Hawaii regulators approve first US tuna farm

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091024/...s_farming_tuna

HONOLULU – Hawaii regulators have approved a Honolulu startup company's plan to build the nation's first tuna farm in waters off the Big Island.

Hawaii Oceanic Technology aims to create an environmentally friendly open ocean farm for bigeye tuna, a favorite source for sushi and sashimi that's overfished in the wild. The project would also be the world's first commercial bigeye farm.

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources voted 4-to-1 to give Hawaii Oceanic permission to install three large underwater cages for the tuna.

"I'm concerned on a global level and a local level that we have severe overfishing going on, and something needs to be done," said board member John Morgan, who voted in favor of the project.

Unlike many tuna farms around the world which capture immature tuna and fatten them until they're ready for harvest, Hawaii Oceanic expects to artificially hatch bigeye at a University of Hawaii lab in Hilo.

After the fry grow, the company will take the fish to giant ocean pens about three miles offshore where they will grow until they reach 100 pounds.

Hawaii Oceanic expects to avoid the disease problems that have plagued other fish farms because it's ocean pens will be large and its fish won't be as densely packed in the cages.

The ocean is 1,300 feet deep in the area where the cages will be. This will allow strong currents to sweep away fish waste and uneaten food, preventing the pollution of the ocean floor.

The farm is expected to produce 6,000 tons of bigeye a year once fully operational, serving Hawaii, the U.S. mainland, Japan and other parts of Asia. In 2007, fishermen caught 224,921 tons of wild bigeye in the Pacific.

Hawaii Oceanic projects it will generate $120 million in annual export revenues, more than six times the value of Hawaii's current aquaculture output.

Several critics told the board they're worried diseased farm fish would escape and contaminate wild stocks, and others said they're worried about where Hawaii Oceanic would obtain its fish feed.

The project won't be sustainable if it imports its feed and exports about 90 percent of its product, said Rob Parsons, a board member of the environmentalist group Maui Tomorrow. The venture looks like it will suffer from the same pollution and disease problems as cattle farms, he said.

"This is not a farm," Parsons said. "It's an industrial feed lot."

The company has vowed to only purchase feed made from sustainably harvested fish and has said it won't feed its tuna any antibiotics.

Board members noted Hawaii Oceanic conducted an environmental impact statement that said the farm wouldn't significantly affect the environment. No one has challenged the study in court, Department of Land and Natural Resources staff told the board.

Several board members said they were concerned that Hawaii Oceanic planned to use solar and ocean thermal energy to operate its giant ocean pens, something that hasn't been done before.

Given the untested technology and the large scale of the project, the board required the company to report on its progress and return for permission to deploy the remaining nine cages it aims to build.

[alex n]

Thats awesome , it is the future as wild populations cant keep up with the demand and when they get real good at raising them maybe the government could give them a tax break and have them release a few thousand a year into the wild as 20 lbers

[d-a]

Originally Posted by alex n

Thats awesome , it is the future as wild populations cant keep up with the demand and when they get real good at raising them maybe the government could give them a tax break and have them release a few thousand a year into the wild as 20 lbers

Guess you didnt read this part,

Hawaii Oceanic expects to avoid the disease problems that have plagued other fish farms because it's ocean pens will be large and its fish won't be as densely packed in the cages.

Its unlikely they will be allowed to restock wild populations

d-a

[capt. jakeg]

If it works, it will be a great idea. If not, it will be a very expensive failure and nonetheless there will be much learned for other future operations. It would be a great thing for the oceans if it only took a handful of wild caught fish to provide a commercial supply of thousands of fish. There would be no need to restock fish into the wild, if this was able to substitute for wild caught fish. I dont see a bad side here as I believe this is one of the many important steps that needs to be taken to help protect tuna and pelagic species populations worldwide.
It sounds like they plan on this thing being a completely self sufficient/ green type of thing with the solar and wind power and all. I also wonder where they are going to get food supply for 6000 tons of tuna. This would be a significant amount of food. It would be pretty cool if at least some of the food fish were not wild ocean caught- perhaps farm raised freshwater shrimp that can be grown quickly and efficiently and have a relatively high yield for a small amount of water could be a portion of their diet?

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Originally Posted by capt. jakeg

If it works, it will be a great idea. If not, it will be a very expensive failure and nonetheless there will be much learned for other future operations. It would be a great thing for the oceans if it only took a handful of wild caught fish to provide a commercial supply of thousands of fish. There would be no need to restock fish into the wild, if this was able to substitute for wild caught fish. I dont see a bad side here as I believe this is one of the many important steps that needs to be taken to help protect tuna and pelagic species populations worldwide.
It sounds like they plan on this thing being a completely self sufficient/ green type of thing with the solar and wind power and all. I also wonder where they are going to get food supply for 6000 tons of tuna. This would be a significant amount of food. It would be pretty cool if at least some of the food fish were not wild ocean caught- perhaps farm raised freshwater shrimp that can be grown quickly and efficiently and have a relatively high yield for a small amount of water could be a portion of their diet?

I think a businessman in Japan is trying something similar for Bluefin tuna, hopefully these types of farms will work...

[Sea Witch]

Great idea but do you really think this will reduce the commercial fishing pressure one bit. NOT a chance. The far east nations will continue to decimate the species.

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Originally Posted by Sea Witch

Great idea but do you really think this will reduce the commercial fishing pressure one bit. NOT a chance. The far east nations will continue to decimate the species.

Its sad, but you're probably right though...

Who knows maybe these farms will pan out to be something...

[Capt. kapoc]

I belive that they already tried this in japan with bluefins and stopped quickly when the were faced with the reality of how much it cost i food to raise the tuna to marketable size from birth. but whatever let'em have a go at it at the worse it will be come a F.A.D. for sharks