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Having always wanted to see the action ourselves, Jennifer, my camera-inclined colleague, and I ventured south to Swimming Rock on a bleak but warm November day last year. As we pulled down the long gravel drive, we were greeted by the sight of a large, cement-walled, mud-bottomed pond where five men in waders slowly pulled a seine net from one end to the other. Kevin had told me they would be harvesting fish when we arrived, thus I was expecting to see something resembling dinner. Much to my surprise the net was full of three- to four-inch tilapia! Rick and Kevin explained that these tilapia were being moved from the pond to adjacent raceways, long rectangular tanks with water flowing from one end to another.

We spotted a white egret slowly stalking a small tilapia that had evaded the seine net earlier that day. Suddenly its dagger-like bill and long, graceful neck shot into the water and sprang back with its prize. I turned to Kevin, wondering whether he was upset by this thievery, but he merely laughed and said, "There it goes, two dollars and sixty cents down its throat!"

Kevin took a break from the tilapia "harvest" to show me around the farm. We walked by other ponds holding striped bass, also for sale to restaurants, and mud minnows for sale as baitfish. The next stop was a semi-enclosed, corrugated aluminum building with a number of large, round fish tanks. Kevin grabbed a long-handled dip-net and began the entertaining process of trying to catch fish swimming around a tank with no corners in which to "corner" them. Being the consummate professional that he is, a few swift swipes of the net yielded two beautiful striped bass.

Kevin buys juvenile striped bass, called fingerlings, and places them in the outside ponds where they begin to feed on the baitfish left behind from the previous rotation (the ponds at Swimming Rock are rotated just as a farmer might rotate his fields). As the fingerlings deplete the supply of baitfish, Kevin supplements their diet with a nutritionally balanced commercial fish feed. The feed is designed to float on the surface of the water, keeping the fish from ingesting too much mud. When the striped bass reach about two pounds in weight, they are moved to the round tanks where they are finished for sale to restaurants.

As we toured the farm, Kevin told me a bit about his past. It seems that his whole life has been leading up to this venture. Kevin has always been interested in raising fish, though as a child he felt the fish should finish their life in the wild, much to the chagrin of his mother, who found that her five-year-old had "released" her prized guppies via the toilet.

Fortunately, Kevin has since grown to understand the need to retain fish through their entire life. Now, as he says, "my dream has come true" in this nexus of pond management, ultrasound technology, and fish farming.

Swimming Rock currently offers Palmetto bass, striped bass and tilapia for sale and Kevin plans to expand the product line. He hopes to acquire a stock of smaller wild-caught summer flounder from North Carolina, which he will grow to restaurant size. In addition, South Santee Aquaculture is currently working with a researcher at the University of North Carolina Wilmington to investigate the potential for black sea bass aquaculture.

Next year Kevin plans to cover one pond and equip it with a solar heating system to maintain the temperature needed to aquaculture cobia. He may even try his hand at pompano as well. In the past, Kevin raised freshwater prawns but currently does not. As he explained, "We refuse to compete against our local fishermen."

The future is very bright for Swimming Rock Fish Farms. According to Kevin, "I always have my eyes on future development in aquaculture and try to embrace these new ventures with an open mind, the environment and top quality production being my first concerns." It sounds like the future is bright for lovers of local, sustainable seafood too.

• Visit www.scaquarium.org/conservation/ssi for list of restaurants and retail outlets where you might find Swimming Rock fish.

• Learn more about the Swimming Rock Fish Division at www.southsantee.com.