Free Range Aquaculture
September 16th, 2008 by Greg FergusonOne of the possibilities for aquaculture that has been in the back of my mind is the notion of free range.
While I thought this was a bit far fetched I’m finding more and more reference to this possibility and development of dovetailing technologies. These include; SINTEF use of cybernetics to research remotely operated freerange fishfarming, MIT use of sound to train fish to feed, Tagging and virtual fencing(cattle) development by CSIRO and the constant development of automated underwater and airborn vehicles.
While this possibility may seem futuristic today, the idea of capturing 150 ton of tuna at the head of the Great Australian Bight and towing it to Port Lincoln for grow out is to my mind still impressive.
While the technology is not quite there it all seems to be pointing in the right direction. This possibility would need to be carefully scrutinised for innovation quality as at first glance it doesn’t appear to cover off on immitation and uncertainty criteria, but in an increasingly crowded world seeking quality organic foods these criteria may be easily met by developing technologies.
This concept also poses some interesting dilemas for our legislators although it must be said we have been droving cattle across the country for the best part of 2 centuries.
Tags: Add new tag, cage, csiro, MIT, SINTEF
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October 12th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Greg I don’t thing that idea is far fetched at all.
Indeed we are probably going to start seeing more quality issues with high density farming of fish in the future.
It would be feasible to find locations such as isolated bays that can be effectively closed off to prevent predators in and have free range fish contained within. Through effective management of the ecosytem contained within the closed region, this could potentially be as succesful as farming in cages at high density.