Offshore aquaculture might be O.K.

 Odd Grydeland  The GLG’s web site promotes company’s business as “Intelligently connecting institutions and expertise”, and its analysis of offshore aquaculture seems to be right on; Is this unique, raising fish in the ocean? Not at all. The big difference here is this could be the new direction we need to be moving. The new wave of ocean farmed fish will improve our supply chain with out sacrificing the environment where these farms are located. This new method of "fish farming" may well just be the beginning of deep sea aquaculture that helps our supply chain as well as preserves the vital waters where are they located. Now that is unique. Analysis: We know ocean salmon farming has its share of problems, ask the Chileans. We also know land based farms have problems as well, ask the Ecuadorians. Some in these industries are working hard to correct these problems. Hopefully, in time to offset our huge losses in ocean supplies that seems to deteriorate daily. These deep sea, off shore, new operations do show great promise. One new operation, as illustrated in the referenced article, sure seems to bring a real breath of fresh air into an industry that struggles daily with not only perceived issues but with real ones. There are those that believe that aquaculture, especially ocean based, is part of the reason our seas are becoming less populated with the fish we have been processing and consuming for decades. I am not of that belief, I feel we need  aquaculture and we need to expand it, not curtail it. As we see ocean-farmed fish account for just 1.5% of the U.S. seafood supply, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this segment needs to grow. It also has the unique ability to produce fish that here to for  have yet to be mass farmed produced successfully. Lets not loose sight of the fact that we do not raise all the fish that we are currently consuming though aquaculture. There are many species that we must develop the methods to improve and prove they can successfully commercialized through farming. This new method, however, does show promise to have the ability to produce some of these species. An important point, fish farmed in the open ocean tend to be far healthier than fish raised close to shore. Because deepwater currents are stronger and more frequent, they're better suited to washing away waste and pollutants. "You're not overloading a contained body of water," says Richard Langan, director of the University of New Hampshire's Open Ocean Aquaculture Project in Durham, N.H Perhaps more people in all walks of life, not just fisheries and aquaculture folks, are slowly realizing that the wild populations in our oceans can not longer carry the full load. I am not just speaking of salmon or pollock. Our oceans and its inhabitants need our help; not to continue to fish them out of existence but to improve our aquaculture methods, and then to supply fish that will ease the demand now put on our oceans.