Bringing aquaculture to Milwaukee

Jon Bales and Leon Todd have a vision for Milwaukee’s future, and it involves fish.

The two retirees believe Milwaukee has an opportunity to become a national leader in the emerging industry of urban aquaculture, and they hope the organization they cofounded, the Urban Aquaculture Center (UAC), will provide a jump-start.

Aquaculture, like agriculture, is the cultivation of plants and animals, but it is done in water rather than on or in soil. Fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants such as seaweed all can be raised using aquaculture techniques.

Historically, aquaculture has mostly been practiced away from large population centers-in manmade ponds, cordoned-off sections of rivers, or open-water cages. But now a movement is underway to bring an indoor brand of aquaculture to urban areas, spurred on by an increasing demand for locally produced food, a substantial U.S. seafood trade deficit, and concerns over food security. 

“There’s no reason cities can’t be involved with aquaculture just as easily as the countryside,” said Bales. “There actually are a number of advantages to growing fish in the city-the water is here, the buildings are here, the labor is available, and the market is here.”

Urban Aquaculture Center

Bales, a former Navy pilot who grew up in Bay View and once owned a trout farm in Costa Rica, and Todd, a businessman and past member of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors,  propose to develop the UAC into a facility that would both produce fish for the local market and teach others how to practice urban aquaculture. So far, the UAC exists mostly on paper-it is incorporated, has a board of directors, and is on track to obtain nonprofit status-but Bales and Todd are working to develop it into a bricks-and-mortar facility.

They envision a five-acre campus-possibly in the Menomonee Valley-with a 50,000-square-foot building housing a 200,000-gallon production facility plus a food processing area, fish market, restaurant, gift shop, education center, and research lab. A boat ride, modeled after a similar ride at Disney World’s Epcot, would meander through exhibits built to entertain and educate the public about sustainable food production practices. The center would support about 50 jobs.

Bales and Todd aim to organically raise yellow perch, a Milwaukee fish fry favorite, at the facility. No longer as abundant as they once were in Lake Michigan, perch are now mostly imported into Milwaukee, making them pricier and harder to find on local Friday-night menus.

The business partners also plan to outfit the UAC with a recirculating aquaculture system, which reuses water after cleaning it. Recirculating systems use significantly less water than more traditional flow-through systems, which discharge their used water.

Although standard recirculating systems use clarifiers and biofilters to clean their water, Bales and Todd hope to use water-loving, edible plants that absorb nutrients created from fish waste. Such “aquaponic” systems mimic nature and, ideally, discharge a minimal amount of waste. The system also would produce an additional crop for the local market.

Testing the Waters

Will Allen, CEO of Growing Power, an urban farm on Milwaukee’s north side, and Great Lakes WATER Institute scientist Fred Binkowski have been collaborating for two years to test the feasibility of raising perch and plants together in the type of system envisioned by Bales and Todd. The work brings together Allen’s experience in growing plants alongside tilapia, a hardier fish than perch, and Binkowski’s expertise in raising perch in a standard recirculating aquaculture system.

In 2007, Growing Power tested whether 800 of Binkowski’s adult perch could survive three months in its plant-based system. “Not only did the fish live,” said Todd, “but they tasted great.”

In April 2008, Binkowski delivered 10,000 young perch to Growing Power’s system for a follow-up trial designed to test whether the system’s water quality could be maintained as the fish grew. And so far, so good. Declines in water quality-due to low oxygen levels, for example-have thus far been rare and easily corrected. What’s more, the fish are surviving and growing. “The results right now are encouraging,” said Binkowski.

One of the next steps in refining the system will be to determine which plants are the most effective at filtering waste, Binkowski said. “One of the questions to answer is how many square feet of tomatoes does it take per 1,000 perch to have a zero-waste system?” said Todd. “And is it different for eggplant versus salad greens versus herbs?”

Once the system is perfected, Bales and Todd are optimistic the full-scale version of the UAC will be possible. In the meantime, however, they are pursuing smaller pilot projects, including a semi-permanent setup at the Wisconsin State Fair grounds for demonstrating aquaponics. “We want to show the community what’s possible,” said Todd. ]

Jennifer Yauck is a science writer at the Great Lakes WATER Institute. GLWI (glwi.uwm.edu) is the largest academic freshwater research facility on the Great Lakes.