One of the largest problems within our ocean environments today is the idea that the fish are running out. Although many countries rely on fishing as a source of income and food, the fish within the ocean are not a renewable resource and they are becoming depleted very quickly. My outside the classroom experience abroad led me to understand exactly how important fishing really is to the world, while my inside the classroom experience in my aquaculture class allowed me to believe that there may be a possibility to continue fishing as well as replenish the ocean. One of my future goals is to work with rehabilitation aquaculture and help to repopulate the ocean with the fish we love to eat.

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Within my aquaculture class, we learned a lot about the idea of aquaculture and some of its importance with freshwater fish in South Carolina. My inside the classroom experience took me to the Walhalla fish hatchery to observe this process. The Department of Natural Resources works with the fish hatchery to grow and nurture all the trout eggs into juveniles, that are later released into the rivers of South Carolina so that people can continue to fish for them. The hatchery is the sole reason that there are brown, brook and rainbow trout available in the rivers today. I believe this concept can be shifted from repopulating only freshwater to helping repopulate saltwater species as well. Because the ocean is running out of many of the species we often eat, I believe we should begin to focus on repopulating the ocean waters with these species. One of the species of fish that is suffering the most is the Tuna family.

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Aquaculture is a difficult process for freshwater, but it is much more difficult for saltwater. With ocean water, there are an abundance of variables that all need to replicate that of the natural oceans if you wish to release your fish after they have matured. If the variables you have raised them in does not match the variables within the ocean, the fish will die. Some of those variables include the pH value, salinity, temperature, and the exact concentration of elements found in the water. The best way to avoid the issues surrounding the specific variables is to use a method called a net pen (see inside the classroom experience of restoration aquaculture for more information). This concept puts a large controlled net within the ocean waters and allows people raise the fish within their natural conditions. This method allows the fish to grow without having predators or fishermen ruining their growth time.

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This project would need to begin with government programs. Currently for freshwater aquaculture, funding, regulation, and management is performed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). For a project this big, DNR and other government programs should be involved, but also companies involving the ocean such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or SeaGrant. These companies would be able to assist in funding, safety regulations, and proper management. Because the net pens would need to be set up within the ocean, which is technically not owned by anyone, sections of beach or water areas could be donated by private investors or organizations. Without donations of oceanic areas, people get frustrated by ocean space being taken up closer to the beach area. An alternative to the donations would be to form the net pens far off the coast. This is possible but makes it much more difficult and expensive to tend to.

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One of the most important factors of raising the tuna family in aquaculture is that they are a carnivorous fish. In my aquaculture class, we learned that raising carnivorous fish is incredibly expensive and ineffective because it takes approximately 1000 fish to feed and grow one fish of this lifestyle. An idea that has recently come to light is raising insects as an alternative source of the protein needed for carnivorous fish in aquaculture. Insects carry a lot of protein and can be grown easily, making this a very cost-effective alternative to using fish as the sole food source.

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Another important concept to think about when raising so many fish within a contained area is diseases. In a net pen environment, if one fish contracts a disease, it is incredibly likely that all the other fish will also contract it. In aquaculture, we learned about the five major types of diseases that can come to fish. These include nutrient deficiencies, bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungal diseases (more information at inside the classroom experience for restoration aquaculture). Some can be treated with antibiotics or natural cures, but many can not be eliminated. One major way to stop the diseases from infecting the fish at all is by keeping the ocean waters clean. That is why waste management is such an important idea for helping the oceans (more information under key insight three). People around the world need to have the proper treatments for their waste, especially before it is run into the ocean waters to help keep the species living in the ocean safe and healthy.

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Overall, if the oceans remain clean and the proper people are managing a project like this, I believe it can be easily successful. It has been proven to work easily with freshwater fish, and the idea of starting the fish within their natural environment would prevent any issues with readjustment to different factors. Also, the fish would be kept away from predators and fishermen until they have reached an age that they can reproduce on their own, helping to repopulate the natural oceans. If countries are willing to work among themselves to properly treat their waste, minimal disease should be able to reach the fish that are being raised.

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This idea would be very easy to evaluate. First, there should be visual success from the fish being raised within the net pen environment. If the fish are being grown to adulthood without any major issues, the experiment would have a successful beginning. If everything went well with the beginning and the fish are surviving, the fish that are being released could be tagged to observe their survival rates. The tags could be of any kind. Satellite tags, costing a little extra money, allow you to track the fish and its movements. If you simply use a plastic tag with an ID number, there are a lot of programs that do this and offer a reward if the fish with the tag is caught and you call in the information. This can allow us to see how long the fish survived, how old it may be, and how much it has grown since being released into the open ocean.