{"id":2489,"date":"2015-07-30T15:33:39","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T19:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mote.org\/?p=2489"},"modified":"2024-07-12T11:20:36","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T15:20:36","slug":"aquaponic-fish-and-veggies-make-their-dinner-table-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/aquaponic-fish-and-veggies-make-their-dinner-table-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Aquaponic fish and veggies make their dinner table debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

From farm-to-fork, sea vegetables and red drum, a saltwater fish species, grown at Mote Aquaculture Park (MAP) using aquaponics \u2013 raising seafood while using the wastewater to fertilize salt-loving crops \u2013 are making their way into Southwest Florida\u2019s eco-friendly food scene.<\/p>\n

Mote Marine Laboratory\u2019s commercial demonstration project in marine aquaponics launched in fall 2014. The project uses eco-friendly technology developed at MAP to farm raise red drum, which is now being sold to restaurants from Sarasota to Tampa, with sea purslane and saltwort, edible sea vegetables that are now being plated in certain local restaurants and sold at the Sarasota Farmers Market.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kevan Main, manager of the Marine and Freshwater Aquaculture Research Program at Mote, started this project with the intention of bringing its tasty results to the community and educating people about the importance of locally produced food.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of this project is to provide opportunities for local, community-based food production,\u201d Main said. \u201cMore than 90 percent of the seafood consumed in the United States is imported. It is important that we start thinking about local, sustainable food production.\u201d<\/p>\n

The marine aquaponics project uses a closed-loop recirculating system that allows Mote scientists to raise saltwater fish while recycling 100 percent of the water.<\/p>\n

The water is first used to raise the red drum, a hearty marine fish that grows well in aquaculture conditions.<\/p>\n

Several filters remove the waste produced by the fish and allow bacteria to break down harmful ammonia into other nitrogen-rich compounds used to fertilize the roots of sea purslane and saltwort, which are planted in four raceways in an aquaponics greenhouse. As the nutrients run low, the water is passed through a filtering screen and returned to the fish.<\/p>\n

The solid fish waste produced by the aquaponics system is then used to grow wetland plants such as mangroves and salt marsh grasses for coastal restoration projects in partnership with\u00a0Aquatic Plants of Florida.<\/p>\n

The edible plants and the red drum from the system might just end up on your dinner table.<\/p>\n

As of July 2015, the red drum has been available to restaurants through seafood wholesalers and the sea purslane has been distributed by the same seafood wholesalers and sold at the Sarasota Farmers Market since January 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted to find out what sea vegetables we could provide as local food to local markets, because the availability of vegetables grown from fresh water is decreasing and in the future, we are going to be eating vegetables grown from the sea,\u201d Main said. \u201cI am very excited to be introducing this way of food production to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The community has enjoyed buying the sea vegetables at the local Sarasota Farmers Market, and chefs focused on local, sustainable foods are key to the project\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

In June, local chefs toured MAP to get a taste for Mote\u2019s marine aquaponics project. Katie Sosa, Vice President of Sales at Sammy\u2019s Seafood Inc., organized the tour in an effort to partner with Main\u2019s vision and be a spoke in her wheel of product distribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cSammy’s Seafood is excited to be distributing the fish and the sea vegetables grown at Mote\u2019s aquaculture facility and we\u2019re happy to connect chefs who are passionate about local, sustainable food with Mote,\u201d Sosa said.<\/p>\n

Restaurants including Indigenous in Sarasota, Seafood Shack Marina, Bar & Grill in Cortez and Locale in St. Petersburg all use sea purslane that is grown at MAP in their restaurants on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

Stephen Phelps, Chef and Owner of Indigenous, has incorporated the sea purslane grown at MAP into his dishes for several months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of different applications for the sea purslane right now; we\u2019ll tear off the leaves and toss them into saut\u00e9 dishes or salads. We\u2019ve also started to pickle some of it,\u201d Phelps said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the saltwort has been a big hit, too, Phelps added. \u201cWe\u2019ve used it as a very pretty garnish on saltwater fish. We\u2019ve also tempura battered the saltwort and fried it very quickly and that makes it look like coral on top. But we\u2019ve also been pureeing it and emulsifying it. It adds this natural saltiness to everything we are making. So now we\u2019re learning it is not only just this amazing vegetable, but it is also a great spice. It\u2019s a great way to give everything sea salt flavor without using a pinch of sea salt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelps not only uses the sea vegetables for his restaurant \u2014 he has also found a place for them his personal life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a product in the culinary world it has great potential, especially with the incredible health benefits it has,\u201d Phelps said. \u201cI\u2019ve tried it in smoothies. I take the leaves of the vegetables, throw it in with some apple, parsley and kale, which makes for a really nutrient rich smoothie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerard Jesse, Executive Chef of Seafood Shack, also uses the sea purslane in a couple different dishes in his restaurant on a regular basis, including a vegetable summer roll and local fish sandwich. He said, \u201cThe sea purslane has great depth of flavor \u2013 you can get the salty flavor without having to add a lot of salt and it\u2019s a good source of vitamin C. Additionally, it\u2019s very important to us to support our local farmers and producers, something we\u2019re committed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of July 2015, the program has raised about 350 fish and is producing about 160 quarter-pound bunches of sea purslane a month.<\/p>\n

“Research is underway to continue improving this sustainable technology to produce sea vegetables and fish for local communities in Florida,\u201d said Dr. Main.<\/p>\n\n

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From farm-to-fork, sea vegetables and red drum, a saltwater fish species, grown at Mote Aquaculture Park (MAP) using aquaponics \u2013 raising seafood while using the wastewater to fertilize salt-loving crops …<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1,93],"tags":[62,331,332,136,121,124,119,118],"class_list":["post-2489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-mote-news","category-support","tag-aquaculture","tag-aquaponics","tag-dr-kevan-main","tag-events","tag-farm-to-fillet","tag-farm-to-table","tag-map","tag-mote-aquaculture-research-park"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAquaponic fish and veggies make their dinner table debut | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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