Aquaculture, science, and self-reliance

The outreach manager, hydroponics manager, and project manager would like to thank the Saipan Tribune for allowing us to use this space to share our project with you, the readers of this paper. The person responsible for collecting the student research information, anecdotal stories, and other related information to be presented in this section is the Outreach Manager, Pete Arriola. Not only is Arriola an overall great guy, he is the Saipan pioneer for aquaculture, as he was the first person to build a home aquaculture tank on Saipan. When he was introduced to aquaculture by the college, he went all out and made a system to the best design the college had at the time. His children were also involved with his project and enjoyed catching the fish as well as eating them. During a San Vicente Elementary School fundraising carnival, his children caught fish from their tank that were later put in a temporary tank at the carnival. Children at the carnival bought tickets to catch fish that they later took home to eat. It was at this carnival that San Vicente students, teachers, staff, and parents were first introduced to aquaculture. This later led to the SVES project.

Purpose: To provide exciting and relevant learning experiences for San Vicente Elementary School students. The Aquaculture Science Project began in1999 from grant money donated by the National Science Foundation, Christa McAuliffe Fellowship money, and a donation from the Bank of Hawaii. For four years this project was used to teach lessons related to life science.

Activities included students’ observations of the Tilapia life cycle and fish dissections. During the dissections, students would observe the heart beating. After dissecting the fish, the students would cook and eat it, along with the vegetables growing in the fish filter.

Other activities included:

1. Making video projects of students feeding the tilapia and catching them with nets.

2. Students fundraising through tilapia sales, as well as selling plate lunches cooked by students.

3. After-school science activities that involved students taking fingerlings home to raise and observe.

4. One group of science students took an off-island trip to Guam to make a presentation at the PREL conference about the Aquaculture Science Project. The trip was subsidized by Tilapia sales.

5. A science fair project had students catching and cooking tilapia for the parents. Also included in the menu was kangkun (watercress) that was grown in the tilapia filter.

The project was stopped after the tanks were damaged by two typhoons. FEMA provided replacement wood and tin and the Boy Scouts from Troop 913 removed the damaged material and painted the tanks. However, due to a lack of funding the pumps were not replaced and renovations required to make the area safe for student learning were not made.

Now, thanks to a grant from the Administration for Native Americans, as well as numerous partnering agencies, this project is being restarted. It is also being improved with the addition of off-campus farms, and at least two high tech plant-growing systems. The project is also partnering with the Native Medical Association to assist in preserving endangered native plants, and to learn the culture of the native medicine men and women.

In the following articles we look forward to sharing our experience and knowledge gained from this project. In particular we hope that many of you will become interested in starting your own aquaculture farms and/ or small gardens. Arriola is looking forward to providing information and lists of resources for community members interested in starting their own projects.