Boundless Science Season 2: Flourishing Fisheries: Unveiling Florida's Ornamental Fish Industry and Education Initiatives

Host University of Florida student Carleigh Newsom and guest Assistant Extension Scientist, Eric Cassiano discussed the significance of aquaculture in Florida, particularly the ornamental fish industry. They highlighted the industry's economic importance, unique challenges, and the work done at the University of Florida tropical aquaculture laboratory. Mr. Cassiano then discussed his and other’s efforts to educate
the public and schools about aquaculture, emphasizing the importance of youth engagement and standardization in aquaculture education. He stressed the need for a uniform system among schools to facilitate knowledge sharing and online networks and discussed the approaches to educating the general public about aquaculture. #boundlessscience #season2
#BoundlessScienceseason2
Keywords: aquaculture, ornamental fish, Florida, schools, fish, general public, industry,
aquatic species, agricultural commodity, grow, aquarium, proud, FFA, production

Transcript

Carleigh Newsom 0:03

Hello and welcome back to the podcast series boundless science brought to you by streaming science, a student driven program that works to connect you with scientists to learn how science impacts all of us in our everyday lives and interest. The following episode was made in partnership with the University of Florida Department of Agriculture, education and communication. My name is Carleigh Newsom. I'm a third year undergraduate student here at UF and I will be your host today the expert joining us is Eric Cassiano, an assistant extension scientist at the University of Florida tropical aquaculture laboratory and he is here to share with you his work in the lab and the wonderful world of aquaculture.

Today, we're gonna touch a little bit about aquaculture in Florida, the work that Mr. Cassiano does in his lab and then touching into his work in schools and how we can get involved in that. Just to start off Could you tell us a little bit about the fish production in Florida and how aquaculture is important to our state?

Eric Cassiano 1:10

Yes, absolutely. Aquaculture in our state is really unique in the sense that it's pretty much dominated by the pet aquarium industry. So a lot of the the items that we grow fish or plants or whatever they are are for the pet trade the ornamental fish industry, the ornamental industry so these are pretty little plants and fish that go into aquariums are number one aquaculture product is ornamental fish are number two aquaculture product in terms of sales is is bivalves. That's our top food commodity. So clams and oysters and number three is alligators. Most of those alligators are produced for their high purses, belts, boots, things like that, but we also eat alligators and number four is aquatic plants. All those aquatic plants are produced mainly for the aquarium industry. And then finally, number five is food fish. So really don't have a lot of food products that we grow in the state of Florida, about half of our aquaculture production is for that pet aquarium industry.

Carleigh Newsom 2:05

Absolutely. That's really interesting. And when we look at the state as a whole, what counties or areas would you say are the highest producing in this ornamental fish production?

Eric Cassiano 2:16

Yeah, so as far as ornamental fish are concerned with ornamental industry, it's a lot of that occurs in Hillsborough County, which is where we're, we're stationed at down here, just south of Tampa, Polk County, which is right beside us. And then Miami Day, which is further south, those are the hub of the ornamental fish industry. And a lot of that is because of their close proximity to airports, a lot of these fish have to be alive when they get to a pet store. And so we have to be close to an airport, there's no processing going on. We bag these fish alive in bags and Styrofoam boxes, and then they have to make it to the cargo hold airplanes relatively short period of time. That infrastructure was built a long time ago and hasn't really changed all that much. We have to be close to airport. So yeah, those are sort of the center of the state little bit south of the state as well.

Carleigh Newsom 3:00

Absolutely. Very cool. For my understanding, aquaculture is considered a form of agriculture in the state of Florida. Is that correct?

Eric Cassiano 3:07

Absolutely. Yeah. It was decreed many, many moons ago. So yeah, these are this is an agricultural commodity that's produced these ornamental fish that become our pets. Yeah.

