Inventor's Club Belize Project 2009

Wrap Up

2010-09-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

Best of luck to the Uni High Inventor's Club in future endeavors.

They went to Boston and presented their design and have wrapped up the Inventor's Club Project for the time being.

I think it would be nice if the Independence Junior College students could post some of their pictures from the intern experience.

Shrimp ecocertification work will continue through 2010 and 2011.

Keep an eye on the Happy Anachronism for updates on work there!

Feeding trials continue

2010-05-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Trials are continuing here in Belize. We are making a direct comparison of early post larval shrimp growth (1,200 per tank @ 25/m2) and survival when fed on AquaMats that are colonized by normal growth vs. allowed to trap suspended sediment in the control structures. The picture above shows the AquaMats in the control structure (front) and being colonized in still water (rear). The mats in the control structure fill with algae in a few minutes. If the shrimp will eat that material and a low cost harvest technique can be found, they can remove a significant proportion of the algae leaving the pond (which is also a significant proportion of the nutrients leaving the pond). The Uni High prototype could be installed in a similar manner. We'll project findings from this experiment onto the Uni High findings to estimate yeild and potential viability of strained food sources as feed. AquaMats are already a known viable food source.

Feeding Trials!

2010-05-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

The huge experimental tanks in this picture are being filled as I type this. By the end of the week, we'll be ready to begin feeding trials for shrimp post larvae.

NEED A PROTOTYPE DESIGN!

If logistics are prohibitive, we can just move ahead with Aquamats but it would be nice to get some information from the exact device the club is going to present in Boston.

Inar and I will be running the trials. The interns had a good experience learning water quality etc, but time has run out on their semester.

Hope everyone is having a great spring!

Send us what you can!

Testing Plan

2010-03-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

We want to estimate the growth curve for the purpose of:

1. Having some hard data proving that our material actually promotes growth

2. Estimating the growth curve on our belt design to determine optimal frequency of harvesting

This test being done in Illinois as well as Belize is helpful because Illinois testing will serve as a template for Belize testing: we can modify test design based on what did or did not work, and have an estimate of what the curve will look like (i.e. how long the exponential phase of growh is in comparison to the stationary phase). It will also be interesting to compare how the apparatus will grow algae in different environments.

(Typical growth curve for Tetraselmis suecica.We expect a similarly shaped curve, but our scaling will be slightly different. Source:http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5720e/y5720e08.htm)

Some basics about the test:

Algae harvest will be done using a single nail brush, not a harvesting mechanism (why? 1. our belt design was ready before the harvester is ready, 2. we don't want to be able to attribute error to inconsistency in harvest. this is a growth test, not a system test)

The data we aim for is actually a graph [img]. We'll be plotting grams of dry mass per square centimeters of belt against elapsed time (since last harvest) . Collection will occur at two day intervals at roughly the same time (in the morning). We divide the belt up into ten sections from which we harvest at scheduled intervals (so that our data will be spread out evenly).

Testing time is continuous. Although we will have the minimum useful data set by April 16th, we plan to either continue testing or launch a new round of testing using the harvester we eventually plan to implement.

At each harvest time:

0. Weigh watch glasses

1. Collect from the sections appointed for the day using a nail brush. Collect entire wet mass in a watch glass. Record having harvested.

2. Situation 1: We are allowed to bring home electronic balance. We allow the wet mass to sun dry, and if that isn't possible, we bake the material. Either way, we end up with dry material, and measure the mass (subtracting the watch glass weight). Situation 2: We (carefully) bring the watch glasses into school, bake in the oven in the chem room, and measure dry mass (subtracting the watch glass weight).

3. Record on paper and excel. The excel document will create the graph.

Flaws:

This data is only useful for static water (as opposed to implementation near the control section with accelerated mass collection).

Imprecise. Continuous testing is impossible, human error unlikely but possible (inconsistent harvesting?)

Prototype testing in Illinois

2010-03-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It looks like good progress is being made in Belize. I look forward to the results of the most recent installment.

Outdoor prototype testing has begun recently, and the weather has finally gotten warmer for good it seems. We took a pre-existing design and altered it to work in a creek. This is what it looks like.

This design can be scaled to fit basically any size/shape pond. The belt is a double layered plastic embroidery sheet, with cheesecloth between the two sheets. The things that hold the belt in place, I'll call them belt guides, are PVC and come in two different forms. The first kind is a complete square, to enclose the belt. The second has two prongs to guide the belt. The second type is more efficient.

The belt has been in the water for about a week now, and this is what it looks like up close.

After March 16's post, Inventors Club is going try to incorporate these control structures, because it seems we could get a lot of yield from this. We would need some sort of efficient harvesting method. The harvester for this belt design is coming on 3/31. I'm not the expert on the harvester, so when it's implemented I'll post pictures and explanations. It uses rotating nail brushes to remove algae.

I look forward to hearing some feedback on this design!

The Interns Hit the Ponds!

2010-03-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Working under the direction of Inar Cayetano of Aquamar Shrimp Farm (on the left), Shamika Logan (middle) and Lisa Guttierez prepare and install AquaMats in a sedimentation pond to help trap additional nutrients and sediment.

Results will be posted soon.

Looking forward to meeting with the Uni High Inventor's Club soon to discuss progress!

Quick Lessons About Sedimentation Ponds

2010-03-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

I'll try to make this brief and brilliant.

This is the control structure (dam) for a sedimentation pond. Shrimp farms use sedimentation ponds to trap water and let organic and inorganic particles "settle" to the bottom so they won't enter natural water ways. They are a good way to remove nutrients and they are where we plan to deploy the Inventor's Club invention to remove nutrients.

The control structure generally looks like some variation of the object above, with removable boards slid into slots in a concrete post holding back the water and creating the dam.

The water comes into the pond looking like this...

...and leaves the pond looking like this (much, much clearer).

And yesterday the water was that much clearer still, because we tried a little experiment with Aquamats. Inar Cayetano, the new environmental coordinator at Aquamar shrimp farm and myself, placed an Aquamat at the outflow of a control structure...and in SIXTEEN HOURS...on a completely clean Aquamat, we got THIS to grow....

Ladies and gentlemen...that is some serious biomass yield.

I'll try to post numbers soon.

While you are thinking about your designs, keep this little experiment in mind. This kind of yeild opens up some very efficient design possibilities.

New Interns!

2010-02-25T16:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, five new interns from Independence Junior College met to discuss the upcoming projects for their environmental internships working to learn about and improve water quality at shrimp farms in Belize.

