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Offshore aquaculture, also known as open ocean aquaculture, is an emerging approach to mariculture or marine farming where fish farms are moved some distance offshore. The farms are positioned in deeper and less sheltered waters, where ocean currents are stronger than they are inshore.〔Naylor, R., and Burke, M. (2005) ("Aquaculture and ocean resources: raising tigers of the sea" ) ''Annual Review of Environmental Resources,'' 30:185–218.〕〔Sturrock H, Newton R, Paffrath S, Bostock J, Muir J, Young J, Immink A and Dickson M (2008) (Part 2: Characterisation of emerging aquaculture systems ) In: ''Prospective Analysis of the Aquaculture Sector in the EU'', European Commission, EUR 23409 EN/2. ISBN 978-92-79-09442-2. 〕 One of the concerns with inshore aquaculture is that discarded nutrients and feces can settle below the farm on the seafloor and damage the benthic ecosystem.〔 According to its proponents, the wastes from aquaculture that has been moved offshore tend to be swept away from the site and diluted. Moving aquaculture offshore also provides more space where aquaculture production can expand to meet the increasing demands for fish. It avoids many of the conflicts that occur with other marine resource users in the more crowded inshore waters, though there can still be user conflicts offshore. Critics are concerned about issues such as the ongoing consequences of using antibiotics and other drugs and the possibilities of cultured fish escaping and spreading disease among wild fish.〔〔 == Background == Aquaculture is the most rapidly expanding food industry in the world〔Skladany, M., Clausen, R., Belton, B. (2007) ("Offshore aquaculture: the frontier of redefining oceanic property" ) ''Society and Natural Resources'', 20: 169–176.〕 as a result of declining wild fisheries stocks and profitable business.〔 In 2008, aquaculture provided 45.7% of the fish produced globally for human consumption; increasing at an mean rate of 6.6% a year since 1970.〔FAO. (2010) (''The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture'' ) Rome. FAO, 2010, 197p.〕 In 1970, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grant brought together a group of oceanographers, engineers and marine biologists to explore whether offshore aquaculture, which was then considered a futuristic activity, was feasible.〔Hanson, J. A. (Ed.) (1974) ''Open sea mariculture: Perspectives, problems and prospects''. Stroudsburg, PA: Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross.〕 In the United States, the future of offshore aquaculture technology within federal waters has become much talked-about.〔Rubino, Michael (Ed.) (2008) (''Offshore Aquaculture in the United States: Economic Considerations, Implications & Opportunities'' ) U.S. Department of Commerce; Silver Spring, MD; USA. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS F/SPO-103. 263p.〕 As many commercial operations show, it is now technically possible to culture finfish, shellfish, and seaweeds using offshore aquaculture technology.〔 Major challenges for the offshore aquaculture industry involve designing and deploying cages that can withstand storms, dealing with the logistics of working many kilometers from land, and finding species that are sufficiently profitable to cover the costs of rearing fish in exposed offshore areas.〔Stickney, R. R., Costa-Pierce, B., Baltz, D. M., Drawbridge, M., Grimes, C., Phillips, S., Swann, D. L. (2006) ("Towards sustainable open ocean aquaculture in the United States" ) ''Fisheries,'' 31(12): 607–610.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Offshore aquaculture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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