Carleigh Newsom 3:18

A fun fact that I learned when I was touring the capitol in Tallahassee, Commissioner Simpson or the Commissioner of Agriculture. They have a ornamental fish tank in his office. And I think just to kind of remind him of that aspect that they maintain in and keep for him right there in his office. So I thought that that was very cool. So talking about your lab being stationed in Hillsborough County, what is the actual purpose of this tropical aquaculture Lab,

Eric Cassiano 3:48

our primary function right now is to cater to the ornamental fish industry in the state of Florida, like I said, That's primarily focused on Hillsborough County, Polk County and Miami Dade. But there are farms spread all throughout the state of Florida, our number one service that we provide. And the reason why we were founded was a veterinary service. Most animals that are kept in the agricultural situations, it's not a matter of when they're going to get this area, if they're going to get sick, it's a matter of when they're going to get sick. And this lab was founded in 1996 98. It takes a while to build things right. So but that was the primary service was that narrow service, we have the diagnostic lab here. Farmers can bring their fish for a small nominal fee really just to recoup the losses in equipment and we can diagnose any sort of medical issue or health issue that's associated with those aquatic animals. Since then, we've grown around that we have a lot of our species are not from Florida. So we have a non native species group that works with you know, preventing, escaping and doing risk assessment on new species and things like that. Just how are these species interacting with Florida's natural environment? We want to prevent that but then what if they were to get out and so you know, a risk assessment On a lot of these species is necessary. We also examine general farm management, which can be anything from how to grow a fish to what's the best light bulb to use, so that you're not wasting energy on your 1000 light bulb hatchery. So that's that's kind of broad ranging research that we do in that area. And then of course, looking at new species, a lot of our industry, we have 400 to 500 different varieties of fish. But that's always changing. When you think about your pet home aquarium. It's not just one species, and we're always looking at new things that we can put into production. That's really what we're known for is diversity and trying to increase that number of species. So we have a lot of cutting edge research on that type of how do we spawn this fish? How do we grow this type of fish and make that available for our farmers to grow so that people can have them in their fish tanks routinely?

Carleigh Newsom 5:48

That's really interesting. And it sounds like you guys are a great resource to the public. And for those producers to be able to get the help that they need when you know, their fish is sick, and they need to figure out what they need to do.

Eric Cassiano 6:00

That's really our primary function. So all those things wrapped into one, you know, we do outreach extension, which is what this isn't what I do, but it's getting that information, making ourselves available to that industry so that that industry can succeed. And that's really our primary function. But beyond getting all those research findings out to our industry is is of utmost importance. And so then, of course, making aquaculture available to the general public into schools is important as well.

Carleigh Newsom 6:26

When we talk about the facility as a whole, I'm sure that there's many moving pieces, and everybody has their own focus that they work on. What is your focus specifically, do you have a specific area which you work really well in? Or are you just kind of an overall person with the lab,

Eric Cassiano 6:42

my primary clients, I'll act as that sort of liaison to the industry to relegate those research findings, if we find out something new, my primary clientele is ornamental fish farmers. So that's what I cater to the most. For instance, tomorrow, I'm gonna go help a guy with some fish spawning on a new species. So that's really primarily, what I focused on. Secondarily, it's sort of morphed into aquaculture youth education, which has taken on a life of its own. When we started this back in 2009, we didn't know how popular was going to be. And I think there was like 10 schools that have agricultural programs. And now we don't really know we guess it's somewhere around 250 to 300. But there's more and more interest every day, it's a great small footprint to teach basic agricultural commodities. Plus, there's a lot of people that are interested in aquaculture. And then lastly, I guess my third set of clientele will just be the general public. So just making them aware of what aquaculture is here in the state of the nation, Florida's role in the national aquaculture picture. And then in the world. Of course, like I said, Florida does have a pretty unique aquaculture industry. And so just making people aware of that is super duper important. A lot of people love it when they realize that there's ornamental fish farms right in their backyard, and it just kind of blows them away still, to this day, people don't know. And then of course, you always run into the old timers that worked on a fish farm 30 years ago, I want to tell you about that experience as well. So yeah, I work with the general public schools, and then of course, more intimately with the aquaculture industry. That's primarily my job, which as you might imagine, is a lot of different topics. I always say, when I get asked a question, my answer usually is I don't know what I can find out. And I'll get back with you. That's that's typically how it goes, I can't be an expert on everything.