Along with learning to test water quality and implement mitigation projects, they will be helping to test the Uni High Inventor's Club water quality apparatus. From left to right the group includes Natasha Bennett, Rennee Cadle, teacher and intern sponsor Abigail Parham, Shamika Logan and Lisa Guttierez. Also working with the project but not pictured here is Omar Sierra.

Thanks to Uni High, and the Lemelson Foundation for the use of the waterproof camera (held by teacher Abigail just over Renee's right shoulder). The interns will use that to document their progress and keep us all appraised of their successes.

All interns will begin work next week. We're prepped and ready to go!

Progress!

2010-01-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

Despite having neglected to post reports of our sucesses for a few months*, inventor’s club has been making plenty of advances. Our newfound funding from Lemilson-MIT was utilized to supply us with a grocery cart full of hardware store gems, from plastic sheets to squeegees to goldfish. Combined with the addition of three aquamats to our collection (thanks Belize!), we were finally ready to set up some more advanced tests.

We set up four fish tanks with filters, goldfish, and pondwater. The objectives of our experiments are to test the capacity of various materials for growth, to be able to compare different harvesting methods, and to have a tangible model of algal growth on substrates to spark creativity.

Meanwhile, members of our innovation/brainstorm group were exploring a few different concepts. We toyed with the idea of creating a quick method to apply silicon to substrates before emersion in the water to promote more growth. This was inspired by a closer reading of the aquamat manual, where it is recommended that the mats be soaked in chemicals for several hours before introduction into the shrimp ponds. Polluting the canals with excess silicate was one concern.

Another concept we discussed at length was the option of open water harvesting. From looking at any pond we know that diatom growth occurs without special substrates, and there are preexisting methods of controlling these (pond vacuums, skimmers, and enzymes for your neighborhood catchment). We looked into different ways to blow algae to the top (like a centrofuge effect). Another option would be a substrate that sort of functions as a net, growing algae near the bottom of the pond and then, when ready to harvest, catching the free water algae as it is pulled to the surface of the water.

Many design ideas were thrown around, written down. Other group members meanwhile played with the CAD modeling software. Their main success was to get a running model of a capped pipe with water flowing through it, which will be helpful when we want to put our virtual prototype in canal conditions. Those managing our finances handled receipts, and communicators/researchers contacted people from the geological survey.

After about two weeks of growth, we took the substrates out to see what we had grown. With the help of the school’s biology teacher, Mr. Stone, we used a microscope to observe the filamentous algae, and then discussed designs with him. Having grown lots of aquarium algae, Mr. Stone helped us bring together some components of previous designs for a new system that we are currently working to design, test, and improve. If we were to target one meeting as a “breakthrough”, it would be the one that Mr. Stone attended. More details on the latest design to come when I can get some photos of our model to help describe it.

As part of the grant requirements we are working on five videos about the project. As we’re producing storyboards and organizing filming, we realised that footage from Belize would aid our videos immensely. So, if anyone is in the mood to take a couple shots of canals, shrimp, ponds, people… Video team would be eternally grateful!

*Inventor’s club’s new years resolution: better communication.

Checking out the mangrove plantings

2009-12-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

Continued Progress

2009-10-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

We planted more mangroves at Royal Maya Shrimp Farm last Saturday and had quite a good time (despite the heat).

There were no crocs, but we did find some footprints.

I will be visiting Urbana in about a week and need to know how many Aquamats to bring and what type. I saw that almost 40% of the Uni student body is sick with H1N1 or other sicknesses (Yikes! Who knew coming to the US could be so risky?). In any case, I would fly into hades if necessary to see the state cross country finals, so I'll be there. Tell me a good date between the 6th and 12th if you want to meet.

Here's a quick update on the use of the site. We're well over 3,200 hits (not quite the 6,000 I mis-remembered during our Uni meeting last month). Unfortunately, I was also a bit lax keeping up with all the countries who monitored our site over the summer so these stats will be a bit under-represented. Looking back through September and October and the countries we had already logged, it appears we have at least 44 different nations checking in on us. Those include:

Abu Dhabi
Argentina
Australia
Belize
Brazil
Brunei
Canada
Cayman Islands
China
Columbia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Czechoslovakia
Dubai
Ecuador
England
France
Germany
Guatemala
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Italy
Jamaica
Laos
Malaysia
Netherlands
Pakistan
Philipenes
Poland
Portugal
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
United States
Vietnam

November 22, 2009 edit to add:

Albania
Hungary
Iran
Lithuania
Portugal
Romania
Virgin Islands

Nice!

Good luck as you work on designs!

Aquamats Get Wet and Welcome Abigail Parham

2009-10-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

First we stopped by the sedimentation pond at Aquamar Shrimp Farm that Adolpho has just finished rehabilitating.

You can see the deeper canal on the near bank where water enters the pond. This is where we will be deploying Aquamats. On the far bank is a footing that directs the channeled water into the shallow center area before it exits at the control structure on the back right part of the photo. There are also few shallow partitions in the deeper channel for planting mangrove strips.

The pond looks terrific and should be a terrific place to trap sediments and test the Aquamats. Thank you Adolpho!

Then Adrian and Wilbur and I loaded up 75 Aquamats (you can get an idea from this photo about the size of 75 mats) and took them down to the pond...

...where we will be using 3 types of Aquamats. The specifications for each type are listed in an earlier post. Capped PVC pipes were inserted through the sleeve at one end. The blue Aquamats with narrow strips float, the green Aquamats with thicker strips float, and white ones with heavy thick strips sink. We have plenty of all three types. The PVC for the floating type will need to be weighted with sand to sink the sleeve and allow the strips to float up from the bottom.

I will bring a few Aquamats back to Illinois in November for the group to use for the experiments. We should discuss what type to bring.

After rounding up the Aquamats, we headed over Independence Jr. College where we met with Abigail Parham, environmental biology instructor. Abigail will be coordinating the interns who will test the Inventeams prototype during winter 2010.

Welcome, Abigail!

Inventor's Club Wins Lemelson-MIT Inventeams Grant

2009-10-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to all the University High School Inventor's Club members for winning a Lemelson-MIT Inventeams Grant. You should definitely be proud. These prestigious awards only went out to 15 schools around the country. People in the Placencia area were excited to hear the news. I got this note from Alvin Henderson, co-owner of the Royal Maya Shrimp Farm.

"...Congratulations on winning the Lemelson-MIT grant for the algae recycling prototype! We have seen the encouraging results of the mangrove planting initiatives and hope that this new programme will meet with similar success.

