The US is trying to reduce its seafood deficit
Pan-seared black sea bass is selling like hotcakes in a restaurant in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Produced at aquaculture facilities at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and at the North Carolina State University, southern flounder and black sea bass are two promising species that some day may help to reduce the dependency of the US on imported seafood.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adsministration (NOAA) is sponsoring nation-wide research into the development of technologies that can lead to large scale production of farmed fish of various species. These experiments in North Carolina may lead to the establishment of landbased seawater culture facilities for sea bass, among else.
The US currently imports about 70 per cent of the fish Americans consume- species like farmed shrimp, tilapia and salmon. Realizing that aquaculture is the fastest growing source of food productuion today, NOAA has made it a priority to increase domestic production of cultured seafood. A national policy for off-shore aquaculture and a plan for the conversion of abandoned oil drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico to aquaculture production centers are in the works. Preliminary estimates by NOAA suggest that domestic aquaculture production could go from a half million tons annually to 1.5 million tons by 2025.
Back at the uiniversities in North Carolina, while they have come a long way in a short time with respect to developing the technology, they have yet to demonstrate commercial viability. At this time, it is estimated that the capital costs of establishing a farm that can produce 100,000 pounds of fish (approximately 45,000 Kg) per year, using recirculated salt water, is about $US 700,000.
