while i'm highly skeptical of anything the Bushies are up to, what's the big deal about fish farms? you don't have to have fish farms and destroy natural habitat -- can't they coexist?

a fish farm offshore sounds great. maybe if countries like Japan get onboard they'll quit destroying all marine life within 100 miles of their coastlines. that might also prompt them to stop hunting endangered sea life like whales.

why not government subsidies for fish farms run by locals so people from Alaska can also have their own caches to work? they don't all have to be 200 miles offshore...

i guess i'd rather they farmed my fish rather than kill some poor salmon who just wants to go mate and die upstream somewhere.

You could check out this page on wild vs farmed fish.

In general, I think that when we eat wild foods, we have a clearer investment in maintaining habitat and harvesting in a sustainable manner.

As for salmon, farmed, or even hatchery salmon could never replace the wild fish which have evolved over millions of years to be perfectly adapted to their individual watershed. We really need to protect our rivers. I'm not saying there is and will never be a place for farmed fish, but remember the klamath fish kill a couple of years ago? There have been a few dramatic fish kills, and a less dramatic but very serious decline in wild salmon, due to to dams and industry. The Bush administration has a pretty consistent record in their protection of industry over fish. I can just see them saying next, "look, we don't need to protect our wild fish, cause we got these fish farms, see..." It seems a pretty obvious next step to me.

As Erika mentions, present ocean fish - and shrimp - farming present serious environmental problems. Asian shrimp farming is destroying the important mangrove forests. Salmon farming causes risk of disease and genetic damage to wild stocks. Farmed salmon is also nutritionally inferior to wild.

This is not to say that farming can never work, but as presently practiced, it is damaging. I avoid farmed salmon and shrimp when I can.

Gee, I didn't know Halliburton was in the fish farm business. It must be, DarkDick owes his entire livelihood to Halliburton -- Ripping Off American Taxpayers Since 1975!

I'm not surprised to hear this news. But I doubt it will come to much and wonder if it isn't another "red herring" (no pun intended, but now that I look at it, well laugh if you want.) Perhaps this is thrown out to get all the activists reacting so that something else can be pushed through.

Even if these leases for ocean areas come to pass, I would think based upon the history of the American fishing industry that it wouldn't work out. Our fishing industry has a long history of sabotage of other fishermen's equipment and boats when times are competitive. I can't imagine that an automated fish farm 75 miles off the coast and out of sight wouldn't see a lot of destruction from the forces of nature and otherwise. I think its too much science fiction right now to work out.

Perhaps the Bush Administration will get this done after we see men walking on Mars.

Erika and Tom -- thanks for the civil responses...i'll edumicate myself a bit.

Tyson wanted to get into the fish business 15 years ago, or so. They bought a bunch of factory/trawlers and went at it in the Bering Sea. I'm not sure they were able to stay in it, but they got their feet wet. [Punny, huh?] That so many people can make good money is anathema to the Reich and they are determined to get into the industry and push out the little guys until they own it.

Farms are the future because the all the stocks are dwindling at such an alarming rate, and while most of the little guys are all advocating a sustainable harvest to perpetuate their livelihood, big business would just as soon fish it out so the only fish available would be coming from their farms. And it's not as if they can get every fish, but they can reduce them to such an extent that it is no longer a viable industry for someone to pursue the wild variety versus the captive catch if they have to run all over the place to fill their fishholds.

Gregor - A former Alaskan fisherman

Hey Erika

Yep, concentrated animal farming is toxic :(

Hey, I'm just back in Santiago, got here last week, and only now have been able to sit and answer my emails. But last night I lost my inbox while scanning for virus, so please resend me your notes, I also lost your email address in the process.

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