NPR

Can We Feed The World With Farmed Fish?

New research suggests there is space on the open ocean to farm essentially all the seafood humans can eat — and then some. But such volumes of fish and shellfish could not be grown without costs.
A Russian fish farming operation in Ura Bay in the Barents Sea. / MAXIM ZMEYEV / Getty Images

For years, scientists and activists have sounded the alarm that humans' appetite for seafood is outpacing what fishermen can sustainably catch.

But new research suggests there is space on the open ocean for farming essentially all the seafood humans can eat. A team of scientists led by Rebecca Gentry, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that widescale aquaculture utilizing much of the ocean's coastal waters could outproduce the global demand for seafood by a staggering 100 times.

Their published Monday in the journal , could have significant implications for a planet whose human population is projected to reach 10 billion by

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