USA - MISSISSIPPI - VIDEO: Aquaponics Education Exhibit Unveils at Lynn Meadows Discovery Center

By Tyler Bell

January 14, 2026

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - On Tuesday, a new exhibit was revealed at the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center, teaching kids about aquaponics and its potential for growing our food.

A recycled shipping container now serves as a mini-ecosystem, teaching kids about aquaponics — a system of aquaculture which involves raising both plants and fish together. The fish provide nutrients to the plants, and the plants provide clean water for the fish.

Kaben Smallwood, CEO of Symbiotic Aquatics and the designer of the exhibit, says the process allows farmers to take their minds off their tools and keep them on their products.

“By having a system that waters itself [and] provides nutrients for itself, the farmer can spend his or her time doing what they are meant to do, and that’s working with the plants,” explained Smallwood.

One of the programs involved in the exhibit is the University of Southern Mississippi’s Marine Aquaculture Demonstration Initiative (MAD). The MAD Initiative was created to advance marine aquaculture everywhere — especially on the Coast.

“Overall, we get about 50% of the food we consume from aquaculture, but we import around 85% of the seafood we eat here, even on our Coast,” said MAD Initiative program manager Megan Gima. “Even though we have it in our backyard, we’re importing 85% of what we’re consuming.

Gina adds that aquaculture can benefit the Coast economically, but most importantly, it can feed our people.

“We have to have protein for our population to grow. As our population gets bigger, that protein has to come from somewhere... We don’t have any more land to increase the cattle that we have or the pork, chickens. Aquaculture can be a great avenue to increase the production of protein here.”

All of these parties hope to inspire the next generation together.

“They can be inspired by something that is happening out in the natural environment, and with a little bit of STEM education, they can bring those skills together and create a system that can not only provide for their community and for themselves, but also can become a learning tool to help inspire people to do the same in their communities,” said Smallwood.

The exhibit’s upkeep will be led by the MAD team, who will also teach workers at the Discovery Center how to care for it.