Raising Tilapia (and Hope) in the Bronx

Raising Tilapia in the Bronx

By C.J. Sinner

On an overcast September afternoon, Joseph Ferdinand took a walk with friends Juan Antigua and Miguel Hamond, to a community garden in the Mount Hope neighborhood of the Bronx. The trio walked slowly around the exterior of the half-acre vacant lot, peering between gaps in the fence and commenting on the garden’s state of disrepair: fading toys littered the space, a few raised planting beds with the remnants of tomato and pepper plants needed care, rusting garden tools sat propped against tree stumps.

Still, the group saw potential – plenty of space and sunlight for a greenhouse. Back at Ferdinand’s studio apartment, flipping through pages of research, they could see the progress of his project.  There, in two 55-gallon tanks along the wall opposite his bed, were 25 young tilapia that Ferdinand had begun raising in the summer. In September, each fish measured a few inches long.

Antigua and Hamond watched Ferdinand sprinkle food into the tanks. Then, questions started circulating. How much funding do we need? Whom do we need to meet with to take over the community garden? What about equipment? 

Ferdinand and his volunteer friends want to take over management of the city-owned 176th Street Community Garden they’d visited and transform it into an aquaponics hub. Aquaponics, a growing sector of sustainable farming, combines the principles of aquaculture and hydroponics – raising fish while growing plants.  Though operations vary in complexity, they generally use fish wastewater to irrigate and fertilize plants. The plant roots, along with naturally-occurring bacteria, filter the water, which is cycled back to the fish, so that the two become interdependent.

Ferdinand envisions a center where workers, maybe student interns, raise fresh fish and crisp garden produce, like tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, as neighbors learn about gardening. The produce and fish would be sold directly to community members or to local restaurants.

“I see myself trying to bring something that would benefit the community in the form of growing fish and herbs that I know would be healthy,” Ferdinand said. “All we get here is, like, the leftovers – that’s all we get. It’s fat and salt and whatever garbage it is.”

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