A few weeks ago, my wife Renee’ and I took a trip to Shepherd Montana, headquarters of Floating Island International Inc. We had been invited to stay on the ranch and to see for ourselves how Bruce Kania and his wife Anne, are growing huge fish fast with a woven matrix of inert substrates called BioHaven, or Floating Treatment Wetlands. I had been in contact with Bruce for some time, learning about how excessive nutrients brought in from runoff can be turned into fresh, tasty fish. Not only do the Kania’s grow fish, but frogs, minnows, pheasant, deer and all species of waterfowl prosper in their efforts. Even Yellowstone cutthroat trout flourish in this superior environment, along with crappie and perch and various minnows.
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The setting was breathtaking, Mule deer and whitetail browsing on the thousands of perennial plants Bruce has planted for their benefit and soil stability. Over time these plants die off and return each spring, contributing to the rich organic soils being built up. Sprawling channels and wetlands run throughout the property, slowly beginning to filter and absorb the high levels of nutrients. When the water enters the property, it is dark and cloudy like chocolate.
Ducks of all varieties, geese, snipe, vulture, pheasant and more, have taken up residency in this oasis of prime habitat, with no intention of ever leaving. With Bruce being a veteran trapper, predators are being kept in check, protecting the desired species. With the Yellowstone River along one property line, this place is an outdoorsman’s paradise.
Stewardship of our natural resources is the core of the work being undertaken at Shepherd Ranch. We were there to catch and eat a bunch of these fish, helping them ultimately remove the phosphorus and nitrogen that causes excessive weed growth and poor water quality. Bruce and I dreamed big about someday soon, this concept of abundant, mass fish harvest to clean our Nation’s waters and beyond.
The data shows that over 50% of our Nation’s waterways are considered eutrophic and in trouble, meaning highly excessive weed growth and nutrient concentrations. Dark, stained and sometimes smelly water are all results of an unbalanced system. More information about our Nation’s waters are available on the National Fish Habitat Action Plan website, a wealth of details everyone is affected by.
When we began producing artificial fish habitat products made from reclaimed PVC siding called Fishiding, the ability to grow algae immediately on the inert surface area, appealed to the fisherman. Like myself, the average fisherman understands that habitat with good algae growth seems to hold more fish. It wasn’t until reading more and talking to Bruce that I began to understand the big picture of why this holds true.
These nutrients stick to surfaces underwater and create the beginning of the food chain called periphyton. Many forms of this wonderful natural, filter and food factory are present. Algae, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, zoo plankton and other invertebrates, function as a community highly efficient in capturing and processing nutrients. When I say processing, this means turning it into food of the highest quality found on earth. The more fish graze on it, it grows faster, decreasing bio mass and the fish grow at alarming rates, making the water clearer.
Numerous types of periphtyon are present, some require light to thrive and some do best in the dark. The more surface area available, the more periphyton can grow and work its magic. Pretend the floating island is a supermarket, the more shelves available the more food can be stocked for consumption. Small fish and fry eat this “super food” until about age one, when they begin to forage on larger minnows and bugs. Periphyton is the “mother’s milk” needed to start life full of nourishment.
This process has been perfected in second and third world countries. We are lacking in knowledge here in the states, but it’s improving with over 4400 of these floating treatment wetlands installed here and worldwide.
Think about all the ponds and lakes in your area. Golfcoarse ponds, retention ponds, private and public, there are many. Some are clear and deep with a balanced mesotrophic or oligotrophic eco system. The other 50% eutrophic waters, could be teaming with fish and every citizen is asked to help keep them clean…..by catching as many fish as you can eat, and removing them! The fish also reproduce faster than normal, so there is no worry of running out. Fish Fry Lake is living, thriving proof of this for all to see. Renee’ and I caught over 500 fish in less than eight hours of fishing. If your hook was in the water, it was being attacked by one or more gorgeous perch or crappie. From 6-8” one year olds, to 12-14” plus jumbos! Remember, this is in Montana not Lake Michigan, the only other place I have ever seen perch of this size. Perch and Crappie were abundant to say the least, with a perch containing about one percent live weight of phosphorus. The name “Fish Fry Lake” more than lives up to its name. Remember, this works with no chemicals, win,win,win…….
