For many in New England, fishing is more than just a hobby; it is a way of life. And, not long ago, fishing was a way of life for entire communities all along the Atlantic coast. As depicted in the book and movie A Perfect Storm, making a living as a traditional fisherman has its extreme peaks and valleys. When it is good, it can be very, very good; but when it is bad, it can be devastating to not just the fishermen themselves, but to the towns and businesses that support this way of life.
About 50 years ago, the majority of the residents of Lubec, Maine, (pop. 2,000) depended on the turn of the tides to support their chosen occupation. Now, however, a lot has changed, and fishing has gone somewhat high tech. Even though now there are mostly large fishing companies and few independent fisherman taking to the waters of Lubec, fishing is still very important to the residents of this seaside town.
As a result, Lubec Consolidated School introduced a course on aquaculture in 1996. This course enables students to pursue the work of their forefathers, but with a 21st century spin.
In the 1950s, Lubec was a major sardine-fishing village, and most everyone in the community was tied to this industry in some way or another. Today, many multicultural companies control the fishing industry in Lubec and use aquaculture to grow and harvest salmon. According to aquaculture teacher Brian Leavitt, who came to the school in 1999 after working as a fish technician and administrator with a large company, about 10-20 percent of the residents of Lubec are employed by these salmon companies. He adds that the arrival of these companies has had a big impact on the town because they have provided jobs and a second chance to many residents who had been displaced by the dwindling traditional fishing business.
With the aquaculture course at Lubec Consolidated School, the children and grandchildren of Lubec's fishermen are able to learn about today's modern fishing industry. Aquaculture literally means growing in water, so Brian Leavitt describes this business as one that combines art and science. The companies lease ocean space from the state of Maine and set up nets to enclose their fish. They feed them special pellets to grow them to proper size, and then they harvest them and bring them to market.
The aquaculture class operates in much the same way. Instructor Leavitt teaches his course from a converted sewage plant located behind the school. Using federal vocational education funding, which is about $60,000 per year and includes Leavitt's salary, support from the community and a donation from the Annenberg Foundation, the old sewage plant is now an aquaculture laboratory. Students, faculty and members of the community all donated their time and efforts to retrofit the old sewage plant into a two-story building that includes a classroom, six recirculating fish tanks and an office. In 1997, a 400-square-foot greenhouse was added on to the laboratory so that students could also pursue aquaponics, which is essentially growing plants with soil fertilized by fish waste effluent.
The course also includes "field" work out in the harbor waters, specifically on a mussel raft. Students applied for and received permission from the state to operate an experimental mussel raft in the harbor. A donated boat is used to transport the students back and forth to the raft.
In an effort to grow the existing program, Leavitt encourages students to conduct their own experiments, some of which include phytoplankton monitoring, turtle culture, a touch tank and lobster culture. While some of these experiments have stood the test of time, the main focus is on aquaculture so that students can tie in their studies with the community around them.
Even though this course is currently an elective, Leavitt teaches about 60 students per day, 10 in each class. He says that a wide range of students beyond career and technical students are attracted to the three-part aquaculture program, even some special education students. What's more, he says that about 75 percent of his first-time students continue on with another part of the three-part course.
"Once they are in, they like it. It's a different learning environment," Leavitt notes. "It's hands on." He goes on to say, "This course gets them ready for life, and gets them ready to start a business if they want to."
For some of Leavitt's former students, this course also prepared them for college. One of his former students is currently studying marine biology at a campus of the University of Maine, and another is studying aquaculture at Unity College.
In their laboratory, the students have been working on a project to grow and harvest tilapia. Initially, the students tried to harvest salmon, but when all the salmon died, the students quickly learned that the manmade laboratory environment was too warm to breed salmon. Tilapia is a warm-water fish, and so far, the experiment seems to be thriving. This project, which was started by students Jordan Hall and Dylan Lord, has grown from a 750-gallon tank to a full-scale commercial venture and is fondly referred to as "Team Tilapia."
Team Tilapia has spread its gills into other courses of study within the school, as it has become as much an experiment in establishing and running a business as it is in growing fish. All of the students carry business cards and, together, the students created a marketing plan. The students' ultimate goal is to make enough money to support the aquaculture program at Lubec. To do this, 50,000-60,000 fish would have to be harvested each year. Since the lab as it stands today can only house about 10,000 fish, students Hall and Lord are busy designing a new 80'x150' facility as part of their senior project.
Many companies and restaurants have already shown a great deal of interest in purchasing fish from Team Tilapia.
The mussel raft has proven to be a challenge in itself. The students are not only learning to grow mussels, but also learning how to handle many of the same obstacles that the large companies face each day. One example is the constant challenge of fending off predators. The raft was originally enclosed in a single netting to protect the mussels from seals and other predators, but it has since been modified a few times when predators have successfully ripped open holes in the netting. There are now two nets around the raft.
Leavitt feels that this trial-and-error approach is a very valuable way of learning. In fact, more than a teacher, Leavitt really sees himself as a facilitator. "I don't tell them what to do. They solve their own problems," he says. This is exactly what has made Leavitt's aquaculture course so popular at Lubec.
In the coming years, Leavitt hopes to expand the aquaponics classes and add a distance-learning class to draw in students from the two other schools that form a consortium with Lubec. For now, he is quite busy providing his students with an interesting way to learn science, math, English and technology while meeting the Maine State Learning Results.
For the aquaculture class at Lubec Consolidated School, there is no better way to learn than by rolling up your sleeves, and pants, and getting right into it. Forget fishing nets and poles, these students are revolutionizing the fishing industry with their microscopes and laboratory.
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