Best regards,

Alvin"

The agenda for the next 8 months looks like this:

October 2009-January 2010: develop the prototype in Illinois

January 2009-May 2010: test the prototype in cooperation with Independence Jr. College at local shrimp farms

June 2010: Present results at the Inventeams conference in Boston

Time to get busy!

Wilbur's First Day

2009-10-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a brief photo essay showing Wilbur Dubon's first day as an environmental intern.

We had a little mangrove planting in mind for an erosion control project. Adrian, Wilbur and I went out to gather mangrove propagules.

Mangrove propagules are pretty easy to get right now and we had 1,500 in about 45 minutes.

A test plot from last year had shown good promise for sediment retention.

Adrian showed Wilbur the finer points of propagule planting....

...and despite the rain and heat, Wilbur was off to the races.

1500 mangrove propagules are now in place to slow erosion and provide habitat.

That's a great first day. Well done Mr. Dubon!

An invigorating meeting

2009-10-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

The Uni High Inventor's Club (plus one very cute 5 year old) met today to discuss designs for the algae recycling prototype. Multiple designs are being considered and they all show promise.

Keep an eye on the blog in days to come. Great things are happening!

Pending activities and welcome Wilbur!

2009-09-25T09:44:00.001-07:00

It appears the next Inventor's Club meeting will be October 9 at 2:00PM (confirm with Mr. Bergandine). Club members will be brainstorming and going over designs.

In the meantime, work in Belize continues.

Wilbur Dubon, freshly graduated from Independence Jr. College (an adjunct institution to Independence High School), will kick off the intern program this year. A picture of the first meeting between Wilbur and Aquamar manager Linda Thornton is posted above. Wilbur will be engaged in field monitoring and water quality analysis in canals and mangrove areas over the coming weeks.

We hope to have 3 more students working on projects by January.

Welcome, Wilbur!

Back in Belize

2009-09-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

After enjoying some time in Illinois watching the start of the 2009 Cross Country Season (go Uni!), I'm back in Belize and ready to move ahead with projects here.

I'll be meeting with shrimp farmers soon and preparing to implement designs from the Inventor's Club.

Look for me back in Urbana from October 7-14th.

Is there any news on the Illinois end?

Here's a picture of a black mangrove forest that is going to be put into a private reserve this year. One of my projects will be working to set aside as much mangrove forest as possible this year. The little projections up from the soil provide oxygen to the roots of the black mangrove in marshy, anaerobic soil.

Some cool U of I people

2009-06-18T09:12:00.001-07:00

This trip to Belize is winding down until September.

Before I leave, I want to take stock and introduce you to a couple of people working on this project who have U of I roots.

This is John Cheeseman, professor of Plant Biology at the University of Illinois. Here he is checking out a red mangrove that was planted in a farm effluent outlet last November. John visited last week and gave a rousing lecture at a mangrove conservation workshop that I hosted in Placencia. I can still hear the cheering....

Some one once asked how do mangroves absorb nutrients from effluent water when they're planted on the banks of the canal. That's a good question. Here's the answer. Check out those roots! That's pretty impressive root development for a 7 month old plant, eh?

This is Linda Thornton, one of my favorite people in the world. Linda manages Aqua Mar Shrimp Farm and is the owner of Cardelli Shrimp Farm. Linda as lived and worked in the shrimp aquaculture industry in Belize for decades. If you want to know anything at all about shrimp, ask Linda. She knows. She's also one of the toughest, and most accomplished people I know...AND...she has been a stalwart supporter of efforts to improve the environmental sustainability of shrimp farming...AND...she is a proud graduate of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois.

Go Illini!

Working the ponds

2009-06-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

The excavator has been hard at work at Aqua Mar shrimp farm removing old sediment from the sedimentation pond.

At Royal Maya shrimp farm, we have been regularly cleaning and recalibrating the In Situ probe and collecting the data for further analysis.

We've had a few bumps and we're a bit behind schedule, but we're getting good baseline data and things are moving ahead.

As the Uni High summer vacation moves ahead, keep thinking creatively about the project and checking back on the blog. If you find something interesting, go ahead and post it. We'll be ready to dive back in when school starts in fall.

The probe arrives!

2009-05-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

The WWF water quality probe finally cleared all the hurdles at customs and arrived in Placencia this week. Representatives from the Central American and Belizean offices of WWF arrived to install the In Situ Troll. They're pictured below with captain and community researcher Adrian Vernon, consultants from Adcon Corporation (the company handling the satellite uplink), In Situ (the water quality probe manufacturer) and Rachel Carrie, a graduate student working with Xac Che, a group doing watershed work in southern Belize.

Here we are all heading out to the installation site.

Here Jon Thomas of In Situ demonstrates how to calibrate the water quality probe as Kendrick Gordon of Belize Department of Environment (left) and Jose Vasquez of WWF (on the right) look on.

Arnold Lara of Adcon works on the satellite uplink as community researcher as WWF representative Mauricio Mejia looks on.

And the finished system is ready to roll. We'll be watching the probe over the next few weeks and documenting the effects of efforts to improve water quality at the farms.

Progress!!

More Sedimentation Ponds for AquaMats

2009-05-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

One of the tasks of my current project is to reduce nutrient inputs from shrimp ponds to the local environment. As we have discussed, one of the ways that is done is by constructing sedimentation ponds. These, intuitively enough, trap sediment and nutrients attached to sediments. Eventually these ponds fill and need rehabilitation.

Thanks to some help from AquaMar Shrimp Farm, we will be able to use Aquamats in a freshly re-dug pond.

Meet Adolpho.

Adolpho operates a dredge at the farm. He will be creating deep areas along the sides of this sedimentation pond where our AquaMats can be deployed.

Presently, the pond has filled in from years of use. The trees you see growing in it are white mangroves.

Here you can see the layers of sediment that have been trapped in the pond over the years of use.

Adolpho will not only be scraping out some of that sediment, he will also be creating small, separate catchment areas inside the sedimentation pond that we can use to test the efficacy of the Aquamats as nutrient traps.

Once the Inventor's club substrate and biofilm removal system is in place, they could be deployed in those catchment areas as well.

Many thanks to Adolpho, AquaMar farm manager Linda Thorton and owner Mike Dunker for all their support.