Carleigh Newsom 8:27

I love that. But you know, the willingness to learn and to educate others. I feel as though it's a really big part of that and talking about the general public and understanding of aquaculture because as you said, it is a really big part of Florida. And I think that it's very important for people to have an understanding of the vast varieties of commodities in Florida, just like aquaculture is and so a lot of that does start with the youth. So would you touch a little bit about your work in the schools with you, and kind of maybe what the process of getting involved with our schools program looks like for you.

Eric Cassiano 9:01

It's quite varied. When we first started, it sort of took on a grassroots movement. And you know, I'm sure you've heard the term, you know, there were a bunch of different silos popping up all over the place. And I think one of my first goals when I got this position in 2016, was to make some level of uniformity among the school system so that they can help each other one of the issues that we have my predecessor was just having to drive two hours to do one small little task and not being able to make themselves available prolific way to schools. But so that was sort of the start of that or started started to change a little bit. We work a lot with FX division of aquaculture, they have some individuals there that are primarily focused on youth education, which is fantastic. So like I kind of explained it's not really primarily my focus, although it does tend to dictate a lot of my time. And so one of the things that that we agreed upon was, you know that uniformity like trying to make a lot of the systems the same trying to develop some of these online networks for schools. they can help themselves and they can learn from themselves and the accomplishments and the failures that previous schools have endured. They can new schools can learn from those lessons. So and then we started to develop other programs. So that there's some sort of other value to participating in these programs into the FFA, formally Future Farmers of America. We host the aquaculture career development event here at the lab, that's a big lot of the kids like it's very popular, they like to win that award and show off that trophy. They're very proud of themselves when they do that. And so that in itself is a huge accomplishment. You don't necessarily have to have an aquaculture system on site or at your school to participate in that program. But it does help just like any sort of agricultural commodity anything, it always helps to get hands on experience. And so we've been hosting the career development event, the aquaculture career development of the final here at the lab, I don't know for many, many moons. I mean, when I came on, it was already in full swing, Debbie pooter, who sort of works behind the scenes with me, it really runs that event. And she's personally very involved and very dedicated to its success. And now the question is being put to us about, you know, making this a national aquaculture events and the National FFA as opposed to just living in the Florida FFA world. And that's a huge undertaking. So we're a little scared about that. But it's going to happen the system matter of time. And so other states and other aquaculture cities and so sort of marrying them together is going to be a big challenge. And hopefully we can have it here at the tropic aquaculture lab. We're working the logistics out of that further after the development of that FFA, CDE aquaculture city, the Florida aquaculture Association developed a Industry Certification Program, which is really a great monetary award for any students or teachers and administrators out of school to participate in the certification basically, they get money for each kid that passes that test. And that money could go back into their aquaculture program and help and help continue that program along buying fish food, buying new tanks, things like that, so that the kids can keep on taking care of those fish. So those are big programs testbank for both the FFA, aquaculture CDE and the FAA Industry Certification Program. And as you might imagine, that's a mouthful to say the testbank for those programs is the same because we want kids that participate in one to participate in the others so that we're really just expanding the level of participation on both ends by making the carrot that award that that the administrators and the students in the schools get for participating in our culture just making that a little bit bigger. So not only do the kids get the trophy, which they really love, but you know, the administrators in the in the students I mean in the teachers get a little bit of money back into their program, so and don't have to learn a whole lot extra. So those are three good examples of you know, developing that uniformity. We work pretty closely with FDACS we've division of

