Comments on the Plenary Session Presentation by John Forster United States Aquaculture Society 1 March 2011, New Orleans On “Towards a Marine Agronomy”

Based in large part upon Duarte, et al. (2009) Will the Oceans Help Feed Humanity? BioScience 59(11): Wilcox, H.A. (1968) The Ocean as Supplier of Food and Energy

What we face over 9 billion people Higher demand for protein Limited freshwater Limited arable land Limited amounts of key nutrients

We Are NOT Using the Oceans Efficiently! Over 70% of surface area of the Earth Contain more than 97% of the water Produces less than 2% of our food – 6,600 million metric tons from agriculture – 83 million metric tons from fisheries How is that possible when so many fisheries are near collapse? – 3+ trophic levels between phytoplankton & the fish we eat

Traditional Aquaculture is Not the Answer! Focus on high-level predators Previously based on trash fish and then fish meal Now using more plant protein from agricuture – Competition as human food – Biofuels using land

A Possible Vision for a Marine Agronomy – Based Protein Production System “Laminaria, averaging 19.4 metric tons dry weight per hectare per year would need only 1% of the Earth’s ocean surface to grow an amount of seaweed equal to all the food plants currently farmed on land” “Production for processing into animal feed … inspires a vision of a future self-sustaining marine agronomy where feed for farmed fish is made from seaweed”