The Importance of Sustainable Aquaculture in Our Future | Perry Raso | TEDxProvidence

Summary

The speaker recounts starting clam harvesting at age 12, leading to a career in aquaculture and fisheries. After realizing the potential of aquaculture to meet the growing demand for seafood sustainably, they pursued studies and eventually established a successful oyster farm in Rhode Island. The farm expanded to include a restaurant and organic vegetable farming, demonstrating the viability of farm-to-plate operations and the importance of sustainable seafood production.

Takeaways

• 🔍 The speaker started his career in clam harvesting at the age of 12, learning the trade in Point Judith Pond, Rhode Island.
• 💧 He experienced the harsh realities of commercial fishing, including the physical demands and economic uncertainties of the industry.
• 🏫 Despite initial aspirations to become a doctor, the speaker realized his passion for the ocean and pursued a degree in aquaculture and fisheries technology.
• 🌱 Aquaculture is identified as the fastest-growing food-producing business globally, with a critical role in addressing the gap between seafood supply and demand.
• 🌐 The speaker discovered a scholarship opportunity to study in Africa, which was a turning point in his life and career direction.
• 🌍 In Cape Verde, he recognized the potential of aquaculture to meet global needs, not just for personal livelihood but for poverty alleviation and protein provision.
• 📈 The speaker's goal became to establish aquaculture farms in developing countries, contributing to sustainable food production and economic development.
• 🦪 He successfully scaled his own shellfish farm from one acre to multiple acres, selling to local and national markets, demonstrating the viability of small-scale aquaculture.
• 🍽️ The speaker diversified his business by purchasing a waterfront property and establishing a restaurant, which became renowned and contributed to the farm-to-table movement.
• 🌿 He expanded into organic vegetable farming, further integrating agriculture with his seafood business and enhancing the farm-to-plate concept.
• 🌊 Rhode Island's shellfish aquaculture has seen significant growth, increasing production by over 800 tons in 20 years, illustrating the potential for sustainable seafood production globally.

Q & A

At what age did the speaker start his career in clam harvesting?

The speaker started his career in clam harvesting at the age of 12.

What method was used by the speaker and his friend to harvest clams initially?

They used a rake with a t-handle to drag through the sediment and collect clams.

How did the speaker's experience in clam harvesting evolve over the years?

The speaker became more efficient at clam harvesting, started scuba diving, and eventually studied aquaculture and fisheries technology at the University of Rhode Island.

What was the speaker's initial fear about his career in clam harvesting?

The speaker was initially afraid that he would not be able to afford a house, which he learned costs $200,000, and was scared of being homeless.

What were the three realizations the speaker had while in college in Colorado?

He realized he wouldn't get into medical school, he was financially on his own and accumulating student debt, and he loved working on the ocean.

What is the definition of aquaculture according to the speaker?

Aquaculture is the growing of aquatic species, including seafood like fish and shellfish, as well as other products like seaweeds used for food and everyday products.

Why is aquaculture considered necessary for meeting the growing demand for seafood?

Aquaculture is necessary because there is a widening gap between the supply and demand of seafood, with more people fishing and catching more fish, but the demand for seafood is still climbing.

What was the turning point for the speaker in deciding to focus on aquaculture in developing countries?

The turning point was when he saw a chalk message about a scholarship to study in Africa, which led him to Cape Verde to study the potential of aquaculture.

How does the speaker describe the sustainability of shellfish farming in comparison to other forms of aquaculture?

The speaker describes shellfish farming as the epitome of sustainable agriculture, as shellfish filter water, eat phytoplankton, and increase biodiversity in the area.

What was the speaker's initial business venture after graduating from college?

The speaker started with a one-acre oyster farm, which he gradually expanded and eventually sold oysters to local restaurants, farmers markets, and wholesalers.

What was the speaker's strategy to increase the 'farm to plate' appeal of his business?

The speaker started growing organic vegetables in addition to oysters, which increased the farm to plate aspect of his business and provided customers with fresher and better products.

Outlines

00:00

🔧 Early Career in Clam Harvesting

The speaker begins by recounting their early career in clam harvesting, starting at the age of 12. They and a friend would sneak behind cottages to Point Judith Pond to dig for clams. They describe the process of clamming using a rake with a t-handle and how they would find clams worth two or three dollars each time. Over the next 15 years, the speaker became more efficient, even scuba diving for clams, but always with a sense of nervousness about making a living from it. They also mention the fear of not being able to afford a house and the drive that fear instilled in them.