aquaculture, we've gotten USDA Farm to School grants, we've gotten money from Florida Sea Grant, we've gotten money from FTA FAA, which is the ornamental fish trade association, the Florida aquaculture Association, I'm sure I'm missing somebody. But what we do with that is we during the summer, we have teacher training workshops, and the teachers can come learn from us about how to teach aquaculture to their classrooms. And then if we have money, and we have the past three or four years, we actually award schools aquaculture slash aquaponics systems, so they don't have to go out and spend use some of that money to buy systems, they're not super big, they're, you know, maybe take up a 10 foot by 10 foot footprint in the classroom, some of them are actually in the classroom. So again, this is that sort of movement towards having some sort of uniformity and really working all together so that teachers can help themselves and we can help them in certain ways. But so also that those systems are the same. When I go visit a classroom or when I go interact with a school. I know what I'm getting into before I get there. It has developed with different silos throughout the state. I never know what I was going to see when I showed up. And so that was always surprising and sometimes a little bit difficult. So yeah, that's that's kind of my role in it is really that initial contact, I do have travel fundings. I'm able to go and visit schools. I don't do a lot of classroom lectures I have from time to time, but a lot of what I get is, hey, I'm interested in tinctures, aquaculture, how do I do that? And I have a very, you know, approachable manner. And so sort of start the process. Hey, let me look at what you got. Let me see what space you got. And let's see what you want to accomplish. Every school has different aquaculture goals that they want to accomplish, and then sort of try to put them or fit them into that mold a little bit of, you know, hey, this school might be a good model for you to see. Maybe we should start there and interact with them. So yeah, just sort of letting them know what's the logistical opportunity that they have. A lot of times what I get is is inherited aquaculture systems from a teacher I inherited this, this teacher ran this for 10 years, how do I make this work. And so it's really just sort of a crash course in getting them up and running, getting the water moving, getting the biofiltration components going and then getting them fish. And they're often surprised at how easy it is to get going. A little bit more difficult to maintain for a longer period of time, but yeah, teachers are, you know, on a on a whole, pretty dedicated. And so to even want to examine that, you know, I get a lot of, you know, I grew up on a farm, I raised chickens. I don't know anything about aquaculture, but I have, you know, 10 students that are really into it. So can you help me learn about it. So that's a lot of a lot of what I do is sort of that sort of retrofitting those systems and making them simple, not using all the equipment that they inherited, but just enough of the equipment that they inherited to get them up and running and make them dangerous.

Carleigh Newsom 15:50

Yeah, that is really exciting. And for those of you listening, I was one of those students that won the aquaculture contest, and was just very excited to get that trophy. So hearing that it could potentially become a national contest is really exciting, because there are other states that are involved in aquaculture production. I know Oregon, they have their own aquaculture contests that's already up and running. So and a variety of other ones. And when I would wear my little aquaculture jacket and feed people from other states, they were always very interested in it. So it's exciting to know that it's progressing across the US

Eric Cassiano 16:27

on the state level, like the kids don't win. I mean, they get the trophy, they get the sheet of paper, and they love the app. But there's no like monetary incentive, I believe on the national level, you actually win, like a scholarship or an award or something that you can put towards your education. So that's even going to be more of an incentive for other schools to participate. There was a national aquaculture CDE career development event that would encourage more states to develop aquaculture. So now now we're talking about other states like Iowa, I'm just guessing they don't maybe they do sorry, Iowa, but you know, for them to develop an aquaculture CDE would be fantastic. So it's really it's going to blossom. And it has the potential to get quite big as as FFA is very big organization. And

Carleigh Newsom 17:08

that's exciting. Because, you know, a lot of times people say that it starts with the students and ever they've been that student organization. And your work in the schools really starts it with, Oh, hey, parents, I just learned about this in class, did you know that Florida has the school or the middle of production. And we're number one, and we're doing all these things with producers. And then that kind of teaches the parents in a way. And then it just becomes kind of a full circle moment where everybody is just getting a little bit more educated about the world of aquaculture and its ability to affect our country, because from my understanding some other countries are actually a little bit further ahead of us when it comes to overall like food, fish aquaculture production, is that correct?