Quick notes and Aquamats

2009-04-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

Three agenda items here:

1. Meeting tomorrow at 11:35 at Uni High. I assume we're meeting at the usual spot.

2. We just passed 2000 hits on the Inventor's Club page. Our site has now been viewed in most states in the US, plus Canada, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Brazil, China, Germany, the Philippines, Thailand, Ecuador, Vietnam, Laos, Spain, India, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, the Cayman Islands, South Africa, Taiwan, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, Sweden, Finland and Iran. That's 28 countries so far.

Update, May 14th. 2122 hits and add Norway, Chile, Jamaica and Australia.

3. Newly acquired manufacturer information about AquaMats!

The following are facts gleaned from the Meridian Applied Technology Systems AquaMat Customer Information Manual (Nursery edition). We've already discussed much of this, but a summary may be useful here as we continue to think about our own substrates and scrapers.

AquaMats are especially recommended for nursery culture of shrimp from post larval stage 10 and up (approimately .01 to 2 grams of size). Sizes range from 2m X 1.22M to 2M X .61M. The Meridian Corporation reports up to 30% reductions in feed costs when AquaMats are used (a figure we may find useful for future calculations).

AquaMats require exposure to direct sunlight (as we have discussed).

AquaMats float. Therefore Meridian recommends that AquaMats be deployed on 2" PVC pipe frames sunk to the bottom and filled with sand. These are attached by cinching down by cable ties (those thin plastic strips used to bundle video cables).

Meridian also recommends that AquaMats be preconditioned prior to deployment. The desired colonizing organism (as we have discussed) is benthic diatoms. Diatoms are high in highly unsaturate fatty acids (HUFAs), an important nutritional item. Meridian discusses techniques that can be used to encourage the growth of specific desireable species. This is achieved by using pure cultures of these organisms and by saturating the mats in a solution of nitrate and phosphate salts (no lack of those in our sedimentation ponds) plus sodium metasilicate (silica is a limiting nutrient for diatoms) and some trace metals and vitamins.

Meridian recommends a 3 day culture time prior to introducing AquaMats as shrimp feed. This time period may vary with local conditions. As we discussed, if the mats are left in culture too long, they will acquire undesirable organisms. Each AquaMat user must determine the proper pre-conditioning time for their requirements.

Depending on the rates of algae growth and the density and growth rates of shrimp, algae films on AquaMats might continue to grow, become depleted or reach a steady-state where growth and removal become balanced.

Meridian states that AquaMats can be cleaned with a pressure hose and dried or simply returned to pre-condition tanks (effluent canals). Sterilization is generally not used, but can be used. The following sterilization methods are approved:

1. Steam sterilization @ 15 psi for 20 minutes.
2. 3% chlorate for 2 hours.
3. 10% Hydrochloric acid for 2 hours at 25 C
4. 30-50 ppm formalin for 1 hour
5. 3% acetoperoxide for 1 hour
6. Heating below 190 C

AquaMats are not recommended in systems with excessive fine clays. Secchi depths greater than 25 cm are required.

BARNACLES are a problem. Meridian recommends filtration of waters using Aquamats at 120 to 150 microns. We will have to address barnacle colonization (perhaps by scraping?).

Update and Notes: Progress and Burglaries

2009-04-17T05:54:00.000-07:00

It's great to see the first bit of information from the substrate tests. The early phases of the project seem to be going fine.

The Lemelson-MIT grant and the UN SEED grants have been submitted and we'll find out about those soon. The farms are excited and ready to go. On Tuesday this week, I visited one of our farms with a WWF representative. We happened to bump into the pond manager there and he was excited about the project and volunteered his time on weekends to help the IHS students with the field work. I also found out that the probe WWF is installing has finally cleared customs in Honduras and will be arriving in about 2 weeks.

A couple of other things have slowed us down a bit. It will be Easter holday in Belize until Monday next week, so we lost a bit of class time at IHS. Also, I was burglarized and my computer, field notes, back-ups and underwater camera were stolen (life lesson learned: NEVER keep your computer and backups together, even if you're just carrying them in in a back pack for a bit).

So I'm taking 2 weeks in the US to do some family things and trying to recover lost data. I could make a meeting next Friday with the Uni Inventor's Club if you plan to meet.

Look for a post from me soon with information from the Aquamat manufacturer.

Experiment Update- D+3 weeks, Also Group B Minutes

2009-04-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

Vinyl progress: not as much growth as the screens, but stays lightweight and the smooth surface makes it easy to remove material.

Fiberglass screen is a close second to the steel in amount of growth.

Rubber comes dead last in terms of growth. Material (dirt?) comes off just by touching. But its close neighbor, the steel screen, wins the prize.

Note the abscence of the weed mat. It was growing little more than the rubber, and then was removed from the PVC by the lake. I didn't rescue it.

Lessons learned from this experiment so far:

-This rubber will not work.

-A fiberglass or steel screen may encourage more growth, but they complicate removal quite a bit, since the material can't just 'slide' off.

-Vinyl is most compatible with our current removal plan (see below) but it hasn't accumulated a whole lot of biomass.

In the near future I plan to take sample material under a microscope to see what exactly we "caught".

Another order of business:

The biomass-removal group met to explore our ideas.

We briefly researched algae removal techniques and found little of use. The nets came up with a variety of lake and aquarium algae removal devices, ranging from vacuums to string algae brushes. The closest device we found to our dreamed-up device was a flexible stainless steel scraper shaped like a rake, designed for scraping algae from large glass aquarium sides.

In our meeting, EFritzch proposed his idea for the device and we critiqued/improved it. I'll have him post about this, but it basically allows for one-sweep scraping without repeatedly having to pull the scraper in and out of the boat.

And lastly, welcome IHS students! We're so glad to be able to collaborate with you on this project.

Next Meeting

2009-04-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Met at IHS again yesterday. We had problems with internet connections, but a few students are still getting hooked up with the blog through their own resources. We're meeting next week in an internet cafe to help other students get started.

Right now the local students are just getting grounded in the project. It appears we'll be able to make trips through May to the farms so hopefully we can post some results by the end of the school year. Fall semester will probably be the bigger push, but we're getting in good ground work now, especially these preliminary experiments with substrates.

Let us know how the substrate experiments are going and take some time to meet the new bloggers from IHS. I'll post new information on Aquamats and a couple of recent experiences from the lagoon.

