Back Home and Swimming With the Fishes

Posted by ASHLEY

Published on Dec 20, 2012

My hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia is along the
Atlantic Ocean and near the North Carolina border.

The MICA Fall semester has ended and the Design-Build class is home visiting family for the holidays. Grumbling jet noise from Oceana military base and a drowsy suburban neighborhood welcome me back to Virginia Beach, Virginia. The semester has been a stimulating whirlwind of research, drawing, writing, and animation. Our efforts continue as we begin our Indiegogo campaign and connect to more inspiring people. Thank you for joining us along this trip. And if you're new to our mission, it's nice to meet you. Now in my hometown, I picked up the Nov/Dec issue of Azure magazine and discovered a fishy design product.

Mackerel packaging by Postler Ferguson

Part of a design roundup, Postler Ferguson's conceptual fish packaging promotes the purchase and consumption of sustainable fish. Fill this airtight, double-layered polyethylene packet with ice and carry your fish from market to pan. This environmentally concerned packaging made me curious of the connection between water pollution and fish harvesting. There are two ways to collect fish for market – catching wild creatures or raising organisms in farms. Both methods strive to have more careful consumption, but they can emit harmful waste. Midcoast Fishermen's Association and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute have partnered to design nets that allow small and non-targeted species to escape and catch big, high quality animals. Thinner, stronger twine also reduces fuel consumption. Sarah Simpson in Scientific American describes the conventional fish farm as a floating cage that extrudes excrement and food scraps that cloud shallow waters. This garbage triggers harmful algal bloom that snuff out sea life underneath the pens. But placing farms near rapid offshore currents and raising seaweed and filter-feeding animals near pens to gobble up waste help to reduce pollution. I think Postler Ferguson is talking about an important issue because a healthy aquatic ecosystem preserves the identity of coastal communities.

On the packaging "56N and 3E" points to
the North Sea which is between the
United Kingdom and Denmark

I agree with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute goal of "ensuring the survival of the commercial and recreational activities that define the character of our coastal communities."I live in an area called Hampton Roads that's all about the ocean, fishing, and surfing; however, I can barely swim and I don't enjoy being on a tiny boat. Furthermore, at the summertime Steel Pier Classic surfing competition I was hanging out at the coastal art booth. Did I also mention that I'm vegan? Yet visiting the Oceanfront with my friends and family is a cherished pastime. I love weaving my bike around unhurried tourists as I race towards each end of the boardwalk. Or squatting on the beach and compressing damp sand between my hands are activities that rely on a healthy aquatic ecosystem. So even if you're terrified to swim in the ocean like me the ocean water is important to us all. So go out there and eat some mackerel. If you're a veggie I leave you with a tofu stir fry.