This natural cause and effect has other uses too. Bioswales also made by FII, are used in ditches and swales to slow down erosion as water runs through it, similar to adding hay bales in a ditch after new construction. The difference in using the inert matrix, patented by FII, is that as the bioswales slow down the water, the periphyton forms and begins to consume the over abundant nutrients, cleaning the water as it passes through slowly. Unlike the hay bales, the matrix never breaks down, which would add to the nutrient load in the waterway. Same with weeds, as they decompose, they remove oxygen from the water and add fertile organic matter that acts like fertilizer. Inert substrates like the matrix material used in the Floating islands, never breakdown and keep working year round to feed the fish and clean the water.
One of the optimal ways that FTWs can transition nutrients from water to beneficial use is to grow bacterial biofilm rather than floating algae. Bacterial biofilms grow faster than algae when their limiting parameters are satisfied, and when they have adequate circulation and surface area for growth. With appropriate stewardship, they also are an improved primary food source for fish (Azim 2005).
Circulation increases bacterial efficiency by bringing nutrients such as dissolved oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus to the biofilm.
A single 1000-square-foot BioHaven Floating Island can provide over 18 acres of strategic “concentrated wetland effect” surface area.
As demonstrated in field-scale case studies, waterways containing FTWs remove contaminants (pollutants) such as ammonia, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Biochemical/Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD/COD) and total suspended solids (TSS). These studies have included municipal wastewater, storm water, lakes and agricultural runoff. FTWs have demonstrated the ability to simultaneously remove all of these contaminants, due to their complex biofilms containing both aerobic and anoxic bacteria.
Dissolved oxygen (DO) levels are higher when inert substrate are used rather than organic substrates like wood, due to oxygen consumption during organic carbon uptake by biofilms. Inert substrates like BioHaven polymer matrix, can provide a more precise ability to initiate movement of a waterway’s nutrient load up the food chain. Periphyton moves nutrients up the food chain better than does synthetic fish food.
The bottom line is this. To ultimately remove these unwanted nutrients, fish have to be harvested. Not all lakes have these issues, but in Eutrophic lakes, the fish contain these nutrients and have to be caught and eaten to keep up with the periphyton growth. A perch for example, contains about 1% live weight of phosphorus. By removing enough fish to equal one pound of this chemical which is safe for humans and needed for strong bones, about 700 pounds of aquatic vegetation never gets a chance to grow. No chemicals or weed harvesting just fishing and keeping them for the table. Would you be willing to help clean your neighborhood pond by catching and eating some fresh fish? It’s a reality and is being performed at an alarming rate at Fish Fry Lake. We flew home with only one checked bag, 50 pounds of fresh fillets.
Clean water entering the Yellowstone River and ultimately the Mississippi, Stewardship is the lesson to be learned.
See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.
This next group of amazing shots by Engbretson Underwater Photgraphy, show biofilm and algae growth explode after less than four weeks. Fishiding Reclaimed Artificial Fish Habitat products made from reclaimed pvc vinyl siding, act as an ideal inert substrate to grow biofilm which in turn feeds and grows fish at a far above normal or average rates. This process called biomimicry, has been perfected and installed with overwhelming success by a company called Floating Island International, which utilizes recycled plastic matrix to create massive amounts of surface area.
See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.
Coral reefs are the rainforests of the world’s oceans. Like their terrestrial counterparts, they occur in tropical and sub tropical environments, support a bewildering variety of species and are diminishing at an alarming rate. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.
Marine biologists across the world are desperately trying to protect our remaining reefs from the impacts of global warming and destructive fishing. Others are building repositories of the known coral species – so that our grandchildren at least get to see them in aquariums or laboratories – and still others are constructing artificial reefs in areas of significant damage.
