What is Aquaculture?

Aquaculture is farming the water

Farm raised seafood helps supply a growing demand while the oceans, lakes and rivers are yielding less products.

Aquaculture has been practiced in America for over 300 years. Thomas Jefferson would buy fish caught in the River and then have it brought to his home (Monticello) where the fish were grown and kept in ponds on the farm. Trout have been grown in raceways supplied by mountain fresh water for hundreds of years from Pennsylvania to the West Coast.

In more recent decades Salmon is grown in net pens in the Ocean supplied by Ocean Currents. A significant amount of Mussels, Clams, and Oysters are now grown on farms in open bodies of water as well, from Maine to Florida. Farm ponds grow catfish, shrimp, tilapia, and other species around the world.

Sandy Ridge Farms has been active in the research and development of aquaculture since 1986 when Peggy and Jerry Redden, the owners, made a commitment to focus their efforts on aquaculture production. They were part of an initial group of scientists, businessmen, and academicians dedicated to the development of recirculating tank culture of fish. After successful researching over 200 areas from mass transfer of gas to a liquid to amino acid profile needed for fish, in 1988 a commercial venture was launched. For more than ten years the company, Aquamar Industries, grew and sold an weekly average of one truckload of live Tilapia.

Only a small fraction of seafood is now being raised in closed loop aquaculture. This is a farm system that recirculates the water removing contaminates being created by the seafood as it grows while being fed in tanks. A closed loop system allows for a more controlled environment where environmental controls become more critical.