May 30, 2013 — In this edition of WCVB-TV’s Chronicle, Channel 5 Boston explores fish farms along New England’s coast and meets two individuals with a passion for healthy and sustainable farm-raised seafood.
Hundreds of fish farms line New England’s coast, mostly producing shellfish and some salmon. Finding food sources for farm-raised fish that do not produce high levels of toxins has been a challenge, and raising species such as cod has proven to be commercially inviable. This is why Josh Goldman, co-founder and CEO of Australis, a fish farm in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, looked at 50 different species of fish before settling on the perfect candidate for aquaculture.
The species that Goldman selected was barramundi, an Australian sea bass, which he raises in a 2-acre indoor facility. Barramundi mature in only 9 months and reproduce on a lunar cycle. This means that barramundi spawn 12 times a year, as opposed to other species, which spawn only once.
The Australis aquaculture facility contains 40 tanks, which filter and reuse 60 million gallons of water daily. This facility, combined with the viability of the species, will allow Goldman to harvest well over 1 million fish per year, all of which will be raised sustainably and in an environment that is free of mercury and other harmful contaminants.
WCVB-TV also interviewed Peter Howard, co-owner of Sky 8 Shrimp Farm in Stoughton, Massachusetts, who, is working to deliver healthy, farm-raised seafood to the public. Howard has already raised between 15 and 20 thousand Pacific tropical shrimp and he has done it without the help of dangerous additives like antibiotics and growth hormones. Once they acquire additional tanks, Sky 8 Shrimp Farm plans to produce 60 thousand shrimp per month.
These farm-raised Pacific tropical shrimp and Australis’s barramundi are already making their way to chefs like Toby Hill, owner of Lyric Restaurant in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, who are always on the lookout for locally sourced fish that are not only fresh, healthy, and sustainably raised, but delicious as well.