Who We Are
About Us
Freedom Fisheries, LLC is a Veteran owned and operated company producing locally-grown fresh fish for regional markets in Newbern and the surrounding areas. We us Superior Raceways™ (patented*) system in two 2.5 acre ponds. The ponds are located in Newbern, AL.
Freedom Fisheries LLC. has been consulting with Jay Warecki, Ph.D. (Dr. Jay), Director of Superior Aquaculture, LLC. to assist in the project planning. Dr. Warecki makes all recommendations based on his experience in the industry. The Superior Raceways™ systems are designed with efficiency, expandability, and practicality in mind.
Superior Raceways™ offers the aquaculture industry a new and unique tool for farming a wide variety of fish, shellfish, and aquaponic vegetables – all improving local food security. The floating raceways, sometimes called “in-pond raceways”, or “in-pond RAS”, systems, now permit local fish farming and locally grown, organic aquaponics in reservoirs, fish and HSB ponds, quarries, mines, marshes, estuaries, and stump-filled ponds formerly unusable.
Why Eat Fish?
Fish is a healthy food choice for people of all ages. It’s rich in vitamin and minerals, and it’s a lower-calorie, lower-fat source of protein compared to meat and poultry. Since different types of fish offer different nutrients (such as vitamin D, A, C and E, and iodine, calcium, phosphorus and selenium), it’s best to eat a variety of fish to ensure you receive these valuable nutrients as part of your healthy diet.
Fish is the main dietary source of two important omega-3 fatty acids—EPA and DHA—that can help reduce the risk of heart disease in adults and contribute to healthy brain and vision development in infants, among other potential health benefits. Some local fish contain levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids equal to or nearly equal to levels in salmon.
Our Technology
Aquaculture is the propagation and rearing of aquatic species in controlled or selected environments. Globally, aquaculture is an important method of seafood production and plays an important role in food security. While the U.S. is not a major aquaculture producer (ranking 14th), National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) estimates that over half of the seafood that the U.S. imports comes from aquaculture. Additionally, aquaculture plays an important role in producing many popular seafood products, including salmon, oysters, and clams in the U.S. as well as imported shrimp. In 2013, estimated freshwater plus marine U.S. aquaculture production was 653 million pounds with a value of $1.38 billion, an increase of 59 million pounds (10%) in volume and 145 million (12%) in value from 2012.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that nearly half of the world’s consumption of seafood comes from aquaculture. Globally, Asia is the leading continent for aquaculture production volume with 89 percent of the global total of 70.2 million metric tons. The top five producing countries are in Asia: China, with 62 percent of the global total; India, 6 percent; Indonesia, 5 percent; Viet Nam, 5 percent; and Bangladesh 3 percent. The United States ranks fourteenth in production.
Aquaculture by Continent
- Africa 2%
- North America 2%
- South America 3%
- Europe 4%
- Asia 89%
Fish continues to be one of the most-traded food commodities worldwide with more than half of fish exports by value originating in developing countries. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates overall aquaculture production for human consumption will rise by more than 30% in the next decade. Additionally, recent reports by high-level experts, international organizations, industry and civil society representatives all highlight the tremendous potential of the oceans and inland waters now, and even more so in the future, to contribute significantly to food security and adequate nutrition for a global population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.
Our Concept
Freedom Fisheries LLC. has constructed a set of (3) 48,000 gallon sit-on-bottom raceways with sediment collection pods for the purpose of growing and selling fish to local markets, consumers, and whole-sale distributors. The fish we grow are the most consumed fresh-water species in the United States. There is an exploding consumer demand for fresh, locally-grown food. Freedom Fisheries LLC. is perfectly poised to fill this demand by using the latest technology and implementing sustainable aquacultural practices.
Carefully managing fish in tightly populated raceways could yield 25,000 to 35,000 pounds of fish per acre per year, more than three times the state’s average of 8,000 pounds per acre per annum. The main goal of the system is to produce a high volume of fish in a small area with minimal energy input and lower production costs than traditional methods.
