August 2, 2014 — On a grassy compound in southern Ohio, Laura Tiu rounded up her recruits for boot camp.
The two dozen men and women standing before her on a recent Saturday fell quiet as she gave them marching orders: Stock the nearby ponds with perch and prawns.
The recruits are preparing not for a life in the Army but a life aquatic — as fish farmers.
Americans consumed 4.5 billion pounds of fish and shellfish in 2012, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
That sizable appetite for seafood — along with a greater awareness of where our food originates — has translated into an increased interest in aquaculture, the fancy word for fish farming.
"Aquaculture is growing by leaps and bounds," said Bob Calala, president of the Ohio Aquaculture Association, which has about 50 active members.
This year, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has issued 235 aquaculture permits to fish farmers of all scales and sizes — up from 152 permits a decade earlier.
Years are often needed to learn to grow fish — to tackle the intricacies of aquaculture, from finding the best fit in fish breeds to navigating the channels of bureaucracy.
To help speed up the process, the Ohio Center for Aquaculture Research and Development at Ohio State University's South Centers set up a yearlong boot camp to help newbie fish farmers enhance their aquaculture know-how.
Read the full story at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer