Gift of Plenty: Aquaculture News

We all know the world's oceans are of great importance, but there were two articles that caught my attention today while carousing the web.

One article from Science Daily was about how marine algae can be used as a new source of biofuel. Since oil seems to be on everyone's minds these days, it is no wonder scientists are looking elsewhere for our fuel needs. The research I am speaking of was conducted at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. This is an enormous undertaking and as was written in Science Daily:

The prospect of squeezing billions of gallons of biofuel oil from marine algae is enticing, but to transform tiny lime-green-colored plant-like organisms into a viable and realistic fuel option, they must be tested and grown on a massive scale. Intermediate-sized, and eventually immense, algae production sites will be required to produce an economically relevant quantity of algae-based oil for biodiesel fuel in cars, trucks, and airplanes.

However, this is still a step in the right direction.

Another article about our worlds oceans was actually about the future of aquaculture and is from Biology News. In it, scientists and experts speculate that aquaculture will be the fastest growing food production system. Experts state that even though there are some potentially harmful effects of aquaculture, when implemented properly, fish farms can greatly lower the impact on over exploited wild caught. One tidbit that I found fascinating:

Finfish, mollusks, and crustaceans dominate aquaculture production; seafood exports generate more money for developing countries than meat, coffee, tea, bananas, and rice combined.

We really should take care of our "breadbaskets." Sure there is the aesthetic quality, but there is so much more at stake than that.