05:01

🎓 College and the Realization of Aquaculture's Potential

The speaker moved on to college with the initial goal of becoming a doctor, inspired by the TV show 'ER'. However, they quickly realized three things: they wouldn't get into medical school, they were financially on their own and accumulating student debt, and they loved working on the ocean. This led them back to Rhode Island to study aquaculture and fisheries technology at the University of Rhode Island. They learned about the rapid growth of aquaculture and the widening gap between the supply and demand for seafood. The speaker also discovered a scholarship opportunity to study in Africa, which they took to explore the potential of aquaculture in Cape Verde, realizing its potential to address global needs.

10:01

🌱 The Growth of Sustainable Aquaculture and a Personal Success Story

The speaker discusses the importance of sustainable aquaculture, emphasizing the need to increase seafood production to meet growing demand without depleting marine resources. They highlight the environmental benefits of shellfish farming, which includes filtering water and increasing biodiversity. The speaker shares their personal journey of starting an oyster farm on one acre of land, which grew to supply a significant amount of oysters to various markets. They also purchased a commercial property with docks, which led to the establishment of a successful restaurant, named one of the top oyster bars in the world. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the potential of aquaculture to meet global seafood demand sustainably, one acre at a time.

Keywords

💡Aquaculture

Aquaculture refers to the farming of aquatic species, including fish, shellfish, and seaweeds, for food and other products. It is a central theme in the video, as the speaker discusses his career in this field and its potential to meet the growing demand for seafood. The video mentions aquaculture as the fastest-growing food-producing business in the world and its importance in developing countries.

💡Little Neck clams

Little Neck clams are a type of small clam that the speaker and his friend dug for in their youth. This activity is used to illustrate the speaker's early connection to the sea and the beginning of his career in the seafood industry. The script describes the process of harvesting these clams as a precursor to his later work in aquaculture.

💡Supply and demand gap

The supply and demand gap in the video refers to the widening difference between the amount of seafood available and the amount people want to consume. This gap is a driving force behind the need for aquaculture, as traditional fishing methods are reaching their limits. The speaker discusses this gap in the context of population growth and increasing wealth, which leads to higher seafood consumption.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability in the video is discussed in the context of growing seafood in an environmentally friendly way. It is a key aspect of modern aquaculture practices, with the speaker emphasizing the importance of not harming natural ecosystems, such as mangrove forests or salt marshes, in the pursuit of increased production.

💡Shellfish farming

Shellfish farming is highlighted as a sustainable form of aquaculture in the video. The speaker explains how shellfish filter water and contribute to biodiversity, making it an exemplary model of agriculture that benefits the environment. His personal story includes starting an oyster farm, which is a type of shellfish farming.

💡Biodiversity

Biodiversity in the video is used to describe the variety of life in an ecosystem, particularly in the context of shellfish farming. The speaker notes that there can be 10 to 10,000 times more biodiversity in an oyster farm than in the surrounding waters, emphasizing the positive environmental impact of such farming practices.

💡Uncertainty

Uncertainty in the video is associated with the risks and unpredictability inherent in wild capture fisheries. The speaker contrasts this with the more stable nature of aquaculture, where he can control the production of seafood and is less subject to market fluctuations and environmental factors.

💡Finfish farming

Finfish farming is mentioned as a type of aquaculture that has come a long way in terms of sustainability but still has room for improvement. The speaker notes that while most farm-raised salmon are now considered good choices by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch, there is still progress to be made in this sector.

💡Seafood demand

The increasing demand for seafood is a recurring theme in the video, driven by factors such as population growth, wealth, and health consciousness. The speaker discusses the need to meet this demand through sustainable aquaculture practices to avoid overfishing and depletion of marine resources.

💡Developing countries

Developing countries are highlighted as ideal locations for aquaculture due to fewer user group conflicts and a greater focus on food production. The speaker's goal is to help start farms in these countries to provide a protein source and alleviate poverty, demonstrating the potential of aquaculture to address global needs.

💡Farm-to-plate

The farm-to-plate concept in the video refers to the direct sourcing of food from the farm to the consumer, minimizing the distance and ensuring freshness. The speaker's business model includes growing oysters and organic vegetables, supplying them directly to his restaurant and local markets, which enhances the farm-to-plate approach.

Highlights

At 12 years old, the speaker began his career by clamming for the bullring, using a rake to collect clams from the sediment.

Clamming was a commercial activity for the speaker, which he pursued for 15 years, becoming more efficient and eventually scuba diving.

The speaker's initial career aspiration was to become a doctor, influenced by the TV show 'ER', but he realized he was more suited to working on the ocean.

Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic species, is identified as the fastest-growing food-producing business in the world.

There is a widening gap between the supply and demand of seafood, with demand increasing due to wealth, health consciousness, and population growth.

Developing countries are seen as ideal for aquaculture due to less user group conflict and a greater interest in growing food.

