Farming the Sea
55
fertile waters swirling around the Dogger Bank in the North Sea. He
found that the plaice released over Dogger grew three to four times
faster than those left to fend for themselves in the breeding grounds.
Encouraged by such results, Garstang proposed that such trans—
plantation should be carried out on a large scale, but this political
experiment was not nearly so successful—no one wanted to invest
large sums of money on improving shing grounds in which any
nation could sh. N evertheless, some sixty years later, sh are being
transferred from one region to another by some countries. The
Russians, for example, have carried out numerous experiments in
removing sh from one area or sea to another. They have taken the
hump—back salmon from the Pacic to the Atlantic, the ounder
from the Baltic to the Caspian, and they have even suggested
releasing herring in Antarctic waters to feed on the rich supply of
plankton found there.
Not all introductions of new species of sh have been deliberate;
sh moving along the Suez Canal from the Red Sea to the Mediter—
ranean threaten to disturb the natural balance existing there as well
as to reduce the protability of the sheries. First the goat sh
moved in to replace the red mullet as a major commercial sh. Now
the lizard sh, a voracious feeder, has followed and is threatening
both the goat sh and the pockets of the shermen, for it does not
command the same market price.
The next signicant step towards marine sh farming occurred
just before and during the Second World War. In 1938, a Norwegian
scientist, Gunnar Rollefsen, discovered that marine sh larvae would
feed quite happily on newly hatched brine shrimps. These little
crustaceans can be reared conveniently from dry (but viable) eggs
collected in their millions from the margins of salt lakes in various
parts of the world. Then, during the war, Dr F. Gross of Edinburgh
University showed that when the chemical fertilizers, sodium
nitrate and superphosphate, were added to isolated sea lochs the
biological productivity improved. First the large seaweeds and
phytoplankton showed greater growth, followed later by the
zooplanktoh and nally the bottom—living animals. Plaice and
ounders released in the fertilized lochs grew
two to four times
faster than those in unenriched areas. These two developments
provided the basic ingredient for sh farming: evidence of enhanced
growth in fertile marine ‘elds’; and a source of food for the very
young fry to help tide them over until they could be put out to
55
fertile waters swirling around the Dogger Bank in the North Sea. He
found that the plaice released over Dogger grew three to four times
faster than those left to fend for themselves in the breeding grounds.
Encouraged by such results, Garstang proposed that such trans—
plantation should be carried out on a large scale, but this political
experiment was not nearly so successful—no one wanted to invest
large sums of money on improving shing grounds in which any
nation could sh. N evertheless, some sixty years later, sh are being
transferred from one region to another by some countries. The
Russians, for example, have carried out numerous experiments in
removing sh from one area or sea to another. They have taken the
hump—back salmon from the Pacic to the Atlantic, the ounder
from the Baltic to the Caspian, and they have even suggested
releasing herring in Antarctic waters to feed on the rich supply of
plankton found there.
Not all introductions of new species of sh have been deliberate;
sh moving along the Suez Canal from the Red Sea to the Mediter—
ranean threaten to disturb the natural balance existing there as well
as to reduce the protability of the sheries. First the goat sh
moved in to replace the red mullet as a major commercial sh. Now
the lizard sh, a voracious feeder, has followed and is threatening
both the goat sh and the pockets of the shermen, for it does not
command the same market price.
The next signicant step towards marine sh farming occurred
just before and during the Second World War. In 1938, a Norwegian
scientist, Gunnar Rollefsen, discovered that marine sh larvae would
feed quite happily on newly hatched brine shrimps. These little
crustaceans can be reared conveniently from dry (but viable) eggs
collected in their millions from the margins of salt lakes in various
parts of the world. Then, during the war, Dr F. Gross of Edinburgh
University showed that when the chemical fertilizers, sodium
nitrate and superphosphate, were added to isolated sea lochs the
biological productivity improved. First the large seaweeds and
phytoplankton showed greater growth, followed later by the
zooplanktoh and nally the bottom—living animals. Plaice and
ounders released in the fertilized lochs grew
two to four times
faster than those in unenriched areas. These two developments
provided the basic ingredient for sh farming: evidence of enhanced
growth in fertile marine ‘elds’; and a source of food for the very
young fry to help tide them over until they could be put out to