When Fish Poop Feeds the World

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Pam Lazos

When Fish Poop Feeds the World

If you or your kids have ever won a goldfish at a carnival, chances are you took it home and stuck it in a glass bowl where it swam happily for years.  We had one live for six years until the little rascal finally called it quits.  Soon after we brought the fish home, I noticed that the once clear water was becoming cloudy, then murky, and because goldfish are champion poopers, the water eventually looked like a bayou.  The water got so cloudy that guests to our home  suggested a GoFundMe page to “Save the Fishes.”  The obvious remedy to our cloudy fish water was to clean the tank once a month or so, although the goldfish never really seemed to mind, a testimony to their hardiness and an important fact to squirrel away for later.

So what if you didn’t want to clean the tank so often, or better still, what if you wanted to put all that poop to good use?  Well, lucky for you there is now an option.  It’s called an aquaponics tank.  What is aquaponics, you ask?  Here’s the definition from the online dictionary:

aquaponics | ˌäkwəˈpäniks, ˌak- |plural noun [treated as singular]

a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic animals supplies nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water: thanks to its automatic recirculating system, aquaponics does not require much monitoring or measuring.

In the case of our little goldfish, while the fish waste sat at the bottom of the tank, breaking down into ammonia which converted to nitrites and then nitrates, it basically formed a cesspool in our fish tank.  Instead of creating a cesspool, however, how would you feel about creating your own wastewater treatment plant?  By using the fish poop to fertilize the plants growing in a tray above the tank you eliminate the need for outside water or fertilizers.  Ingenious, really, since the fish need clean water, the plants need waste water, and no part of the system is dependent on rain water or pesticides to grow.  Hallelujah! Totally organic food grown inside in a controlled environment that doesn’t put a strain on the soils or watershed with the overuse of fertilizers and toxic chemicals to control pests.  

This solves two problems that have been growing steadily on mankind’s horizon:  overfishing of the earth’s oceans and growing enough food to feed the approximately 7.7 billion people alive today (not to mention what to do with all the poop that 7.7 billion people generate).

Luckily, due to an increase in aquaculture, farmed fish production is on the rise and is a necessary part of our planning to feed the approximately 9 billion people who will be living on earth in the middle of this century, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations 2018 report on world fisheries and aquaculture.  FAO. 2018. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 – Meeting the sustainable development goals. Rome. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

According to the FAO, approximately “59.9 percent of the major commercial fish species that FAO monitors are now being fished at biologically sustainable levels, while 33.1 percent are being fished at biologically unsustainable levels — a situation that SOFIA 2018  describes as “worrying.” (The other 7 percent are underfished).” The sustainable levels are directly a result of aquaponics where total global fish production in 2016 was 171 million tonnes and 80 million tonnes was from aquaponics.

 

As part of my volunteer work with the Jr. League of Lancaster, our Girls in STEM committee is spearheading a pilot project to get aquaponics tanks into as many classrooms as possible in Lancaster County.  Over the last couple weeks, we’ve installed five aquaponics tanks at two different schools in Lancaster County, one at the Stone Independent School, a hands-on learning high school in the City of Lancaster, and the other four at Fritz Elementary School in the Conestoga Valley School District where we put a tank in each of the school’s four second grade classrooms.  A sixth tank is slated to be installed at the Lancaster Science Factory in February in conjunction with their post-construction expansion of the museum.   

The high schoolers at Stone are creating a video about their experiences with their aquaponics tank that will then be used as part of the exhibit at the Science Factory, resulting in lots of exciting collaboration going on throughout this pilot project.  If successful, we hope to roll it out to all the second grade classrooms in Lancaster County, an ambitious project that will require lots of grant money, but imagine the impact:  a whole county of second graders with firsthand exposure to the importance of ecosystems, water conservation, plant systems and nutrition all with one in-classroom device.  Plus, as an added bonus, the presence of fish in the classroom helps relieves kids’ stress.    

The aquaponics system works on a timer so for fifteen minutes of every hour the pump circulates the waste up into the clay-filled tray where the plant material grows, depositing its bounty of fish poop and returning clean water to the tank.  A light suspended from a bar that rises above the tank provides the UVs for the plants to photosynthesize the chlorophyll and the fish provide the fertilizer.  We’ve stocked the tanks with some baby goldfish that will grow to be 3”-4” long because, as we’ve determined already, goldfish are a hearty bunch and prolific poopers.  A couple of months of this process and voilá, organic herbs and vegetables grown right in the classroom.

Now, before you think that you can feed the world on what you’ll be growing, this is just a little ten gallon tank.  The tray discussed above can support a few different kinds of herbs, some baby tomatoes and little peppers or other lightweight veggies, but don’t go looking to grow pumpkins or watermelons.  Still, it’s a first step before we think about a bigger project like the one they have going on at Commonwealth Charter Academy where they are doing a lot more than growing a few tomatoes.  