Club Minutes 3/20

2009-03-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

1. Lemelson-MIT grant. We looked over and edited a draft of the project summary for our initial submission to the grant; that will be sent in (or has been sent) today.
2. Group meetings. Material removal will meet at my place on Monday to discuss design ideas we've developed and to check on the experiment so that we'll have a more tangible idea of what we're working with. Structure group- keep on researching, communicate through the blog.
3. Anchor report. Adam has been gathering contacts and working on the problem of how to keep the structure we create in place. We decided to depart from the idea of setting pipes at the bottom of the lake for structural support because of unwanted expense, difficulty of installation, and the fact that our current design doesn't involve a lot of structure at the bottom. We'll now look into attaching from the top, researching the type of rope, knot, and stakes we can use to keep our structure in place.
4. Tej said his dad is working on a pricing algorithm. Post with explanation?

Meeting in Independence

2009-03-19T06:06:00.000-07:00

The meeting in Independence went quite well yesterday. Over 60 students from 1-4 forms (Middle School through High School age) attended. The level of interest was high. We'll have a follow-up meeting in about 10 days to set up Google accounts and begin posting. I noticed a big uptick in the web site hits from Belize, so some students are obviously already checking out the site.

In addition to the meeting at Independence, I also was able to meet with local shrimp farmers and get their input on the project. The reception among the shrimp farmers to our project has been very positive here.

One of those farms is allowing us to use their AquaMats for the substrate experiments this spring. For anyone who is wondering, here is a shot of the AquMats we'll be using to test the substrate mitigations this spring. As you can see, there's no lack of material here. Your experiments are starting on a small scale (as is appropriate), but when they are fully developed you'll be dealing with quantities of material like this.

D-Day: The Experiment Begins

2009-03-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Today at 7:00 pm I threw these PVCs loaded with potential substrate into the catchment pond. The aluminum, fiberglass, and rubber squares are attached with picture wire. The vinyl and weed guard mat (which I attached at the last minute purely because it was sitting in my garage) are attached with duct tape since the wire cut too easily through those materials. The PVC pipes are held to the bank by fishing line and stakes.

Hardware Store

2009-03-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

Club members ecrussel and e.allen paid a visit to Lowe's this evening, scouting any possible materials that could be used in place of aquamats in the designs below.
The initial plan is to attach all of these potential substrates to PVC with duct tape and submerge in a nasty pond to get a feel for the timeline, what works, and what doesn't. Daily (twice daily?) checks will be performed and I will record visible changes.
The material was chosen based on information from Lowe's personnel Jenny and Tim (we briefed them on our project and threw around material names).
We have:
91x213 cm fiberglass screening
91x213 cm aluminum screening
Dur-a-bull Indoor-outdoor mat 91x122 cm
Style selections premium vinyl shower curtain liner 183x183 cm
Rubber mat approx 15x15 cm
2 2.54cm x 1.52400m PVC and 4 caps to fit on the ends.
We will cut all materials into .5x.5m squares except for the small rubber mat, which was the only material of its kind available at Lowe's.
The screens will go into the water tomorrow at 6:00 pm, and will be checked at 6 am every day.
This is only the rough start of a series of experiments, and we will get more precise measurements in the future. Please comment with any modifications you would like to offer on this experiment, or any ideas for future experiments, or any other type of feedback.
Thanks for frequently checking into the blog!
-ecrussel and e.allen

More news from Belize

2009-03-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

First of all, I should mention that I will be meeting with the Independence High School Environmental Club on Wednesday next week. They have over 50 members and are extremely active.

I have also had a chance to tour some of the area farms and check out our progress. In addition to the work with Aqua Mats, other mitigations are also ongoing in the effluent canals.

One of those projects is mangrove planting. Mangroves are a kind of tree that grow in salt water. They remove nutrient directly from effluent water and support colonies of organisms that also absorb nutrients. Recently I had a chance to check on some of those we've been doing for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Here's a picture at Aqua Mar shrimp farm showing Mauricio Mejia of WWF checking out some plantings we did with John Cheeseman of the University of Illinois. Survival is still over 95% at this site. We're happy with the progress here.

We also checked some plantings from Royal Maya. Some of these plantings were done in August of 2008. Some were done in November 2008. This picture shows Mauricio Mejia and Adrian Vernon (a community researcher in Placencia) checking out the November planting. The survival was very good there as well.

And the plantings from August at Royal Maya are growing to impressive sizes, with 4 internodes already in place and side-branching beginning. When these trees are fully grown, they will be an important part of the mitigation process in the farm effluent.

Placencia Lagoon Fisheries

2009-03-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

I am in Belize now, and have had a chance to do some field work.

Specifically, I was able to help Eli Romero, a Belizean about to begin graduate school at Boston University. His study examines the movements of fish from the lagoon to sites offshore. This project is similar to one I did in the past, so we have been communicating and collaborating. In the picture above, we are surveying the catch of a local fisherman. Eli bought fish from this fisherman to sample the fish tissues for chemical tracers unique to the lagoon. Habitats like the lagoon are nursery areas for important commercial species like snapper.

By improving shrimp farm effluent quality, we are helping protect this fishery and the livelihood of fishers like this. We are also helping protect biodiversity. Unique fish like the trunk fish juvenile and adult below are common in the lagoon. By preserving seagrass habitat, we help protect their ability to survive.

Club Discussion - Friday, March 6, 2009

2009-03-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

Today, in Inventor's Club, our sponsor, Mr. Bergandine, suggested that not only will we be encountering issues with our current design of the substrate, but that we also need to design a tool to use to remove the biomass from the substrate. The question is how we are going to scrape both sides of the netting/mesh that we currently have hanging down from the PVC pipes. We should try to make this a very automatic process. We would like to only have to go in one direction when harvesting. At the moment, our idea of scraping the biomass off into the boat with a scraper of some sort attached to the boat can only remove the biomass from one side at a time, requiring a second run through. Ideally, we would like to find a solution that requires little hands-on work.

In order to address the issue, we have split up into two groups, one focusing on the substrate design while the other would begin working on the harvesting tool design. Everybody should make sure they communicate with the other group members, preferably on the blog, in order to ensure that both groups are working in the same direction.

We also discussed possible testing plans. We have fish tanks available, but placing the testing materials in ponds would be preferable for two reasons:

In the fish tanks, a lot of the algae would probably grow on the glass instead of the substrate.
Ponds would create a better simulation of the natural enviroment and the light exposure.

E. Russell and E. Fritzsche mentioned easy access to ponds. We would probably want to begin testing soon. Mr. Smith mentioned that this time of year may be the best time to test due to the lack of tree leaves that would block out the sun, ensuring similar growing conditions as those in Belize. Also, there is little movement in the water and not too much rainfall. Our goal is to have some test results by the end of spring break.

