Tonight at Council there will be a public hearing on CB 488, a.k.a. the “aquaculture bill,” which Judy introduced last month.
Judy proposed this amendment to allow aquaculture in the B-2 zone district, with limitations. Aquaculture is a water-based, symbiotic, organic food production process that is also called “aquaponics” or “hydroponics.” Aquaculture is very green — it’s a closed-loop system producing both fresh fish and fresh vegetables, in which the by-products of the fish are recycled into nutrients for the vegetable plants.
Aquaculture enterprises produce fresh, locally grown food, as well as jobs and youth training experiences. A nonprofit group called Growing Power has successful aquaculture ventures in Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit, and now it’s starting an organization in Denver called Urban Organics, to be located in the vacant greenhouses at 4751 York Street in Elyria-Swansea. CB 488 would amend the zoning code to allow Urban Organics to operate.
If you wish to speak on CB 488, you must sign up during the Council meeting recess. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.
Well-intentioned though Judy’s Aquaculture Bill is, it would be thoroughly misleading to allow her and her support team to continue to define aquaculture as she does here. While that may be an accurate description of aquaculture as she intends it to be practised in Denver, which I should add is entirely laudable, aquaculture is by no means confined to aquaponics and hydroponics. Technically speaking, aquaculture is growing anything in water, whether in the ocean or on land. Aquaponics is growing fish in conjunction with plants which derive their nutrients from the water the fish poop into. Hyrdoponics cuts out the fish and has the plants of whatever variety getting fed through having their roots immersed in water or sprayed with water.
As to organics, neither aquaponics nor hydroponics, though conducted on land, are automatically organic. It depends on what – if anything – is put into the system in the way of chemicals, as fertilizer etc.
Just wanted to clarify that in case anybody in Denver thinks that this is what aquaculture really is. It takes many, many different forms. It may be of course though that Judy intends only these kinds of systems to be allowed under her Aquaculture Law. It’s good to see Denver considering something to advance aquaculture rather than ban it within the City limits.