Food/Open ocean farms

69% of the planet is ocean; if we can effectively farm this area, there can be no scarcity of food.

Open ocean farming is currently being researched by several companies and universities. Floating nets are used to grow seaweed, and floating or submersible cages are used to breed fish in. As with all water-based agriculture, the plants grow about 10 times faster than with land-based agriculture. This makes ocean farming ideal for biofuel, where the aim is to quickly grow large amounts of biomass.

Ocean farms can grow edible seaweeds ("sea vegetables"), or fish. Inedible seaweeds can converted efficiently into edible fish; 4 tons of seaweed feed will typically yield 3 tons of fish. Seaweed also makes good fertilizer for land-based growing.

• Ocean Farm Tech use floating geodesic spheres that hold fish inside
• Ocean Harvest Technologies grow seaweed on floating nets
• Presentation from researchers at Wageningen University
• http://oceanfarmtech.com/news.htm - lots of links
• http://www.openblueseafarms.com/who_we_are/our_company.html