Want to grow fresh, organic vegetables that are easy on the planet?  Go ahead and get yourself an aquaponics tank.  You don’t need anything else but a few seeds and your little fishies!

pjlazos 2.4.19

 

About Pam Lazos

writer, blogger, environmentally hopeful
This entry was posted in aquaponics, ecosystems, farmed fish, fertilizers, fish, organic vegetables, overpopulation, science, Sustainability, Sustainable Living, water, water conservation and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

44 Responses to When Fish Poop Feeds the World

  1. Michele Anderson says:
    February 7, 2019 at 9:57 pm

    So cool Pam! I always learn so much from you. I’m thinking maybe my granddaughters might be interested in trying this out. xo

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • pjlazos says:
      February 8, 2019 at 2:22 am

      I think that by the time the grandkids pass a few more decades a good portion of our food will be grown like this. It’s just practical. I would love to have my own set up. Imagine growing your own veggies all year round. xo

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  2. Lydia Isales says:
    February 6, 2019 at 1:22 pm

    You are awesome, helping the environment and empowering girls at the same time.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. jeanleesworld says:
    February 6, 2019 at 2:54 am

    Oh this is SOOOOOOOOOO cool! I’m not fond of having fish, but considering how fish help with classroom stress, this would be awesome to install at our kids’ schoolsl. I wonder where they are funding-wise for something like this…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Ken Dowell says:
    February 5, 2019 at 8:20 pm

    Pretty fascinating. I’m trying to envision it on a grand scale with giant pools of pooping fish giving rise to a forest of edible greens.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. Ally Bean says:
    February 5, 2019 at 2:32 pm

    I’m intrigued. We had a fish tank years ago, but it never dawned on me that plants could grow inside it. I tell you the things I learn reading blogs. Thanks for the info.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. lindasschaub says:
    February 5, 2019 at 1:49 am

    That’s amazing Pam. Years ago I was visiting my grandmother in Toronto and she pressed this small brown bag into my hand and said “you have to take this back to the States with you for your flowers – it’s worm poop” … it came from a worm farm. It was a small bag of the stuff and a friend of my grandmother’s was gathering it and selling it. Don’t ask me how worm poop is gathered – I didn’t ask questions and I was a dutiful granddaughter who simply thanked her for the strange gift. I’m not sure if worm poop warranted a hug or just a warm thank you. Now, I don’t want to brag that my roses grew bigger thanks to worm poop, but they did bloom profusely that year. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Carol A. Hand says:
    February 5, 2019 at 12:33 am

    Such a fascinating and timely post, P.J. I just ordered one for my granddaughter’s birthday. She loves her goldfish and this might be the perfect gift to help her love science, too. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. Yeah, Another Blogger says:
    February 4, 2019 at 12:57 pm

    Hi Pam. Techniques such as these seem essential for our species and the planet. We need all the help we can get. Bye till next time!

    Neil

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. Susan Scott says:
    February 4, 2019 at 11:40 am

    Aquaponics, hydroponics – definitely the way of the future and I reckon both older and younger generation will latch onto this idea very readily. I remember my brother growing plants hydroponically in his garden 30 years ago –

    Fish tanks are pleasing to the eye. I know some doctors and dentists rooms have fishtanks which patients young and old find a restful and stress reducing delight!

    Good luck to the high schoolers at Stone presenting later on to the Science Factory and well done on you and the Girls at STEM for initiating this! It’s very exciting and such a win-win! Waste turned into World Win … 🙂 thank you for this! I’ve shared on social media. This needs to be put out there!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  10. shehannemoore says:
    February 4, 2019 at 9:41 am

    I am most impressed lady. Truly. This is quite a post xxxxxx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  11. cath says:
    February 4, 2019 at 9:18 am

    Fascinating post, aren’t people inventive? Of course it makes perfect sense, now you describe it, but I’d not have thought it possible to transfer what should happen outdoors to indoors.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. Karen at Reprobate Typewriter says:
    February 4, 2019 at 8:58 am

    It sounds like a great project for schools. And I’m delighted that it doesn’t involve fish poop sandwiches.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  13. hilarymb says:
    February 4, 2019 at 8:27 am

    Hi PJ – I briefly in life had a fish tank … and cleaned it out. However this method seems to answer so many other questions … and I’d read it about the system before … so yes there are lots of options aren’t there … great to have this informative post – cheers Hilary

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  14. cindy knoke says:
    February 4, 2019 at 6:26 am

    “This solves two problems that have been growing steadily on mankind’s horizon: overfishing of the earth’s oceans and growing enough food to feed the approximately 7.7 billion people alive today (not to mention what to do with all the poop that 7.7 billion people generate).”
    And when you think of the current n of people on this planet, imagine the reproductive potential of all of them.
    It is basically not sustainable.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  15. thecontentedcrafter says:
    February 4, 2019 at 6:23 am

    Oh my goodness, I love this idea! It’s perfect for a person like me 🙂 I have no clue where to start – but I’ll get onto google immediately. xo

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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