InvenTeams is also an option. Applications submitted by March 20th will be given early feedback. The initial application deadline is April 24th. If we are to do this, we will have to work very quickly. More information is available at their website.

An Alternative Design

2009-02-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

In the club meeting this week we discussed Liz’s proposed design.
http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww101/theodore1800/design1v1.jpg

It has many positive qualities and works as an excellent starting point (thanks, Liz!)
Main Structure.
Working from this design, I created a similar structure. This design consists of a less sturdy structure, as I use the PVC piping primarily to keep the aquamats from moving and to allow for easy removal of aquamats for replacement. According to http://www.nurturetech.net/aqua.htm, aquamats are equipped with ballast bags to keep them in place, but the PVC structure could allow several aquamats to be removed from the pond at the same time. This structure, consisting of a primary pipe paralleling the side of the effluent canal and perpendicular secondary pipes that the aquamats slip over, is attached to bank of the canal by ropes. One end of a rope would be tied to the primary pipe, and the other end would be tied on a stake on the side of the canal. This means the entire structure can be removed.
Details.
Each unit stemming from the primary pipe is connected by a tee and consists of one PVC pipe, one aquamat, and one cap. The PVC pipe length is slightly longer than the top of the aquamat. For the present, my idea for attaching the aquamat to the pipe would be to fold the top over to create a tunnel. I still need to work out exactly how this could be done, one option would be to sew this pocket in the aquamat; another option would be to use some kind of adhesive or pin to secure this tunnel. The aquamat would be kept from sliding off the PVC pipe by the cap. The top of each unit will be roughly equal to the surface of the water because of the floatation element associated with the aquamat.
Removal of substrate.
This design offers several different options for removal of organisms. I will briefly outline a few of them (discussed in our latest inventor’s club), and eventually follow up with more details.
1. Remove the entire structure and place in shrimp pond. Pros: this way we can utilize organisms growing both on the aquamats and the primary pipe. Cons: time must be allowed for the shrimp to eat off the structure
2. Remove entire structure and strip organisms by hose or rake. Pros: allows for faster cycle than in option 1. Cons: labor
3. Remove aquamats only and strip organisms by hose or rake.
4. (Inspired by Mr. Smith) Leave entire structure in the water, and move down the middle of the canal scraping all of the aquamats in sort of one swoop (this would only work with careful spacing of the aquamats, and we would have to develop a way to collect the substrates in the water). Pros: quick and dirty, Cons: we need to look into this further to be more specific. Hard to describe, so included a brief video demo- the spatula with basket represents the scraper tool (more on that later), the sticky notes are aquamats.

Pictures

Apologies for the strange model. PVC pipes represented by chopsticks, caps by pencil toppers, aquamats by cut paper, water by blue towel, rope by red yarn, PVC tees by masking tape.

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww101/theodore1800/design1v2.jpg

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww101/theodore1800/Overview.jpg

Credits: Thanks to CorelDRAW and Paint for graphics, http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/instal05.htm for hardware knowledge, http://www.nurturetech.net/aqua.htm for aquamat information, Mr. Smith for inspiration and wisdom, Liz for original design

Possible Starting Point for a Design

2009-02-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

Post by Allen

After Tuesday's meeting, I thought of a simple design that might serve as a good starting point. I built frame for meshing to collect nitrate with PVC piping and it cost $6 total, although I had some left over. The box is 2 ft. x 2 ft. and the part that sticks out is 15 in.
It was very easy to assemble, I was able to cut the pieces and put it together without help, and it took about 45 minutes.

Image link: http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll219/amariah118/Inventors%20Club%20Competition/IMG_7359.jpg

This is an overview picture - I tried labeling each piece of PVC and also the joints, I hope you all can see it. Everything is 1/2 in. pipes, except "top" and "bottom", which are 3/4 in. and meant to slide over the 1/2 in pipes that they are placed above and below of, #5 and #6. "Top" and "bottom" will have mesh between them, so when you slide it over #5 and #6, it will be held out in the water. Joint "E" is where the whole thing will be hung, so you can easily have as many as you want of these in a row. To remove the "top" and "bottom" bar: when it is hanging in the water, you press on #1, so the whole thing will rotate, and the mesh will come out of the water, when you can remove it and take off the things on it.

Here is a picture of it when it is put together:

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll219/amariah118/Inventors%20Club%20Competition/IMG_7365.jpg

And here is a picture of how the 3/4 in. pipes will slide over the 1/2 in. pipes

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll219/amariah118/Inventors%20Club%20Competition/IMG_7364.jpg

I hope that made sense, and if you have questions, I am happy to answer. There are some improvements that I can already think of.

Another good meeting

2009-02-14T07:48:00.000-08:00

We had a good meeting yesterday at Uni High.

Most of the discussion centered around cost-benefit analysis.

We set a few rules of thumb to help us think about the level of performance our nutrient recovery system should meet.

Operational Cost-Benefits

Benefits

Shrimp feed costs about 1$ US per kg. Thus every kg of feed we replace with periphyton (assuming growth and mortality in the pond systems feed periphyton remains the same) saves 1$ in feed.

Cost

Labor costs vary greatly and it's not possible to set one value for labor costs. For our purposes, we'll set a labor cost of 20$/day/person operating the system That's very high for most countries with large shrimp farming industries.

So in gross terms, to make the system operate without losing money, the farms need to recover 20kg (44 pounds) of periphyton per day of labor invested in operating the system. That's a lot of "goo" so we'll need an efficient system to make this work. Fortunately, we only need to move the periphyton a short distance (100' or less in most cases) from the canals to the ponds. According to the Aquamat literature, the growth rates on the mats will sustain this kind of harvest if we can harvest enough of them efficiently.

Other profits may come with ecocertifications and other benefits. Other costs will be involved in acquiring, deploying and maintaining the system. In the short term, let's focus on these core operating expenses and worry about those others later.

We also discussed some of the advantages and disadvantages of deployment strategies. One question that emerged right away was:

Should we:

a. design a substrate to be moved from the canals to the shrimp ponds or

b. design a substrate that can be scraped or shaken or somehow harvested.

Option "a" might provide a simple means of operation, but will require a replacement system to keep harvesting nutrients. That doubles materials costs for the same rate of nutrient removal from the canals.

Option "b" will require either a technical solution for harvesting and transferring the periphyton, or extra labor to take the substrate to the shrimp pond, remove the periphyton in the pond and then returning the substrate to the canals.

