In partnership with Minnesota Sea Grant and the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center, (NCRAC), Spark-Y Interns developed and filmed two instructional videos relating to tilapia - a popular fish used in aquaponic systems. The first video focuses on how to filet a tilapia, while the second shows how to make delicious tilapia tacos via the Spark-Y cookbook!
Interns first began their quest by learning how to filet a fish. Chad Hebert, a local aquaculture expert, led the interns and Spark-Y staff through the process. Chad first showed interns how to scale fish, walked through tools and safety, and finally demonstrated how to filet both tilapia and yellow perch - another popular aquaponic choice. Then, using the fish they fileted the interns practiced making the fish taco recipe. The meal was cooked and served to fellow staff in a sculpture garden right outside the Spark-Y office.
With their newfound fileting and culinary knowledge, the interns began writing scripts for the videos that they were asked to create. Hours of brainstorming, researching video production, and editing produced two completed scripts: the first detailing how to filet a tilapia, and another on how to make tilapia tacos. With these in hand, they were ready to begin filming!
When filming day had finally arrived, the interns were excited and buzzing with nerves. Bob Pearl, a local photographer, graciously lended his studio to Spark-Y. MN Sea Grant supplied all of the filming equipment, allowing the interns to focus purely on their performance. The day started with setting up the intern’s stage, making sure everything looked picture perfect. The set consisted of a kitchen along with a long island which the fish would be fileted and cooked upon. They first filmed the fileting video, then the cooking video right after. MN Sea Grant took charge of editing the videos, which are now available here and here! After it was all said and done the interns felt relieved, they had finished! All of their hard work had paid off to create two informative videos on tilapia from aquaponics systems.