Vote expected on Gulf fish farms

MOBILE, Ala. - Federal fisheries regulators this week will decide whether to open the Gulf of Mexico to industrial-scale fish farms – fish raised in underwater cages and pens – that could yield more than 60 million pounds of additional seafood from the ocean. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday in Mobile before voting on the issue. The plan would create a permitting process for aquaculturists to develop large-scale fish farms, raising only native species in underwater cages. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/27/08)