Food/Open ocean farms

From AdCiv
< Food
Revision as of 03:01, 13 April 2011 by Balatro (Talk | contribs) (New page: 300px69% 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 se...)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search
Seaweed.jpg
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, growth is about 10 times faster than 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. Once seaweed is grown, it can be fed to fish and converted efficiently into edible fish. Turning 4 tons of seaweed into 3 tons of fish is a typical ratio. Seaweed also makes good fertilizer for land-based growing.