Humans have been creating reefs for thousands of years to improve their fisheries – you can pretty much sink anything solid in the right marine environment and calcium carbonate, the key ingredient in coral, will accrete to it. It’s a hit and miss affair, though, often bringing just a fraction of the biodiversity seen in a natural reef. But in the 1970s, some simple science created dramatic changes.
The biorock method was developed by architect and marine scientist Wolf Hilbertz and marine biologist Tom Goreau. They found that by running a small electrical current through seawater, a hard shell of calcium carbonate would form on the cathode. You could then attach small pieces of natural coral to the structure. The corals seemed to love these substrates, achieving growth rates often five times faster than normal. Today there are more than 20 Biorock projects around the globe, but by far the biggest – and arguably the most innovative – are in Indonesia.
“Right now we have 62 biorock structures around this island,” says Delphine Robbe, as she pulls on a wetsuit. “By 2012 we should have one hundred.”. Since coming to Gili Trawangan in 2005 with a vague plan to get her dive master certification, the Frenchwoman has become the driving force behind the island’s many eco programmes.
Trawangan is one of three tiny coral atolls off the coast of Lombok, Indonesia and increasingly a compulsory side trip to any Bali holiday, thanks to its bone white beaches, diving and snorkelling sites and absence of both dogs and motor vehicles. Pristine reef, however, is harder to find. “Probably 70 to 80% of our shallow reefs were destroyed by dynamite fishing,” Robbe tells me. “It was actually the local fishermen who kick started the eco movement here, when they set up patrols to try and stop the bombing.”
Goreau’s attention is on the Gili cluster, which has impressed him with its biodiversity and water quality. He and Hilbertz had chosen the tiny village of Pemuteran in north Bali as the site of what is today the largest biorock project in the world and are now looking for new areas to colonise with their artificial reef structures. Robbe met Goreau at the first Biorock conference and workshop in Trawangan in November 2005 and by the end of it, she’d been enlisted. “The next year, I led the workshop and brought in the major dive operators as sponsors,” she explains. “In return, they got their very own biorock installations in front of their dive shops.”
Besides stimulating biodiversity, the biorock structures also combat beach erosion, which became a serious problem with the destruction of the natural reefs. Increasingly, they are an attraction for tourists too – especially since English artist and environmentalist Celia Gregory joined the project.
Gregory, who besides being a mosaic artist and sculptor is also a dive master, contacted Tom Goreau after seeing the biorock project in Pemuteran. “I was really inspired by what they’d done and it gave me this idea of merging art with coral conservation,” she explains. “Plus I’d experienced dynamite fishing first hand when a device went off during a dive. We saw the shattered coral and the dead fish.”
Divers and snorkellers can now see underwater scultpures of a manta ray, dolphin, turtle, octopus, snake, moon, miniature phinisi schooner and even a komodo dragon. Gregory is now working with award winning industrial designer Tom Dixon who wants to create an underwater three-piece suite, while Bali based US photographer and vintage motorbike enthusiast Dustin Humphrey is thinking of sinking some old bikes and doing an underwater shoot complete with models.
Meanwhile, Robbe is building on the eco credentials of the project by exploring alternative sources of energy with which to power the biorock installations. “Running cable out to see and powering it with diesel generators is not exactly sustainable,” she says. “So we’re planning to build our first tidal energy turbines this year and then unroll much bigger ones by November 2012, the date of our next workshop.” She’s also landed some major commercial sponsors – oil company Total is looking to help fund the turbines, while Malaysian Airlines wants to put in an airplane sculpture.
But all of this comes with a caveat. The increasing popularity of the Gilis has prompted an unprecedented surge in development that threatens to scupper conservation efforts in the long term. Rising population and a rash of new construction is putting pressure on an island whose circumference is just 12km and which imports nearly everything, including fresh water.
