DailyDirt: Chickens Of The Sea..?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Jun 19th 2015 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Americans eat about 4.5 billion pounds of seafood annually -- placing third behind China and Japan. The US ranks 15th in farmed seafood production, and America exports about a billion pounds of caught fish every year. The oceans might seem like an endless supply of fish, but we're actually starting to over-fish several species. Here are a few suggestions for what seafood to order and some technological alternatives to traditional fishing.

The top three seafoods for Americans are shrimp, tuna and salmon -- making up more than half of all the food Americans eat that comes from the sea. Maybe there's an argument for eating more oysters and mussels... or maybe we should try to eat some lesser known species such as Atlantic porgy, Acadian redfish and Pacific sablefish? [url]
Scientists and fishermen are looking for mating Atlantic codfish by listening for 'cod grunting' sounds. Cod populations are low, and fishermen want to avoid catching cod to allow them to bounce back (and to avoid fishing limits). [url]
The Oceansphere is a proposed automated fish farm that could grow 1,000 pounds of tuna from eggs to harvest size off the coast of Hawaii. Not everyone seems to be a fan of automated aquaculture technology, but if these fish farms actually work, they could be a more sustainable way to get tuna onto dinner plates. [url]
Lockheed Martin and Kampachi Farms have actually started testing a mobile fish farm at a depth of 2-3 miles, anchored to the sea floor, but able to drift within a 5 mile radius with ocean currents. Kampachi Farms says they've successfully harvested fish from their aquapods, but some critics are still concerned about the impact these fish farms might have on the environment. [url]

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Filed Under: aquaculture, aquapods, codfish, endangered species, fish, fish farming, food, kampachi, oceansphere, seafood, tuna
Companies: kampachi farms, lockheed martin

3 Comments

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Rekrul, 19 Jun 2015 @ 11:04pm

Personally, I've never liked salmon and shrimp is kind of bland. I only occasionally eat tuna.
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charliebrown (profile), 20 Jun 2015 @ 12:22pm

Free Range?
Are fish farms considered to be free range? Also, is there a way to get caviar without killing the fish yet? Or is the rest of the fish eaten and the caviar is just a bonus?
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- John Fenderson (profile), 21 Jun 2015 @ 7:01pm
  
  Re: Free Range?
  "Are fish farms considered to be free range?"
  
  I don't know, but considering how the term "free range" is used for farm animals, it would be consistent if they were.
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