Eric Cassiano 17:53

I think it just depends. I mean, we don't view agriculture, as well. I mean, I guess we do like one big lump of like, this is how you grow cow. This is how you grow and go, this is a girl chick, and this is how you grow pig. They're each individual techniques and methodology. So there are definitely some countries that are way more ahead and like salmonid production or things like that, right? So we're pretty good at catfish, or like, you know, Mississippi girls, a lot of catfish. So it just depends on how you view those different species. And that's really one of my goals, too, is to try to sort of I mean, aquaculture is agriculture. But there's it's so diverse within its realm itself, that it's hard. And a lot of people won't do that just lump aquaculture into one category when there is so much diversity with aquatic animals. But yeah, there definitely are, as far as regulation is concerned, that allows a lot more aquaculture practices of techniques to go on in other countries than there is in the United States. That's probably the safest way for me to say it.

Carleigh Newsom 18:52

Gotcha, gotcha. So when we touch on those schools, and you said that you're kind of that point of contact for them for teachers and for students wanting to kind of get involved in understanding aquaculture further, what do they need to do?

Eric Cassiano 19:06

One of the things that was my goal as well because there are a bunch of different organizations that want to get involved in this or that are involved in this and you know, to use an agricultural term, I mean, the truth is huge. So there's plenty of space for us all to eat and drink. So there's no reason for there to be competition. But but for me, it's always been exciting that FDACS division of aquaculture should be the hub of that because their state organization they have someone there

that's specifically are a couple of people there now that are specifically hired for aquaculture youth education. They're much better at doing the technical online developing forums and Facebook's and things like that. And it is like I said, it's only a third of my appointment. So with that said, I mean FDACS division of aquaculture has an educator Resources page, which is a great beginning step if you don't know Anything about aquaculture? That's a great place to start, because it does have documents and educator resources, field trips, and Dropbox culture lab is on that list of places. But yeah, I'm always i get emails every day, from people that want to start. And that seems to be a good place to start as well. Because we're all like I said, we're all in the same group FDAC sends people my way, I send FDACS people their way. So we're always working together as well, Florida aquaculture association that might be a little bit slower, but emailing them to get started as well. But she'll eventually, please send you to me anyway. So yeah, I mean, you could always reach out to me, and then I can get you started based on your level of aquaculture knowledge and what you want to accomplish, and sort of help you streamline that process instead of walking blindly into it. And that's, and that's a lot of what I do, too, is knowing what to need to do and what you don't need to do. When

Carleigh Newsom 20:56

you talk about the general public and their understanding of aquaculture. What are your kind of goals in that area? Are we wanting people to just be aware that aquaculture exists in the state of Florida? And in the US? Are we wanting people to get involved in aquaculture? What is the goal when it comes to to knowledge about this subject when it comes to the general public?

Eric Cassiano 21:17

Yeah, so you know, like, with the youth, a lot of those kids are not going to end up working in agriculture. And that's not the goal, right, the goal is making them educated consumers and voters so that when a topic comes up, they know what it means the general public tends to be a little bit older, right? They're, they're already sort of set in their way and have their you know, their people like me that are thinking about retirement. And so for them, it's a little less involved, it's more, I don't want to talk at people want to give them information and let them take what they want from it. So we're talking about an older demographic here. So things like that would be like, for example, we have exhibits at the Florida State Fair, we have exhibits at the Hillsborough County Fair, we have exhibits at the Florida Strawberry Festival actually have to run up there today and feed the fish. So I don't sit there and really talk to the general public during these types of displays and events, I provide literature, I run videos, I set up fish tanks, I just want people to know that, hey, this exists, this is what you should be proud of as an agricultural commodity in your backyard, it's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. And that's really kind of my approach to it. I do make videos as well that are up on the YouTube channel that we share through our either our YouTube channel or using social media, Facebook, things like that, really, it's just a sort of passive information availability, so that people understand this is what's going on. Like I said, most of the, that demographic is a little older already set don't want to be talked at, and just want to go Oh, that's interesting. So for instance, at the Strawberry Festival, we have something right now set up where it's just a little bit of the history of the industry here in Florida started in the 30s. And just a little bit of that, and a lot of retirees are like that is really interesting, I had no idea. And so that's that's a win, check the box fantastic, provided them information about something that they did not know about their community, a lot of people love their community and want to learn about it. That's pretty much how that goes. I also do talks as well that are a