The speaker's life was changed by a chalk-written scholarship opportunity to study in Africa, leading to a realization of aquaculture's potential.

Aquaculture in developing countries is seen as a solution for protein sources and poverty alleviation.

The speaker emphasizes the need for environmentally friendly aquaculture to avoid industry self-sabotage.

Shellfish farming is highlighted as a sustainable form of agriculture, with benefits to biodiversity and aquatic vegetation.

The speaker's personal journey includes starting an oyster farm on a barren sand flat, which expanded to a significant operation.

The speaker's business model evolved to include a restaurant and organic vegetable farming, enhancing the farm-to-plate concept.

The restaurant, built on the need for docks for the oyster farm, became a top-rated oyster bar and employs over 200 people.

Rhode Island's shellfish aquaculture has increased production by over 800 tons in the last 20 years, demonstrating the potential for global seafood demand fulfillment.

The speaker concludes with a message of optimism, suggesting that global seafood demand can be met one acre at a time through sustainable aquaculture.

Transcripts

so when I started my career I was 12

years old me and a friend of mine snuck

behind some one summer cottage and to

Point Judith Pond a Salt Pond in

southern Rhode Island we're gonna go

digging for Little Neck clams for the

bullring just like this how this works

is he pulling that t-handle and he drag

those teeth through the sediment the

clams pop into the basket so there we

were 12 years old standing in waist-deep

water chest deep water pulling on the

handle every few minutes

you pull the rake up shake the sediment

out shake all the mud out and that day

every time I pulled up the rake there

was two or three dollars worth of clams

in there for the next 15 years and I

would commercially harvest every year I

get more efficient at it started scuba

diving form people would say things like

it's great they have a job doing

something that you love and I think to

myself I don't love this this is the

best way I know how to make a living

nothing to love about putting on a cold

wet suit early in the morning but I was

always nervous I was nervous about how I

would make a living I'll never forget

learning that a house costs $200,000 how

was I ever gonna afford $200,000 I was

scared I was gonna be homeless it was a

fear that drove me I went away to

college with some help from a Division

two wrestling coach I was a terrible

high school student but in college I was

gonna prove everybody wrong I was gonna

be a doctor it was around the time

ER came out I think that had something

to do with it and I learned three things

in Colorado one is there's no way I'm

gonna get into medical school

- is that financially I was on my own I

had no safety net I was racking up

student debt and that that scared me the

third thing I realized was that I loved

working on the ocean I loved

the you know the rocky mountains are

beautiful but nothing beats the Atlantic

so I came back to Rhode Island where I

could harvest shellfish and pay tuition

at the University of Rhode Island

I studied aquaculture and Fisheries

technology aquaculture is the growing of

aquatic species people grow seafood fish

shellfish people also grow things like

seaweeds analogies that are not only

used for food but used for everyday

products like toothpaste ice cream even

baby formulas pharmaceuticals

aquaculture is the fastest growing food

producing business in the world at

Fran's line and in the next 50 years we

are going to have to grow more seafood

than we've grown in the existence of

mankind

the reason we need aquaculture is

because there's a widening gap between

the supply and the demand of seafood if

you think about last thousand years more

and more people have gone fishing

catching more and more fish people have

gotten more efficient Industrial

Revolution we went from steam powered

engines to combustion powered engines we

got more efficient at capturing fish all

the technology sonar radar the boats

know right where to go they can see the

fish underwater they know the best

fishing grounds they remember them and

so year after year more people go

fishing year after year more fish have

been caught until about 20 years ago

when we saw a decline or a plateau in

some cases of the fisheries however the

demand for seafood is not plateauing

it's climbing it's climbing with wealth

it's climbing with people eating more

health consciously seafoods a great

protein choice it's also climbing with

population so we have a widening gap

between the supply and the demand of

seafood interestingly most of the

population growth is happening in

developing countries developing

countries are a great place for

aquaculture because they don't have as

many user group conflicts as we do here

in the US we don't have people jet

skiing over there water skiing they're

more interested in growing food so while

I was at URI I'm walking down the

sidewalk in front of the memorial

Union I got my head down and they're

written in chalk was it said scholarship

to study in Africa some information

about how to uh how to apply it was a

website I just figured out how to use

the internet not because just came out

because I thought it was gonna go away

and eventually I had to figure out I had

to figure out how to use it in that year

I've learned luckily and so whoever

wrote got in their hands and knees and

wrote that in chalk on the sidewalk

changed my life a few months later I

traveled to Cape Verde to study the

potential of aquaculture in Kate Verdun

it was there that I realized that

aquaculture was not just a potential way

for me to earn a living