We covered some other ideas as well, but this is enough for now. We'll be looking for posts on the 4 topics the group suggested and suggestions and comments on the issues posted here.

What will grow on our substrates?

2009-02-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

Everything will grow on our substrates!

The study of encrustations, biofilms, periphtyon, aufwucs and colonization is as complex and detailed as any in ecology.

We won't learn everything about this topic, but we can learn enough to be ready to deal with whatever we find on our aquamats, pvc poles, oyster strings or whatever other material we set out in the effluent canals.

Here's what a PVC pole looks like after just a few days in an effluent canal (this one was deployed in an estuary just downstream of the canals).

You can see the light brown glaze. That color indicates that the organisms growing here are probably mostly diatoms, a nutritious food that invertebrates love to eat.

Within about 3-6 weeks, the biomass on that pole will reach a "steady state" to which little biomass can be added. The total biomass of organisms will remain about the same from that point forward.

The same sized pole after 3 months in the water looks something like this....

The diatoms and the other nutritious diet items are still on the pole, but they have been joined by a wide variety of other organisms. The heavy lumps are barnacles. The dark green color comes mostly from blue green algae. Neither of those are desireable as food (although they may have other uses). Also colonizing the pole was a variety of worms, crabs and fishes (very small gobies were living inside some of the dead barnacle). Eggs of some organisms might also be attached.

Here are some questions for our groups to consider.

How can we minimize the amount of harmful or competing organisms entering the ponds from the substrates (some organisms like crabs and fish are already in the ponds because they enter the ponds as eggs from the pump, but we should still probably think about how to minimize the things we don't want).
How do we move large volumes of material off the substrates cheaply and without releasing the colonizing material back into the effluent canals?
How much time should these substrates sit before they are "harvested"?
What kind of data would we need to make these decisions scientifically?

Based on some coarse calculations, it seems we should be able to acheive significant reductions in the amount of nitrogen exiting the effluent canals (although I do need to correct an earlier assertion, apparently there are 30,000 Aquamats available, not 100,000).

Here's a link to a source that will tell you quite a bit about algae growing on attached surfaces. It may be useful to us here.

More context

2009-01-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

Roseate spoonbills and wood storks forage in an effluent canal

The following links are provided to help set the framework for understanding the social setting for aquaculture. There are important facts here that everyone should learn. Be warned, however, that these web sites all tell the truth from their own perspective. Some information is outdated. Some is biased. As you read, be good scientists. Think objectively. Be skeptical. Look for alternative hypotheses and weigh the information you're given with the best data and evidence you can find.

Hopefully these links and other information will give you a sense of the historical nature of the aquaculture industry. Here in Illinois, we live in a landscape transformed by agriculture, a process that began 10,000 years ago. In our lifetimes, the sea is being transformed in the same way. The traditional hunter-gatherer fisheries capturing wild animals for food is giving way to aquaculture.

The unique difference between cultivated foods on the land and the sea is that aquaculture is occurring in a context where science, vastly superior technology, and an awareness of the need conserve and protect natural resources can guide its’ development from the outset. Just as terrestrial agriculture transformed humans and made civilization possible, aquaculture creates resources that have significant potential to alter not only human history, but the natural history of the planet.

Welcome to your part in an historical process.

Aquaculture organizations and news sources
https://www.was.org/Main/Default.asp
http://www.gaalliance.org/
http://www.shrimpnews.com/

Belizean shrimp aquaculture links
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/agriculture/ridgetoreef.html
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/aquaculture/grandma.html
http://www.balshrimp.com/
http://www.fao.org/fishery/countrysector/naso_belize

Belizean history, culture, language, newspapers and environment
http://www.kriol.org.bz/index.htm
http://www.amandala.com.bz/
http://healthyreefs.org/
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/mesoamericanreef/

2006 Slate article regarding shrimp aquaculture
http://www.slate.com/id/2134219/

Shrimp aquaculture ecocertification dialogues
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/aquaculture/WWFBinaryitem8614.pdf
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/aquaculture/dialogues-shrimp.html

Environmental critics of shrimp farming
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1500
http://www.mindfully.org/Water/2004/Aquaculture-Blue-RevolutionJan04.htm
http://www.mangroveactionproject.org/

Basic info. and (shrimp) food for thought

2009-01-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

I had some conversations with contacts in Belize yesterday. It appears we'll be hearing from Independence High School within a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I'm going to begin posting a few bits of basic information and web links that we can use to help us begin thinking about the project.

Again, the basic goal of the project is to design a substrate that can be deployed in shrimp pond waste effluent canals, colonized by aquatic organisms (especially algae and bacteria) and stripped to feed shrimp. This process uses waste effluent nutrients to create a healthy, cost-effective economic resource. To be sustainble and useful, the whole process needs to have minimal materials and labor costs and needs to provide the maximum possible amount of healthy food for cultured shrimp and the maxiumum possible nutrient removal from effluents.

We will eventually need to make decisions about what substrates to use, how to deploy them, how often to deploy them, how to retrieve them,

One substrate we can use is the Aquamat. Here is a web page that has pictures of Aquamats and discusses how they work.

http://www.nurturetech.net/aqua.htm

Notice in the text that Aquamats fix (grow) between 1.3 to 0.5 g/m of nitrogen every day Phosphorus uptake will be between 25-30 mg/m/day. Most of that growth will be in the form of algae and bacteria that are desirable food items for shrimp.

For a conservative rule of thumb, let's assume we can grow about 1 gram of N per day and 0.05 g/P per day on each Aquamat.

That is enough N and P to improve water quality around the farms if..

1. Enough Aquamats are in place
2. The organisms growing on them can actually be effectively removed from the effluent canals and sedimentation ponds.

That material will be useful as feed for the farmers if….

1. The labor cost of stripping food organisms from the mats is less than the cost of feed and feeding
2. The “food” organisms promote healthy growth of the shrimp equal to or greater than the cost of similar production.

If we can devise an effective system that meets these goals we can improve both the environmental and economic sustainability of shrimp farming in Belize.

Good meeting yesterday

2009-01-17T05:59:00.000-08:00

The Inventor's Club had a productive meeting yesterday at Uni High. We walked back through the project and talked about some of the things we hope to accomplish. Mr. Bergandine suggested that we continue to meet on Fridays during February, so we'll probably have several more meetings soon.

If you're just coming to the site, I encourage you to read the previous posts and post questions and comments. I monitor the site frequently and you'll get an answer to your question within a day or so.

