Free Republic

To boldly farm fish where no one has farmed fish before. The seabass eggs, all 200 of them, were settled in their module and ready to go. The ground crew had counted the eggs carefully, checked each for an embryo, and sealed them tightly within a curved dish filled precisely to the brim with seawater. The countdown, and then—ignition! For two full minutes, the precious eggs suffered a riotous shaking as the rocket’s engines exploded to life, followed by another eight minutes of heightened juddering as they ascended to the heavens. These embryonic fish were on their way to low...

It's being hailed as the solution to America's dependence on imported seafood: industrial-scale fish farms in the open ocean, capable of putting red snapper and grouper on every dinner table in the country. Still a fledgling industry in the United States, and globally, deepwater marine farming brings small fish born in laboratories to immense underwater cages in the ocean. There they are fed, grown to a marketable size, harvested and brought back to shore for sale. After more than a decade of research, though, only a handful of operations exist in the United States, largely because of no traction in...

Coastside commercial fishermen were pleased that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday signed the Sustainable Oceans Act, severely restricting future fish-farming along the California coast. The act, authored by Palo Alto Democrat Joe Simitian, allows ocean farming operations but requires stringent environmental protections that industry experts are calling the toughest in the nation. Coastside fisherman Pietro Parravano, president of the Institute of Fishery Resources, said Saturday the new rules should help protect marine ecosystems and water quality. He said the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association had lobbied for passage of the act. There are currently no finfish aquaculture operations on the...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Friday that will make California the first state in the country to adopt comprehensive controls on fish farming, a growing industry that ocean advocates say is a threat to the marine environment. The state Fish and Game Commission will issue permits and regulate businesses that want to raise penned fish off the coast under the legislation authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. The new law is aimed at a new industry, dubbed aquaculture, which has sprung up in coastal states. California, which does not currently have any coastal fish farms, will...

Beluga ban boosts domestic caviar farming By Laura Zuckerman Thu Nov 17, 2005 8:25 AM ET HAGERMAN, Idaho (Reuters) - After more than a decade growing in the spring waters of a commercial fish farm in southern Idaho, five dozen white sturgeon are ready to give eggs that will be marketed to U.S. caviar connoisseurs. The timing could hardly be better. A recent U.S. ban on beluga caviar from the Caspian and Black seas has sparked a boom for U.S. fish farms, which are stepping in to provide gourmet stores and high-end restaurants the much-loved salted eggs, or roe, from...