Restoration Aquaculture
Visiting the Galapagos Islands opened my eyes to how important the fisheries industry is to the world, especially in smaller countries. Almost all the income for the country comes from fisheries and tourism, which often includes fishing trips. My time abroad made me realize that fishing can never cease or everyone will suffer immensely. This makes me want to pursue the idea of restoration aquaculture, which I learned about in my Aquaculture class at the University of South Carolina. This consists of growing fish in aquaculture centers either for consumption or to eventually be released to help with repopulation. I want to work with this concept in the ocean, whereas most of the work with rehabilitation aquaculture is being done with rivers and lakes right now.
In the Galapagos, my friend stayed with a host family who were fishermen for a living. I had a chance to talk with Mr. Chila, her host father, about his lifestyle and he explained to me the importance of fishing for his family. If fishing was taken away, they would have nothing. I also talked to many of the dive companies and they had the same reaction. Dive companies are organizations that take people out for a guided dive. This is much safer and often more interesting for tourists because the dive guides are very knowledgeable about the ocean life. Many people come to the Galapagos to participate in a guided tour that includes sport fishing. I had the opportunity to join one of these tours, called a 360 tour. This tour gets its name because it sails all the way around the island of San Cristobal, stopping at four of the most interesting sites along the way. On the tour, there was a time to fish and many of the tourists took part. It was made very clear to me that without fishing, the income for the islands would drop significantly and all the families would suffer.
I took aquaculture, MSCI 537, last semester at the University of South Carolina towards my marine science bachelor’s degree and it really inspired me. I loved learning about how the Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, raises fish in the hatchery to later release into the rivers of South Carolina to keep population at a level where people can still fish. Fishing is an important part of Southern life, but without the stocking of brown trout, brook trout, and rainbow trout, these fish would have already been depleted from the rivers. I was really inspired by the idea of keeping the activity of fishing available for the people who love it. Later in the year, we went on a field trip to the Walhalla state fish hatchery and got to see the process of aquaculture firsthand. We received a tour of the raceway aquaculture system where they keep all the fish after they have passed infancy, as well as the nursery where they hatch the eggs.
Fishing is such an important industry throughout the world and it is clear people will never stop fishing. However, the ocean is being depleted of fish and it will eventually run out. I hope to pursue a master's degree in restoration aquaculture so I can contribute to repopulating the ocean’s fish and supporting the right to fish around the world.