aquaculture was a potential answer to

many of the world's needs at that point

I decided my goal in life would be to

help start farms in developing countries

to provide a protein source and for

poverty alleviation and because I love

the adventure usually when I went on

these trips I learned a lot more than I

taught farms varied in size from

subsistence farms like the ones in this

slide to industrial farms like the one

on the top right of the screen we are

going to need to grow one-and-a-half

million tons more seafood every year in

order to meet the growing demand of

seafood and we're not going to be able

to just harvest it out of the ocean

we've maxed that out we'll be lucky if

we can persist at the level we're at we

have to grow it we have to grow the

seafood and we have to do it in an

environmentally friendly way not just to

sound good to say that but otherwise the

industry will shoot itself in the foot

we can't go peeling up mangrove forests

or salt marshes because eventually we'll

run out so you have to remember

industrialized aquaculture is only a

couple decades old industrialized

terrestrial traditional agriculture has

been going on for hundreds of years

we figured out some really good ways of

growing things figured out some bad

great ways of growing things fish

farming has come a long way in the last

couple decades and don't take my word

for it if you look at the most popular

website that shows the the list of

sustainable seafood Monterey Bay watch a

seafood watch it list most of

farm-raised salmon are now listed as

good choices our best choices fin fish

farmer is coming off a long way in the

next the last 20 years fin fish farming

has still has a long way to go to

shellfish farming shellfish farming is

the epitome of sustainable agriculture

aquaculture sounds like agriculture

aquaculture is agriculture and shellfish

farming is sustainable agriculture

shellfish filter the water eating

phytoplankton microscopic plants are

naturally occurring in the water using

them for growth reproduction energy that

increases the amount of light that can

reach the sea floor increasing aquatic

vegetation it also makes more oxygen

available to other living things in the

bays and estuaries which are so

important to our wild capture fisheries

there's 10 to 10,000 times more

biodiversity within austere farm than

there is in an adjacent water body it

increases the number of living things in

area so I'm telling this to my buddy cam

and he says well that's great how are we

gonna increase sea food production by

one and a half million tons a year

though and I didn't have an answer so I

do what I always did I I called it one

of my mentors and I said hey how are we

gonna do this and he said well you

started a shellfish farm and a whole

food production system with just one

acre of pretty much barren sand flat so

tell your story so here's my story I

graduated college and job offers just

came pouring in yeah right

I continued commercial fishing scuba

diving for shellfish and working out on

offshore fishing boats this is one of

the last fishing trips I went on when we

left port the price of squid was a

dollar twenty-five pound and we got back

we caught tons and tons of squid when we

got back to port the price of squid had

dropped to 30 cents a pound so we didn't

make nearly as much as we thought were

going to but at least we made a paycheck

some trips that I went out on we

wouldn't make any money because the boat

didn't make any money because they spent

more money in diesel fuel and they

caught in fish everybody deals with

uncertainty in their career but when

you're relying on wild capture fisheries

the uncertainty is tremendous luckily at

University of Rhode Island I learned how

to grow oysters I started with a one

acre oyster farm top-left of the screen

you can see the first piece of gear that

I put in the first 1 acre of oyster farm

and I gradually expanded three acres

seven acres selling 50,000 hundred

thousand two hundred thousand oysters a

year to local restaurants and then

farmers markets and eventually

wholesalers in Boston New York Chicago

Philadelphia Atlanta Washington DC I had

grown a business that I wanted to ensure

the future of so I purchased the only

commercial piece of property on the

water which was kind of an old run-down

restaurant I needed the docks though I

needed those docks right there and so I

didn't have read any restaurant

experience other than being a busboy at

Chen's for one time in it and so I

didn't know whether the restaurant would

work or not but I know I needed those

docks I figured when it fails I'll just

live here and make it a fish market but

I need those docks and today the

restaurant employs over 200 people we

were named top ten oyster bar in the

world by USA Today just yesterday we

received a

thanks to all of you so we had the farm

to plate theme and we brought our

oysters into the dock and that was kind

of unique and then we grew we decided

want to increase our farm to plate

appeal so we started growing organic

vegetables that increase how much farm

to plate we were doing and and and so

these fields hadn't been farmed in

hundreds of years and now were

harvesting hundreds and tons and tons of

organic vegetables out of this farm to

supply to the restaurant and also to

local farmers markets provide the

customer with a fresher product a better

product and and and the oyster farm has

increased production to well over a

million oysters in Rhode Island

shellfish aquaculture has increased

production over 800 tons over the last

20 years if in the smallest state in the

country we can produce 800 tons of

sustainably grown seafood as a global

society we can meet the growing demand

of seafood one acre at a time thank you

you