September 26, 2018 — Offshore fish farms could soon dot the seascape along with those oil and gas platforms being proposed for U.S. waters by the Trump administration.
The fish farms, which would be installed from 3 to 200 miles out, are being touted as a way to boost seafood production, provide jobs and reduce the nation’s $16 billion trade deficit due to America’s importing nearly 90 percent of its seafood favorites.
The U.S. Commerce Department is holding meetings around the country through November to talk about its strategic plan for getting aquaculture off the ground. At a recent session in Juneau, NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver said that wild harvests simply can’t keep up with global demand.
“Aquaculture is going to be where the major increases in seafood production occur, whether it happens in foreign countries or in U.S. waters,” Oliver said.
“Aquaculture would seem like an ideal industry for the country, since it has the second-largest exclusive enterprise zone in the world — meaning it has proprietary marine resource rights over an area totaling roughly 4.4 million square miles in three oceans, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico,” wrote Seafood Source.
Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News