I'd like to addis, at NOAA, and a particularly
proud reason that I work forNOAA, is that farmers across the
country turn to know every dayfor our weather products. Most
people know, when it comes toforecasting weather with
satellite information or otherocean and environmental sensors
from across the country andaround the globe. NOAA puts out
(27:48):
daily weather forecasts. And sowe kind of work in that same
space that our row crops and ourother livestock farms are
working and looking at thoseweather forecasts, we're
thinking about too, how we atNOAA can not only help on the
regulatory and the permian side,but how can we provide that
ocean intelligence, thatweather, that information, that
(28:09):
predictable forecasts to helppeople understand what it's like
to work in our coastal waters,as well as in those that are
further offshore.
Phillip Stokes (28:20):
You know, Ken I, I do want to give you a chance
to kind of wrap up and sayanything else that might be on
your mind. But you know, onething I was thinking about, as
we were talking is sort of theyou mentioned recreation. And in
even like, you didn't use thisterm, but even I would say
ecotourism. Right. And so I canremember some years back, I
(28:41):
visited the area of Port St.
Joe, it's not too far fromApalachicola, and I remember
being out in the bay, and justbeing on a paddleboard, and
going over, this was beforeHurricane Michael, by the way,
and going over the bay, and itwas very shallow. And in that
area, there was a lot ofclamming, you could do some
(29:02):
clamming in that area, justrecreationally. But the water
was so crystal clear. It waslike you were, it was like
you're at a touch tank at anaquarium. It was, you could see,
you know, it's maybe only aboutfour or five feet deep at times.
But you could see the bottom youcould see all of the different
(29:22):
organisms. And it was just suchan incredible ecosystem down
there. And, you know, I justthink it's really great that in
this industry, we can we canlive with, work with, and
recreate in this environment andin this space. So I don't know
if there's there's not really aquestion there. But I do want to
(29:43):
open it up. I think there's justa lot of social components. We
get something from it, but alsoit's just a great place to be as
well.
Ken Riley (29:51):
I'll just say that.
Aquaculture tourism is a growingpart and a fast growing part of
ecotourism and food tourism as awhole. In my home state in North
Carolina, we have an oystertrail, and the concept of going
on a vacation and you'reintegrating stops on your
vacation with your family to goout to visit an oyster farm or
(30:14):
to go out and see an oysterrestoration site, or to go eat
oysters, you know, they've justbeen harvested at the dockside.
Those are all important part ofgrowing part of tourism. And
it's also an important part ofhow we communicate about
aquaculture. And it's aninherently organic way that we
can teach people how to beconnected with their food, how
(30:37):
to truly understand aquaculture,and it's coming to every
community around America wherewe have aquaculture. And in
Florida, that's just about everycommunity in Florida because
almost every county in Floridahas some kind of aquaculture
happening in their backyard.
Phillip Stokes (30:56):
Yeah, and that's wonderful. And I do think it's a
great way to connect people totheir food and create that
appreciation and really buildthat knowledge. Is there
anything else Ken that youwanted to share? Before we close
out today?
Ken Riley (31:09):
I just say that we're, we're always listening.
And so having podcasts andplatforms like this. Hearing,
you know, our stakeholders andour communities voice their
concerns, developingcommunication products to help
people fully realize theopportunity that we have here on
understanding, you know, what isour sustainable seafood solution
(31:32):
for the future, what that mightlook like, and a seafood
solution that incorporates wildcaught fish and shellfish and
products alongside of foreignproducts. It's an important part
of how we get to food securityin the country. So I appreciate
you having us here today andlook forward to continuing to
work with you.
Phillip Stokes (31:52):
Well, Dr. Ken Riley, it was a pleasure. And
thank you for being on the PIECenter's podcast Science by the
Slice and thanks so much.
Ricky Telg (32:01):
Science by the slice is produced by the UF/IFAS.
Center for Public IssuesEducation in Agriculture and
Natural Resources. Thanks forlistening to today's episode.
Subscribe to Science by theSlice on your favorite podcast
app and give us a rating orreview as well. Have a question
or comment? Send us an email topiecenter@ifas.ufl.edu That's
(32:24):
piecenter all one word at IFASI-F-A-S dot U-F-L dot E-D-U.
We'd love to hear from you. Ifyou enjoyed today's episode,
consider sharing with a friendor colleague. Until next time,
thanks for listening to Scienceby the Slice.
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