3D Farming Saving Our Seas

Our oceans are in peril.  Overfishing, climate change, and acidification have caused this, but there is hope.  Imagine a vertical underwater garden:  seaweed and mussels grow on floating ropes, stacked above oyster and clam cages below.  Imagine a farm designed to restore rather than deplete our oceans- a farm growing local food but also biofuel and organic fertilizer.

Thimble Island Oyster company is doing just that.  They are one of the first sustainable 3-d ocean farms in the country.  Their 40 acre farm, located in the Thimble Islands of Long Island Sound, uses the entire water column to grow a variety of species ranging from sugar kelp and oysters to mussels and scallops.  It is a national model for hyper-local sustainable food production, ocean restoration and economic development.

Our oceans are in trouble.  Overfishing has wiped out 90% of large fish, climate change is driving everything from lobsters to whales northward, nitrogen pollution is triggering ever-expanding dead zones.  Thimble Island Oyster is trying to turn the tide.  Working with Dr. Charles Yarish of UCONN, Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory  and BRASTEC Sound School, they have invented a 3D model of ocean farming designed to grow seaweed and shellfish to provide healthy, local food, but also reduce overfishing, help mitigate climate change and restore ocean ecosystems. 

They're re-imagining the dinner plate by eating what fish eat:  plants.  They're cooking up kelp linguine and kelp ice cream.  Seaweeds and shellfish from Thimble Island Oyster Company  are found in some of the best restaurants in New York.  The potential impact on our food system is mind blowing.  In a 300 foot by 300 foot plot, 24 tons of seaweed can be grown in 5 months.  Creating a network of small seaweed farms equaling the size of Washington State could provide enough protein to feed the world.  Additionally, the growing of kelp, known as the "rainforest of the sea"- has the potential to remove 134 tons of carbon a year.  Also, biofuel is being created from the kelp beds, which could replace oil in the future.

Ocean farming is a win/win situation, as it creates new jobs, green jobs, helps with climate change, and has the capacity to feed the world, at least it's protein.  Creative thinkers like those at Thimble Island need to keep thinking, keep trying new approaches to ocean farming.  One of the things that makes America so great is we are great innovators.  3D farming is innovative and may help solve many of our environmental and food problems.