Overfishing, pollution and other factors are reducing wild populations but the demand for seafood is increasing. Fish farming is the right answer to meet the growing demand of seafood. And in this connection a San Diego group wants to build an aquaculture project five miles west of Mission Beach.
It is said that the farm would be the first of its kind in federal waters and the pilot project would raise striped bass. It is mentioned that the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute wants to build a fish farm in the ocean off San Diego. The report also states that yellowtail, halibut, white seabass, striped bass are the four species they are looking at.
Don Kent, President of Hubbs, said that the institute developed and manages the white seabass hatchery in Carlsbad’s Aqua Hedionda lagoon. He added that the aquaculture project will demonstrate how raising fish can reduce imports and improve the local economy.
Scott Harrison with the San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation wants to make sure that happens. He told that it is our job to really ride them hard on this and make sure things are done the right way. Even so, Sam Schabacker with San Francisco-based Food and Water Watch says there are major problems with the project. He told that what they’re going to be producing in terms of their concentrated waste streams is the equivalent of the sewage that 30,000 people would produce in one year. But Don Kent with Hubbs says routine sea floor monitoring would catch any problems.
Foltz is Vice President of Chesapeake Fish Company, a seafood distributor on San Diego’s bayfront, said that it will take pressure off the wild simply because it’s another species to offer to our chefs and retailers. There’s plenty of wild, fresh fish at Point Loma Seafoods in San Diego, says Foltz.
