Growing Seafood in the Open Ocean: Offshore Aquaculture in the United States

摘要

Aquaculture is the farming of freshwater or marine plants and animals for human use. In traditional marine finfish aquaculture, fish have been grown in cages close to shore, taking advantage of inshore land masses for protection from the sea. Norway, Chile, Canada and Maine have large salmon farms in protected fjords and bays. Most of these sites are located in rural areas with little competition from other users. Unfortunately, good inshore sites with requirements such as good tidal flushing, access to markets, accessibility to hatcheries and a capable workforce are very rare. In fact, most of the inshore waters in the United States are already overcrowded with multiple users. The logical next step in the development of marine aquaculture is to move offshore, where the deeper water and stronger currents make aquaculture more environmentally sustainable and fewer users compete for access. The cultivation of marine organisms away from the coast, bays, harbors, fiords or similar protection is known as open ocean aquaculture or offshore aquaculture.