for Edible East End
Taking the Plunge into a New Way of Farming: A Fish Farm Grows Off the East End of Long Island – Manna Fish Farms will begin farming fish in federal waters off the coast of Southampton in 2018.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he eastern end of Long Island is already a cornucopia of fruit, vegetable and flower farms. Now one East Quogue woman is taking the plunge, literally, into a completely different type of farming: offshore marine aquaculture.Just what is aquaculture? NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, defines it as the “breeding, rearing and harvesting of plants and animals in water environments like ponds, rivers, lakes and the ocean.”
While fish farming is already taking place in local waters, Manna Fish Farms will become the first company to farm fish in federal waters off the east coast of the United States.
Working with marine experts from Stony Brook University and Aquaculture experts from the University of New Hampshire, Manna Fish Farms plans to farm wild striped bass in floating aquapods eight miles off the coast of Southampton by 2018.
“We’re starting this April, spawning our first batch of fingerlings,” Manna Fish Farms CEO and Founder Donna Lanzetta said. “When we put them offshore at the site, the fingerlings will be 12 to 14 months old.”
