It’s like shooting fish in a barrel…

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave out a $270,000 grant to scientists currently working on a plan to make fish catch themselves. It sounds crazy, but it might be crazy enough to work! Even the scientists admit “it sounds crazy, but it’s real.” So how are they going to make fish catch themselves?

The scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Boston, MA are trying to train black sea bass to catch themselves by swimming into a net when they hear a specific tone signalling “feeding time”. This would obviously make the work of fishers much easier, as with a press of the button hundreds of fish would happily swim into the cages, only to make it to someone’s plate.

But it’s not all about catching fish, the research may actually help the fish overall. The black sea bass stock as a whole is depleted, and the research would allow bass to be released into the wild and increase the larger natural population. Though fundamentally it’s about the money, as the system would cut the costs of fish farming by having the fish grow big on oceanic food before being caught once they grew large enough for the market.

It’s called “open sea ranching,” and it’ll probably take a lot of convincing to persuade fishermen and fish farmers to adopt this strategy. I’m sure the idea of releasing fish into the wild seems to go against the gut inclinations of people trying to raise fish to sell. With over a quarter of a million dollars being poured into the project, it just might work out!

[Source]

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