South Brunswick High School's
Aquaculture Program
Imagine yourself in a room surrounded by 18
display aquariums ranging in size from 55 to 200 gallons. Add to that six
500-gallon rearing tanks and four hatching troughs, and you will find
yourself smack in the middle of the Aquaculture Lab at South Brunswick High
School in Southport. In addition to the laboratory, there are four half-acre
ponds, a reservoir and a classroom.
Instructor Byron Bey began the Aquaculture Program in 1987, raising fish in a ditch on school property. His creativity and excitement about the program along with hard work, the support of the school system, the enthusiasm of the students, a grant from the N.C. Fisheries Resource Grant Program and a great deal of community support, including support from the Oak Island Fishing Club, Lady Anglers King Mackerel Tournament, Fish for Tomorrow, CCA NC and the Little River Fishing Club, have built the program to a level of excellence that sets a standard for the state and the nation.
Testament to these facts are the awards the program has received, including being awarded Best in Show in the New Hanover County Fair for the past 16 years. The program also won the 2000 Governor's Program of Excellence in Education Award from N.C. Governor Mike Easley. Bey was voted the South Brunswick High School Teacher of the Year in 2001 and in 2004 by his peers and the Brunswick County Association of Educators. In 2003 he was appointed N.C. Ambassador of Agriculture by Meg Phipps, N.C. Commissioner of Agriculture; in 2004 he was nominated for the national Disney Hand Teacher Awards; in 2006 he was a finalist in the Time Warner Cable Crystal Apple National Teacher Award; in 2007 he was elected chairperson of the School Improvement Team garnering Southern Accreditation for the SAC Team and in 2008 he was awarded the Tme Warner Cable National Teachers Award. Also in 2008 the program received a $20,000 grant from Sea Grant, a university-based program that supports conservation and the use of coastal resources.
Bey was a recipient of the Razor Walker Award presented in April at a reception in the ballroom at UNCW. This award honors individuals whose vision, tenacity, courage and sacrifice ("walking the razor’s edge”) have made a difference in the lives of young people in the state of North Carolina.
The South Brunswick High School Aquaculture Program participates in the Governor's Vocational Rehabilitation Program and the Governor's Job Ready Program as well. This program strives to provide work experience, jobs and scholarships for as many students as possible. Students volunteer at the U.S. Open King Mackerel Tournament and the Boiling Spring Lakes Small Fry Fishing Tournament (for which they raised and stocked fish) and, in 2003, in concert with Bey, at the Fort Fisher Aquarium where they also made a presentation.
Many skills are required for the day-to-day operation of the program. Using the Aquaculture Science textbook as a guide and having Bey as a leader, the students not only study the materials, but experience their practical applications as well. Bey says this hands-on approach is key to preparing the students for the next level. The chapters in the textbook read like a list of separate occupations, an indication of the many fields of study and the diverse occupations, from fish farming to research, which await graduates of the program: In the third year of the program, students spend two days a week at Brunswick Community College studying college-level aquaculture and the other three days at the high school doing hands-on tasks. This gives them the advantage of a smooth transition from the high school setting to college and has sometimes been the impetus behind students furthering their education. In North Carolina, students can continue their education at Brunswick Community College and UNC Wilmington or N.C. State in Raleigh in fields such as Aquaculture, Mariculture or Fisheries Biology.
Ponds are essential to any aquaculture program. They allow the students live experience and training needed to survive in the field. Because the program is almost self-sustaining in that few fish are purchased and most are raised in the program, a lesson in the life cycle underlies the activities the students perform. Eggs are gathered from the spawning pens in the ponds and transported to the hatching troughs. When they have hatched, they are moved to the rearing tanks where they are fed, tended and allowed to grow to adult size. From there they are transported back to the ponds and/or spawning pens and the cycle begins again. Sound simple? About as simple as life. But Aquaculture does not stop here.
In 2004 Tim Barefoot of Barefoot Fishing and Bonner Stiller, a local legislator, approached Bob Wilkerson, high school principal, about the possibility of including a Southern Flounder Hatchery in the program. Bey and the students did some informational research and found that Dr. Wade Watanabe of UNCW and Dr. Harry Daniels of NCSU are achieving the best results in southern flounder culture. With the help of Representative Bonner Stiller, Tim Barefoot and a committee of NC CCA members, Mike Ward and Will Morgan, a site for the hatchery was located at South Brunswick High School after which Speaker of the House of Representatives, Richard Morgan, offered $18,000 for development of the southern flounder hatchery. Subsequently, the Brunswick County School Board voted unanimously to provide matching funds.
A training tour of UNCW's Southern Flounder Hatchery Facility led by Dr. Wade Watanabe and staff in Wrightsville Beach was provided to students of the program. An advisory committee formed by Bey worked with the N.C. Marine Fisheries, UNCW and NCSU. Aquatic Eco-Systems from Apopka, Fla., volunteered to help design and construct the hatchery, which was completed in 2005. Royce Potter of Potter's Seafood in Southport provided adult flounder for the hatchery, and Chris Woolridge at UNCW helped obtain eggs and fry. N.C. Marine Fisheries granted the only license ever granted for stock enhancement of 25,000 southern flounder in NC public waters. As a result the students made the first flounder stocking in N.C. history in the Davis Canal on Oak island with 841 southern flounder.
As a model program for other schools, the program will receive visits
from far-flung school systems beginning with a recent visit from Virginia
Beach. The effect this hatchery will have on the promotion of ocean
conservation will help pave the way for saltwater hatcheries in this
state and beyond.
Students at South Brunswick High School take their study of aquaculture into
the field.
Photo: South Brunswick High School