University of Maryland study sustainable fish farming
USA: The Center for Marine Biology at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, is conducting research on alternatives to open ocean, off-shore, aquaculture technology.
Currently, Dr. Yonathan Zohar, the center's director, is working on a project studying fish habitat in tanks that are fully contained. Dr. Zohar and others say net pens in the ocean aren't the best option for the fish or the environment". He told The Baltimore Examiner "there is no interaction with the environment" when using his solutions.
According to the article, Dr. Zohar's system allows for optimal conditions, so the fish can grow faster - eight to nine months compared with 14 to 16 months - and at much higher densities.
The tank solution may be one alternative to placing net pens in the Chesapeake Bay. The director of the fisheries program at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Bill Goldborough, told The Baltimore Examiner that "uneaten food and treatments added to the fish food can accumulate, causing dissolved oxygen, which can be harmful for the water".
Mr. Goldborough stressed that currently there are no net pens present in the Chesapeake Bay because the bay is shallow and crowded with human activities.
David Secor, a University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science scientist told the Baltimore Examiner that pen cages in open water farther off shore "are less of a concern, because the water around the cages dilutes the waste". Dr. Secor has experience from studying bluefin tuna. He points out that open ocean farming creates other complications, such as problems with tough weather conditions and enforcing rights on the sea.
