The Plan
The Urban Aquaculture Center
A Food Production and Educational Facility Utilizing Urban Aquaculture and Agriculture To:
- Revitalize Vacant Urban Buildings
- Develop Urban Empty Brownfields
- Employ Underutilized Labor Pools
- Extend HVAC Engineering to Aquaculture and Hydroponics
Concept Development by Jonathan Bales and Leon Todd
© 2006
Scope of Project
Using the principles of permaculture, our Urban Aquaculture Center (UAC) will develop a 150,000 square foot indoor aquaculture/agriculture production and research facility on 5 acres of redevelopment land in the city of Milwaukee.
The UAC Will Be a Community and Visitor Friendly Resource Providing:
- Jobs and Employment
- Aquaculture Food Production
- Polyculture Research and Development
- Agriculture Food Production
- Fish and Produce Processing with Commercial Kitchen
- Retail, Wholesale and Internet Sales and Marketing
- Public Demonstration and Educational Curriculum
- Fresh Fish and Produce Market
- Public Restaurant and Gift Shop
Project Motivations:
Midwestern cities need to reinvent themselves…
Milwaukee’s projected growth is - 4.37% (Sperling’s Best)…
Exploit our natural advantages for food production…water, labor, ready market
Aquaculture is the fastest growing sector in the agriculture industry
Per capita fish consumption is increasing
Negative impact of known health concerns from capture fisheries
Potential negative impact of H 5 N 1? avian virus on the nations protein supply
Project Opportunities:
This facility would provide over 20 full time employment positions in the initial start-up phase of the commercial aquaculture division. Full development of the UAC will require over 50 positions to be filled.
Sponsoring organizations can participate in the technological, architectural and growing systems development giving them opportunities to commercialize Innovations developed along the way. Full design and development of the initial and ongoing venues and systems will present the need to develop new ways of managing air, water and waste systems. Some other areas of developmental opportunity are system data gathering and analysis for improved function and productivity as well as providing detection and alarms for system malfunction, security and bio-security.
Corporate partners and sponsors are welcome to help develop this opportunity. Initial equity investments to put the commercial fish production operation on the ground at a site large enough to accommodate full development of the Urban Aquaculture Center is estimated to require between 5.5 to 8 million dollars. This estimated range is necessary to accommodate variations in building renovation, water treatment, land and structural resources available at any particular site.
A non site specific budgetary production model and business plan will be the next planning step for the UAC.
Corporate partners and sponsors are now being sought to help develop this opportunity.
Permaculture
The ethical basis of Permaculture rests upon care of the earth and maintaining a system in which all life can thrive.
Permaculture is a practical concept which can be applied in the city, on the farm, and in the wilderness. A design system for ecological living that integrates plants, animals, buildings, people and communities to create productive and beautiful environments. It has been described as a process to consciously design landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fiber and energy.
Aquaculture
Aquaculture is the farming of fish, mollusks, crustaceans, aquatic plants and other natural aquatic resources and organisms. The UPC will utilize a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) for its core food production activities and incorporate pond culture into the research, demonstration, educational and aesthetic areas.
Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS)
An aquaculture growing system that recycles it’s culture water and filters that water both physically and biologically and returns it clean and safe to the species being grown either in tanks, ponds or raceways.
Aquaponics
The blending of aquaculture (typically RAS) and hydroponic agriculture. This method uses nutrient rich fish water and wastes for plant production.
Polyculture
Polyculture involves increasing productivity by more efficiently utilizing ecological resources within an aquatic environment. This type of aquaculture is accomplished by stocking species with different feeding habits and different habitat preferences. Stocking two or more complementary species can increase the maximum standing crop of a culture system by allowing a wider range of available foods and water volume to be utilized. In descending stages from fin fish, through shell fish, mollusks and plants; waste products of primary species provide for production of other species. This requires trial and error and constant fine tuning. Polyculture is also growing compatible species in the same tank.
Background and Mission of the Founders:
Jonathan Bales
My vision for the Urban Aquaculture Center is to develop a fish production oriented center in a pleasant setting in Milwaukee to demonstrate that aquaculture is a viable and sustainable farming enterprise in an urban environment.