Behind the quaint beach facing facades of the hotels, lies an open dump where most of the island’s rubbish goes, though Robbe recently set up a recycling system with the help of a Bali based company. The hotels often have rudimentary wastewater treatment systems, so biological waste goes straight into the sea, where it may create algae blooms that are toxic to coral.
There are a few exceptions. I stayed at the largely wind- and solar-powered Gili Eco Villas on the quiet north side of the island. They even have their own biorock sculpture of a whale.
“I have this vision of Gili Trawangan being a model of sustainability – it’s like a microcosm of the rest of the world, experiencing both threats and opportunities” Gregory says. “It has these amazing currents, endless sunlight and it’s small and contained enough to manage – if we were just smart about it.”
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http://underwaterfishphotos.blogspot.com/2012/06/artificial-fish-habitat.html
See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.
Protect fish habitat. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.
The five classes were on an awareness walk in response to changes to the federal Fisheries Act, but also checked out an ongoing stream project.
A control gate on Maggie Creek which flows into Kanaka Creek at 240th Street, helps maintain water levels in the wetlands area upstream, and creates more sheltered habitat away from the main stream.
The project was part of the habitat improvement required when the 240th Street bridge was built a few years ago.
That’s since improved Maggie Creek, confirmed by the presence of a few coho, stickleback and snapper found in the trap during the tour.
Only a few students however commented on Ottawa’s changes to the Fisheries Act now underway which will remove protection of habitat from all streams and just focus on streams of commercial, recreational or aboriginal value.
The phrase ‘harmful alteration, disruption destruction” of fish habitat in general is gone, while the new legislation says no one can cause “serious harm” to native, recreational or commercial fisheries.
Leigh Vivier was one of the few students carrying a Walk for Habitat sign and said he wants to make a difference.
“I want to help save Kanaka Creek – fish, animals and wildlife is at stake.”
He said the trap set in the creek showed that salmon are using Maggie Creek for habitat to stay safe from predators.
“And the number one predator is humans.”
Jade Plul and Alivia Stockall were also aware of the issue.
“We don’t want the fish to go extinct,” said Plul. “We want to save the fish,” added Stockall.
Senior biology teacher at Samuel Robertson Steve Halfnights said the exercise was an “awareness walk” and that many students probably have other concerns.
“For us, we just have to plant the seed and let the students make their choices down the road.”
Ross Davies, with the Kanaka Education and Environmental Partnership Society organized the walk. He helps teach Grade 8 science courses at Samuel Robertson.
He said the changes to the Fisheries Act could threaten the small tributary streams which could be considered neither recreational, commercial or aboriginal fishery.
“In our opinion, it (defining a stream that can be protected) becomes much more subjective.” Under the existing Fisheries Act, protection is automatic, he explained.
The new legislation removes the requirement to get authorization for disruption of any kind of fish habitat. That’s only required for waters that connected to recreational, commercial or aboriginal fisheries.
According to the government, authorization will not be required for projects occurring in waters that do not support the recreational, commercial or Aboriginal fisheries. New tools will be available to manage smaller impacts to recreational, commercial and Aboriginal fisheries.By Phil Melnychuk – Maple Ridge News
LEADVILLE — Fish habitat enhancement work is set to begin later this year on public parts of the upper Arkansas River below the Highway 24 bridge as biologists and engineers with Colorado Parks and Wildlife prepare to restore a section of river that was once mostly lifeless because of decades of mining activity.
The river restoration work is a key part of the federal and state effort to restore the California Gulch Superfund Site, an 18-square-mile area where historic mining activities occurred. Mines in the area created the discharge of heavy metals and acid into California Gulch at the headwaters of the Arkansas River, making the river in that area unable to sustain healthy fish populations. The river currently supports a trout population because of earlier mine cleanup efforts.
Improvements will be centered on an 11-mile stretch of the river from California Gulch downstream to Twobit Gulch. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.
See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.
Conservation groups, lake associations and local governments can help improve fish habitat and water quality through a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) grants program. Read more…………fish
