The Aquaculture Operation:
When Mike Meeker retired from professional hockey, he and his wife Sharon chose to raise their two children in the beautiful area of Canada Islanders call God's Country - Manitoulin Island. Native lore has this to say about Manitoulin:
Mike and Sharon set up their home on a piece of land overlooking Lake Wolsey and in 1987 they started up Meeker's Aquaculture.
"The Indian legend says that when Gitchi Manitou (the Great Spirit) was engaged in the creation of the world, he selected the finest of each piece of creation; from the waters he took the bluest sparkling lake; from the skies he chose the fleeciest cloud... the brightest stars; from the land he selected the most fertile fields... the greenest forest. - All these Manitou set aside for his own special use.
When he completed his work of creation, he took all the choice pieces and fashioned them into an island, he placed it on the waters of the Great Northern Inland Sea (Lake Huron) and it gently drifted northward until it came to rest beside the rocky coastline of the north shore. This special island Manitou reserved for himself, and it was named the island of Manitou - Manitoulin."
For those that do not know, aquaculture
is the farming of fish, shellfish and aquatic plants to produce food for human consumption and the stocking of our lakes and rivers. This is done to bridge the gap. between wild catch and the demand for fish from those requiring fish in their diet. Aquaculture originated in China, but there is folklore evidence that basic aquaculture was practiced by early Canadian aboriginals.
Overfishing and poor management practices has led to the depletion of many fish species from the earth's oceans and freshwater lakes - aquaculture is serving to bridge that gap nicely. For the first time in human history 51% of all seafood consumed is from farm sources. The economies of participating maritime and freshwater countries have benefitted dramatically. The United Nations has predicted that the demand for seafood will double in the next twenty years and that increase will have to be met by aquaculture.
In 2000 the
Northern Ontario Aquaculture Association (NOAA) was established by a group of 13 northern fish farmers whose mission was to promote aquaculture by dispelling misinformation about aquaculture being spread by certain environmental groups.
One method used is participation at the Royal Winter Fair held every year in Toronto.
Mike Meeker at The Royal
The members of NOAA live by a set of standards they call their
Best Management Practices and by 2007 Mike Meeker had come up with a solution for disposing of fishkill and processing waste.
Thus was born Meeker's Magic Mix.
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