Jonathan was raised in Milwaukee, attended Bay View High School and graduated from UWM with a degree in Botany. He served with the U.S. Navy as a flight instructor and carrier pilot in the Mediterranean Sea. He recently sold his coffee plantation and trout farm in Costa Rica, and now harbors a desire to introduce fish farming to the people of Milwaukee.
Jonathan’s inspiration and knowhow stems from his experience as a fish farmer.
Leon Todd
“It’s all about growing good protein, free of environmental contaminants, in a recirculating system which doesn’t pollute. We can reap global benefits from Brownfield redevelopment”.
Leon graduated from the University of WI (UWM) School of Education-Cultural Foundation with a MS in 1972. He received an MBA from UWM School of Business Administration in 1969 and also acquired a BA in Latin & Greek Classic Studies at Northwestern Lutheran College in 1965. After serving 5 years as Director of Sales and Marketing for Rexnord’s Data Systems Division, from 1983 through 1987. In May of 1987, Leon became a Managing Partner with Strategic Technologies Consulting, located in Milwaukee, and is presently Director of Strategic Planning, Marketing and Public relations for the firm. In 1975, Leon was elected to the MPS Board of School Directors, held a city wide seat and served until 1981. He was a candidate for state superintendent in 1977 and was re-elected to a MPS district seat (District 3) in 1994 and again in 1995.
Former Director Todd has long recognized that public school education has been the route to the middle class for ethnic Europeans and is a firm supporter of public school education as the route to the middle class for African American children.
Leon is a frequent guest lecturer, op-ed columnist and panel speaker on a wide variety of issues related to public school education; school choice; charter schools, the deconstruction of public school education, multiculturalism, School-to-Work; poverty and schooling, employment and racism; and Generation X.
The Milwaukee Aquaculture Center will be Leon’s next venue for expressing his vision for education and employment development. “This is a new paradigm in thinking ‘outside of the bun’ to replace the manufacturing jobs lost over the last three decades in Milwaukee.”
A Job Creating Opportunity in the Expanding Market for Food Fish
The Urban Aquaculture Center will provide “living wage” full time work positions through the development of a profitable high volume aquaculture production facility combined with processing, packaging, sales and marketing.
The aquaculture facility will be the initial bread winner for the center and, in time, will help provide for the completion of the fully integrated permaculture center.
After the construction, start-up and business stabilization phases of the aquaculture facility the UPC will continue development of its full urban polyculture/agricultural facility plan. These phases will include demonstration and educational venues open to the public. The center will also have a polyculture research area. A restaurant along with retail fish, produce and gift sales will be folded into the site so as to make the UPC a complete educational and retail destination.
Why Raise Fish? A study predicts collapse of all wild fisheries by 2048 if trend is not reversed.
Recent advances in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) have allowed certain commodity species such as Wisconsin’s native yellow perch to be commercially grown indoors.
Perch can now be grown comfortably and healthy at production rates between 1.25 - 1.50 lbs. of fish per gallon of water per year in RAS. This production rate would deliver ± 975,000 fish per year equaling about 135,000 pounds of finished fillets.
This production rate will allow a 200,000 gallon facility placed indoors on 50,000 square feet of floor space to produce the same amount of perch as 90 acres of ponds in the countryside. In other words, the farm can now be moved to town where the population densities create a large local market for fresh fish. A minimum 45 to 1 savings in land use and untold savings in transportation costs are realized. Even more notable is water usage: the water necessary just to fill the 90 acres of ponds the first year would run a comparable RAS system for 21 years.
The Great Lakes Basin communities such as Milwaukee, Chicago, Toronto and Detroit, with a combined population of over 35 million hungry mouths, have a long tradition of eating perch. Presently the Great Lakes provide 110 million pounds of fish for consumption annually which equals a little more than 3 pounds per capita in this region. Given that average yearly per capita consumption of fish nationally is close to 16 lbs., there is clearly an un-met potential demand for locally grown native fish species in a region known for its “Friday Night Fish Fry”.
Wisconsin grown yellow perch are not presently being marketed outside the region because of shortfalls in commercially available supplies. The majority of locally consumed perch are imported from Canada which are commercially harvested on Lake Erie.
The Metro Milwaukee Region presently has a 16 million pound per year local market demand for food fish. With only a 1% local market share capture, the UPC aquaculture facility would be at its full output capacity. Regional and internet sales could easily justify expansion and increased job development sooner than expected.
