Kristina Adams (Aquaculture/Aquaponics)
Kristina Bernadette Adams was born on 26th June 1984. The daughter of Winston Adams, one of Barbados’ most successful breeders and suppliers of aquarium fish at the time, it is not surprising that Kristina developed a keen interest in keeping and rearing fish from a very young age. After leaving Queen’s College she pursued a B Sc. Degree at the University of Guelph. It was at Guelph that she was first introduced to and quickly became interested in commercial-scale fish farming. After graduating with her BSc., Kristina returned to Barbados and pursued a MSc. degree at the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) of the University of the West Indies Cavehill Campus. The subject of her research project at CERMES was evaluating the feasibility of using green-water tank culture systems and aquaponic systems for tilapia in Barbados. In 2006 she completed her studies from CERMES, being awarded an MSc. with distinction.
In 2005, before graduating from CERMES, Kristina, driven by a clear goal of establishing a commercial venture, set up her farm and began importing Red Tilapia broodstock by 2006. For a number of years Kristina engaged in the sale of the progeny of her broodstock for people interested in fish culture to raise.
In 2013 Kristina entered and won “Bank on Me”, a Barbadian reality TV show that featured entrepreneurs taking on challenges and pitching their business ideas to a panel of judges for various forms of investment and support. With the prize money she received from Scotiabank along with equity investment from Williams Industries and Anthony Hoyos, Kristina realized her dream by opening her commercial fish farm, Adams Aqualife at Hopewell, St. Thomas. At the farm she produced Red Tilapia, for the local hotel and restaurant industry and some supermarkets. The farm produced approximately 1MT of tilapia monthly. Kristina then branched out into also producing Australian Red Claw Crayfish.
With the farm becoming the most sustained commercially successful aquaculture venture on the island, in 2017 it became the obvious choice site for the establishment of a functional demonstration aquaponics farm under the FAO funded project “Towards a Caribbean Blue Revolution”. In collaboration with the government the main objective was to provide hands-on training of interested people to successfully establish and run an aquaponics farm. Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was very successful, resulting in the training of 40 people (including 10 teachers) along with Kristina privately training over 80 people as well as some schoolchildren.
Kristina went on to collaborate with TVET Council leading to a Level 1 certification in Aquaponics from (2023) in collaboration with the Fisheries Division. In 2023 it was estimated that at least 75 aquaponics units based on the demonstration model have been built by persons to provide food for their families, while between 20 and 30 have been built and operated as small businesses.
Kristina has ably demonstrated that commercial fish culture is a viable enterprise for Barbados. Her interest and work in training others in her chosen field is not only admirable but of direct benefit to Barbados by introducing interested Barbadians to fish farming as an employment option and a means of food production. From this year Kristina has joined the Fisheries Advisory Committee as the Aquaculture expert as well as vice-chair, contributing to discussions about the potential for development of a sustainable aquaculture and mariculture industry in Barbados.