Shepherd, Montana based Floating Island International – Floating islands can boost fish production while cleaning water, creator claims

"We’re like a machine here, we’re like a factory," he cheered on. "Our job is to harvest nutrients. That kind of sounds grandiose, but that’s what we’re doing. We’re trying to harvest nutrients before they get down to the Gulf of Mexico and create a dead zone."

Kania is the owner of Floating Island International http://www.floatingislandinternational.com/ , based northeast of Shepherd. On his property, Kania has a 6-acre pond in which he demonstrated the capability of his products.

The large plastic squares that the islands are made of — resembling huge, hollow honeycombs – provide the structure for plants to grow in by sucking sustenance out of the nutrient-saturated water. The water is nutrient rich because of runoff from agricultural and domestic fertilizers as well as from cattle manure.

In a typical pond, such nutrient loading can produce huge blooms of algae that feed on the minerals. But at Kania’s pond that’s not the case. Instead, the nutrients are gobbled up by biofilms growing on his islands and the plants interweaved into the islands. The biofilms are eaten by aquatic bugs that are then eaten by fish.

But the biofilms must be nurtured to thrive.

By Brett French

Full Story: http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/floating-islands-can-boost-fish-production-while-cleaning-water-creator/article_2a606412-df24-57fa-98b3-b7c409dfd5d3.html