In the meantime, I'll be working to get our partners ready to go and provide technical information to help us all start thinking about what kind of materials and substrates we should be thinking about as a periphtyon substrate in Belizean shrimp pond effluents.

Watch the web site too for posts from visitors. Several people have expressed an interest in our project and it will be great for us to hear their perspectives on what we are planning to do.

2009-01-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

This is a satellite photo of a typical shrimp pond drainage system.

Water carrying high levels of nutrient from the shrimp pond (upper middle) is released through a drainage structure into an effluent canal. The effluent canal carries the water to sedimentation ponds where some of the nutrient settles out to the bottom of the pond, enters the food chain or is released into the atmosphere through de-nitrification. During the final step of treatment, the water flows from the sedimentation pond into a natural wetland mostly full of red mangrove. After that, it then enters a tidal creek and then flows to the sea where it eventually dilutes to become equivalent to background levels. The size of these canals varies. They are usually longer than a kilomter from 2 to 50 meters wide with a depth from 1.8 meters to less than one meter in depth.

The overall short-term goal is to reduce the amount of nutrient (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus in all forms) exiting the sedimentation pond and entering the natural wetland.

The Inventors Club project will be to design a substrate that can be placed in these effluent canals, colonized by algae, biofilms and biofouling organisms, and then stripped to feed the shrimp growing in the ponds nearby.

Preparing for the project

2008-12-27T18:11:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned for when we set the January meeting to begin to line up a more precise plan of action. In the meantime, you might be intersted to know that this little web site has begun to attract a little attention.

Without trying to attact any traffic at all, we've have hits from 11 states and 9 countries including the US, Canada, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, China and Germany.

People are interested in the project.

January 15th, 2009: We have still not sought any publicity but our web site has now accumulated over 400 hits and in addition to the countries posted above, we have also been visited from the Philippenes, Thailand, Ecuador, Vietnam, Laos, Costa Rica, Spain, India and Brunei. Articles about our project have also been published in the newsletter of The Mangrove Action Project and Shrimp News.

February 15th, 2009: Add Malaysia, Singapore and the Cayman Islands. Nearing 1000 hits.

February 28th, 2009: Add South Africa, Taiwain, Czechosolvakia, Turkey and Sweden.

April 6th, 2009: Add Croatia, Saudia Arabia, Netherlands, Dubai.

http://www.mangroveactionproject.org/news/current_headlines/protecting-the-mesoamerican-reef-nutrient-abatement-for-shrimp-farm-waste-effluent/

http://www.shrimpnews.com/FreeNews.html

Defining the problem

2008-12-20T13:39:00.000-08:00

Here is some text from a grant that outlines some of the issues and problems we're hoping to solve.

Protecting the Mesoamerican Reef: Nutrient abatement for shrimp farm waste effluent

Belizean shrimp producers are world-wide leaders in sustainable shrimp aquaculture in developing nations, but specific problems remain within the industry.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/cci/aquaculture_projects2.cfm

http://healthyreefs.org/Report_Card/Report_2008/Report_2008index.html

Affecting the global environment and the international shrimp ecocertification movement

A global effort by the FAO, UNEP, NACA, the World Bank and WWF is now underway to create ecocertification criteria, indicators, and standards for the culture of P. vannamei. Ecocertification uses global market forces to subsidize environmental protections by providing premium prices and markets to shrimp farmers that meet specific criteria for environmental sustainability. Ecocertification costs are paid by the producer and represent no cost to local governments.

Technical Details

This project seeks to address specific environmental problems on Belizean shrimp farms by developing cost-effective means to improve effluent water quality. We will accomplish this goal by recycling nutrients from pond waste effluent back into feed for juvenile shrimp. The shrimp species P. vannamei is an omnivorous grazer and facultative filter feeder that readily consumes biofilms, bacteria and algae. Farms increase shrimp growth by adding commercial feeds to ponds. Waste nutrients from feeds exit ponds and enter effluent canals during rain events and pond drainings. By recycling waste nutrients from effluent canals back into production in the form of consumable biomass, project outputs will contribute to the economic sustainability of shrimp farms and improve the likelihood of technology adoption.

Substrates used for peiphyton growth will include Aqua Mats (a commercially produced substrate for shrimp farms), arrays of PVC pipes, and oyster culture strings. Local shrimp producers have donated the use of 30,000 Aqua Mats. Boats will be provided by the Southern Environmental Association, a Belizean environmental NGO. Urbana University High School Inventor’s Club in the US and Independence High School Environmental Biology class in Belize will monitor and participate in project implementation and design. Results will also be transmitted to the International Dialogue on Responsible Shrimp Aquaculture as an example of community-based monitoring, cooperation and mitigation of measureable environmental effects of shrimp farming. Project data will be suitable for peer review and publication.

First Entry: The Inventor's Club Blog!

2008-12-14T16:37:00.000-08:00

Welcome to your new work site!

I've set up this blog to help the Inventor's Club follow and contribute to the progress of their 2009 project.

Eventually, we need to carefully organize the project goals, decide what exactly you want to do, carry out the project, review our results and draw conclusions about the efficacy of our invention.

The project this year will be to design a cost-effective device for reclaiming waste nutrient from shrimp aquaculture ponds effluent canals and then reintroduce that nutrient back into shrimp ponds in a form that is an effective, economical, and safe juvenile shrimp feed. Shrimp aquaculture is a multi-billion dollar industry world wide. The need for cost effective ways to clean waste effluents is a global one, with implications for ecosystems all over the world. Other industries, such as the septic waste treatment plants face similar challenges and could benefit from this work as well.

Tomorrow I'll submit a grant for some financial help. We'll find out if we get it during the third week of January. It would be nice to have a little money to focus specifically on this project, but even if we don't get the grant there's plenty we can do. I'll be traveling to Belize in February and can set up the project during that month and April. We'll merge this work with the project I'm already doing through the ecocertification project of the World Wildlife Fund.

Elizabeth indicated that the group was in favor of working with the environmental biology students at Independence High School. They're an energetic group and they have a good grasp of the situation in Belize and at the shrimp farms. They'll be great collaborators. Over time we may identify other partners as well.

Keep in mind this project is global in nature. Quite a few people might drop in on us over time. You might be surprised who shows up. Let's keep in mind that we are representing the school and ourselves as budding scientists. So let's have fun but keep the tone positive and respectful.

I'll lay out some ground rules as we go. Mr. Bergandine will have some conditions as well I'm sure.

If any one has comments or questions, don't be shy. We'll need a healthy exchange to make this work!