Aquaculture Operations

Aquaculture oversight pushed
By Sean Hao, Advertiser Staff Writer

The United States needs to better regulate aquaculture operations, which are expected to grow fivefold into more than a $5 billion industry by 2025, according to a report released yesterday.

At present, the aquaculture industry, which includes 70 Hawai'i operations, provides about half of all seafood consumed in the United States. However, the nation's growing reliance on ocean farming operations will require new standards and practices to ensure protection of marine ecosystems, according to the Marine Aquaculture Task Force, a group of researchers, educators and aquaculture operators.

"In just a few years, most of the seafood we consume will come from aquaculture," said task force member Daniel Benetti, an associate professor and the director of aquaculture at the University of Miami. "The question is not whether we should endorse it. The question is how and where we should do it."

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