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Whether you are personally for or against aquaculture, we should all be able to agree that the earth, with its booming population, will need to do something in a an effort to feed itself. Given that the earths population is already over 6.5 billion and climbing steadily, food, the environment we live in and energy are our number one problems. Aquaculture offers great hope in the solving the planets growing food demands, but is it viable?

Traditionally fish farming has meant penning fish in either a pond, cage system or something similar and raising them until ready for market. The drawbacks have always been that fish in captivity are subject to disease, pollute the water around them and consume bait fish that would normally go to wild fish. All of this leaves areas around fish farms scared, sometimes barren and polluted.

Over the years fish farmers have introduced various technologies, breeding processes and strategies to keep their fish crops healthy and viable. Recently such concepts as the robotic aquaculture, where fish are raised in giant floating computerized pens that actually travel around the ocean, are bringing new light to how we might actually farm the oceans in a healthy, environmentally responsible ways.

Since the Bush administration took office, they have been watching the fish farming industry closely and are in the process of working on a fish farming bill that would see aquaculture production in the coastal regions of the US ramp up significantly in the coming years.

Here are some articles on fish farming and aquaculture from both sides of the argument:

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