One fisherman's story

Florida commercial fisherman Ken Haney said his life has changed drastically since the BP oil spill.

He no longer brings in enough money to provide for his family in Spring Hill. The fish he is able to catch in the Gulf, he can hardly sell. The Hernando beach businesses he relied on for income aren’t willing to pay even half as much for his catch.

In July, Haney went to BP expecting to receive a payment for his losses, instead he was sent home empty handed and told the government would not allow BP to issue any more checks to commercial fishermen.

Haney found hope at Morning Star Fishermen, a non profit aquaponics training facility in Dade City, Fl.

Haney attended an aquaponics training course at Morning Star and has since set up his own backyard aquaponics system. The system uses the farming of Tilapia to farm vegetables and herbs. Fish waste becomes nutrition for plants and water transports the nutrients to the plants.

Haney has hopes to one-day sell enough fish, vegetables and herbs to provide for his family.

Hans Geissler, founder of Morning Star, said he hopes to help more displaced fishermen do the same.

“We want to train these fishermen to make a living farming fish on land,” Geissler said. “The oil spill isn’t over. It’s still affecting people and it’s still affecting the waters.”

Morning Star, 33336 Old St. Joe Road, offers a variety of aquaponics training classes. Students can sign-up for a one-day or four-day course, a four-week or twelve-week course.

Visit www.morningstarfishermen.org.

Contacts: Morning Star Fishermen, Executive Director Barbara Arthur, (352) 523-2722 or (cell) (813) 323-8701.

Ken Haney, (352) 238-1404