Aquaponics Education in the Community College Setting - Abstract
As the human population has exceeded 7 billion, consumption of animal products is at an all time high. Most of our commercial fish stocks are overexploited, recovering, or depleted, so we have turned to aquaculture to produce fish and other seafood for human consumption. Currently, about half of all seafood marketed for human consumption is a product of aquaculture. The idea of combining aquaculture and hydroponics has increased in popularity. This method, called aquaponics, uses the water from fish pools to grow plants in a controlled environment. The waste from the fish is converted to nutrients for the plants. The plants filter the water for the fish. Aquaponics is a sustainable way to produce fish proteins and fruits or vegetables for human consumption. As a science professor teaching a non-majors science course entitled Conservation and the Environment at Herkimer College in Herkimer, NY, I felt it was my responsibility to make my students more interested and aware of their environment. One way I did this was by assigning an aquaponics project among other aquaponics activities. Aquaponics appealed to a wide variety of students because it is based on science, but also has important business and economic value. Students generally not interested in careers in science were educated on an innovative type of farming. Education is the key to awareness and action. Educating community college students on aquaponics is one step in helping to keep our fish populations plentiful and our world healthy and sustainable.