The Future of Fish Farming SARASOTA (WUSF) - Earlier this year, a federal commission agreed to take a closer look at commercial fish farming in the Gulf of Mexico. The practice has been used overseas for generation, but domestically, there have been concerns about pollution and diseases contaminating wild fish.

So Mote Marine Laboratory has set aside 200 acres near Sarasota to see if fish can be economically raised in a closed-system - where they don't interact with wild species offshore. Kevan Main, Mote's director of aquaculture research, spoke at USF's Research One event.

"We're very interested in seeing recirculating aquaculture move into the private sector," she says. "So we want to develop that technology, evaluate it, test it, and then expand it into the industry."

Mote is focusing on sturgeon, which produce valuable caviar. But Main says first, a host of water-conserving technologies have to be developed, including biofiltration to remove wastes. © Copyright 2009, WUSF