little bit more focused on specific areas for like Tampa Bay Aquarium society or just for retirement community, those are, you know, tend to be or an HOA will have some sort of an event. And it's just these are really casual, non scientific talks just about Florida aquaculture in general and what it is and what it isn't. And that's sort of the approach when it comes to the general public, a little more hands off a little more passive, and just sort of let them pick what they want to learn about and, and be on their way. And

Carleigh Newsom 23:53

that pride of being a Floridian that comes from a state with this large production, I think just has a hand in there. You know, we want to be proud of the commodities that we produce and the part that we play in in US role in aquaculture. And so I think people kind of in a way when they find out about oh, Lorna is number one in ornamental fish production. That's a fastback that they're ready to keep in share with people because that's something to be to be really proud of, for all as a person and the general public and, and having taken their time to listen to this and learn a little bit about your work and what you do. Do you feel like there is any other key takeaways or final points that you would want to get across to to our listeners today?

Eric Cassiano 24:39

Yeah, I mean, I think you said, you know, this is what I mean, the Florida is very unique, and I always, I mean, you'd be amazed. I mean, I talk to third graders, and they get proud of the fact that most of the ornamental fish are most of the pet fish that are grown in the United States are grown, you know, within 10 miles of their house and to see a third grader get proud of that was really like, Whoa, I thought y'all cared about candy really like it's a big deal. People love their community and they want to be proud of it. And Florida is very unique in its production. Like I said, we grow 95% of the ornamental fish that are sold in the United States, or that are producing United States are produced in Florida. And that's really something to be very proud of. And so I mean, like you said it, you nailed it. And that's very unique. And when people from Florida learn that, you see that level of pride, and they go, Yeah, I guess, I guess that is pretty unique. And I'm like, Yeah, I mean, it's because we're warm. Because it's hot down here. But still, though, I mean, you know, that's a lot of different fish, people come here to learn about growing a specific type of fish. We get people from all over the world, come here to learn about that, because nothing against the catfish industry, but you're talking about a handful of species. And when you're talking about ornamental fish, you're talking about 400 to 500 different species. I mean, these guys are experts, and nobody else in the world knows how to grow it. You know, there's a guy, not 10 minutes down the road from here that grows upside down cap fish, and he's the only one that knows how to do that. That's really cool. And that's probably going to change. And that's great. That's pretty cool. And so yeah, just the uniqueness of our diversity and uniqueness of our aquaculture production. That's that's really the takeaway is is and when I go to aquaculture conferences, I mean, the aquaculture people know that right. But yeah, but just for the general public to know that is really is really pretty cool.

Carleigh Newsom 26:29

I agree. And I'm really glad that we're getting something positive out of the heat and humidity that Florida has to offer us every day when we get a little part of it. At least we know that we're getting some really cool fish out of

Eric Cassiano 26:43

this tropical fish. Love it when it's hot. Yeah, absolutely. Well,

Carleigh Newsom 26:47

I think that that is all we have today. Thank you so much.

Eric Cassiano 26:50

Thank you for doing this because this is another avenue for people to learn about what's going on in Florida. So, so good on Yeah, good job.

Carleigh Newsom 27:03

Thank you for joining us today on this episode of boundless science. We hope you continue to listen with us on the next episode, and you can find the rest of this series on streaming science.com Have a wonderful day.

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