who we are

Stocking Savvy LLC is a small environmental consulting business providing a wide variety of services to Florida's ecosystems. Our owner, Sean Patton, worked as an aquatic biologist before starting his own business in sunny Sarasota. During this time, he found that many of the precious wetlands, ponds, and lakes that characterize Florida ecosystems were in a terrible state. Litter, invasive plants, pest insects, and harmful nutrient loads drowned out the native flora and fauna which make these landscapes so exceptional. Chemical controls were found to help these problems, but not solve them at their root. More often than not, these traditional methods exacerbated other environmental issues and ultimately lost their effectiveness as they continued to be indiscriminately applied.  Inspired to restore these ecosystems in a sustainable way, he began researching alternatives means of controlling and removing invasive species and returning native plants and wildlife to their natural habitats. Thus, Stocking Savvy was born. We use multimodal biological controls to help keep Florida ecosystems beautiful and healthy, restoring those that have been lost and remedying the downstream problems that plague Florida's bays, estuaries, and beautiful oceans. We start at the yard and community level and work our way to your water body, helping restore habitat everywhere. No yard is too small, no community too large — if you want to help preserve the flora and fauna that call the Sunshine State their home while fighting Red Tide and climate change, you want Stocking Savvy.

Sean Patton, Founder of Stocking Savvy

Sean is a graduate of New College of Florida, where he studied Marine Biology and Ecology. After graduating, he became an Aquatic Biologist working in the swamps, lakes, and other bodies of water found in Sarasota and Manatee Counties. After being disillusioned by the traditional, costly, impermanent, and ineffective systems within the private sector of environmental management, he began researching alternatives methods of restoring Florida's landscapes to their most balanced and natural forms. Stocking Savvy was born with this vision in mind. Now, he utilizes naturally-occurring biological systems, native plant species, harvesting, and a coalition of green businesses to restore habitat across our state. He believes every backyard can be a flourishing habitat and every pond a paradise - if you want to know how, you want to know Sean at Stocking Savvy.

Sean's Research

Stocking Savvy Staff

Stocking Savvy's Story

Stocking Savvy began as a very large, thick yellow binder of ideas. Scrabbled together from years of working in marine laboratories, pet stores, and finally as an Aquatic Biologist, the ideas began to gradually take shape, influenced by diverse experiences and disillusions encountered while in the field. Working for a variety of companies, I noticed something amiss in the private development of Florida’s wetlands. When a pond, lake, or canal was dug, we often left the habitat virtually devoid of life. No plants, no fish, no turtles, no invertebrates, virtually next to nothing—it was just assumed that wildlife would wander in. Occasionally we would stock mosquitofish or bream, but these ponds, like all the others, often suffered colossal problems if they weren’t adequately connected to other natural wetlands.

The truth is algae blooms, midge fly swarms, stunted tiny bass, and invasive fish are the accepted norm in Florida's man-made ponds and water bodies. Outside of their native environment, the stocked invasive organisms act as fast spreading, quickly-monopolizing virulent invaders. In their native countries, many of these organisms serve as highly efficient algae and insect eaters. Under the assumption that they will perform similarly in an unacquainted landscape, many individuals have searched the world over for the most effectively consuming and beautiful species to fill their backyards and communities. Unfortunately, this is not the case, which is a mistake that has in billions of dollars of damage, ranging from toxic Brazilian peppers and smothering vines to ravenous snails and massive tilapia schools, all while displacing countless endangered native and endemic species. The havoc invasive pythons have wreaked in the Everglades is known to many, but they are but one fraction of the massive harm caused by the introduction of hundreds of invasive species. 

Witnessing these issues firsthand, I decided to break away from the private companies I had consulted with and form my own. Redefining and reorienting environment management to preserve, sustain, and support the flourishing of Florida's myriad ecologies, both aquatic and terrestrial, became my mission.

Stocking Savvy uses only native species for its pond stocking, in addition to carefully-selected University of Florida approved biocontrol agents for wetlands. We are habitat restoration, pest reduction, and algae control all in one. By stocking appropriately and planting carefully, one can mitigate and prevent problems before they arise. Rather than saturate habitats with carcinogenic chemicals and polluting coppers, we want to restore and improve environments using the tools nature has already given us. Imagine a world where every backyard is a habitat with birds, butterflies, and fish living side by side with you for a fraction of the cost of current maintenance! If it seems too good to be true, it’s because this process takes time. Using our system, you can have permanent control of a plethora of issues relating to pond management and a healthier habitat for all life—for a lower overall cost. In fact, this process leaves water leaving your lake cleaner than when it came rushing through your stormwater system. This helps reduce nutrient flow and sedimentation downstream, helping our local communities, and extending even the Gulf of Mexico. Imagine if every homeowner, community, and business took habitat restoration and stormwater management into their own hands and helped fight against large scale effects such as Red Tide and Climate Change.

Should you be looking to introduce a restorative or edible habitat, encourage an abundance of wildlife flying overhead and swimming in your waters, and lower water, fertilizer, and treatment costs, you want Stocking Savvy. 

North American River Otters Lontra canadensis, are an uncommon site in many Florida ponds due to a lack of habitat and diversity of prey. Stocking Savvy has worked with and will continue to expand native habitat and make even urban areas a home for otters, birds, and other fish, that once existed in our own backyards.

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