Ocean farming is a solution to overfishing

[image credit: greenwave.org]

Native seafood stocks are being depleted to extinction

While fishing trawlers roam ever further out to sea to net what little is left of our vanishing seafood stocks, native fish and shellfish species are starting to be viewed like old-growth forest – an increasingly rare natural resource that could disappear quickly.

Solution: Sea farming takes pressure off wild seafood populations

Sea farmer Bren Smith has developed an inexpensive and sustainable method of farming many varieties of seafood in a compact, underwater system. Just offshore, a series of anchored ropes grow kelp, mussels, scallops, oysters, and other species including fish. Each sea farm employs 3-10 people and can produce food multiple times per year.

Not only would this ease the burden on our wild fishing stocks, but the kelp and other products are a sustainable replacement for feedstock and fossil fuels. The US Department of Energy estimates a sea farm half the size of Maine could completely replace domestic oil consumption. In addition, the kelp and shellfish filter nitrogen runoff out of seawater and carbon out of the air.

Read More

• greenwave.org | 3D Ocean Farming – GreenWave.org