Today’s world market for farm-raised products continues to be characterized by strong product demand and all signs point towards the continuing expansion of the aquaculture farming industry. Many seafood buyers worldwide recognize that the farm-raised product is superior to the wild product in many instances. This is due to the farmer’s ability to deliver the product within hours of the harvest, locking in the freshness. In light of this, tremendous marketing opportunities exist for premium quality farm-raised products.
Our Technology
We use Superior Raceways™ system technology for the below reasons:
- Better quality feed lowers volume of feed required.
- Feeding the fish rather than the pond lowers feed required.
- Better quality feed improves feed conversion ratio (FCR).
- Better quality feed reduces both fish excrement and feed waste.
- Reduced fish excrement and wasted food yields improved water quality in both raceways and ponds.
- Improved water quality yields healthier, faster growing fish, lower mortality rates, and potentially higher carrying rates.
- Rapidly increasing feed costs and efforts to improve quality mandate better feed management practices.
The evidence-based rationale supporting Superior Raceways™ is extensive and covers many fields of science. The evidence supporting the theories behind recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) is simple, but often difficult and expensive to implement. Additionally, traditional RAS (systems) are often plagued with mechanical and human errors.
“In-pond RAS”™ has many advantages over traditional RAS. Simplicity, reduced mechanical and technical dependence, reduced cost of installation and operation, plus greater reliability are just some of the advantages.
This high-volume system packs two acre’s worth of fish into each of three raceways that are 80 feet long, 12 feet wide and 4 feet deep. The raceways are arrayed side-by-side in a portion of a traditional, 10 acre earthen pond.
The series of raceways comprises a multi-stage system. Though they contain fish of a uniform size and age – minimizing predation – each is stocked at different times throughout the year to stagger harvest dates and prevent the pond from carrying a full load of harvest weight fish in each raceway at one time.
In addition to concentrating fish in the raceways, the system concentrates aeration efforts where the fish are located. Instead of running conventional paddlewheel aerators that require three to five horsepower per acre, the Superior Raceways™ System requires just one 2.5 horsepower blower per raceway. We are trying to keep the entire quantity of water thoroughly mixed to prevent stratification during the summer months. As the water travels away from the raceways and out into the rest of the pond, it encounters an array of biological treatments – a menagerie of aquatic species that keep it aerated and clean.
Stress Reduction
Stress reduction in fish leads to stress reduction in growers. Stress on fish, other animals, or human’s results in observable stress at the cellular level. This is probably the strongest cause of most disease and growth deficiencies in fish. Stress in fish is strongly associated with less than optimal or “unnatural” environmental conditions. Low or supersaturated dissolved oxygen (DO) levels, nutritional deficiencies, unnatural temperatures, light, sound, or other environmental threats all play a strong role in reducing the autoimmune defense system. Nutritional deficiencies and stress have also been associated with higher levels of cannibalism.
As in humans, nutritional deficiencies experienced by brood stock or juvenile fish can lead to very significant growth and development problems later. While significant studies have been conducted regarding commercial fish feed, many questions remain. Of major significance is the impact of quality omega-3’s in the diet, especially for fingerling production.
Zooplankton as Feed
Very significantly, most pond water is teeming with a wide variety of phytoplankton and zooplankton, rich in omega-3’s. Superior Floating Raceways™ create a natural plankton sink by air-lifting in plankton-rich water, allowing the plankton to settle and accumulate at exceptional densities within the lower levels of the raceway. The result is a limitless banquet of quality, nutritious, live feed, including vitamins, minerals, protein, and fats – and it’s all free.
Additional automated plankton harvesting of surrounding pond water can be achieved by placing a plankton-attracting light near the inlet airlifts. At night, the risen plankton from the pond bottom is attracted to the inlet lights, and flow into the raceway.
Nutritional deficiencies in both animal and human studies have been proven to be associated with mis-programming of the beta cells in the pancreas, resulting in early on-set diabetes in humans and fatty liver disease, a significant problem in aquaculture.