An argument for farming the sea

[arco...@aol.com]

Hello, folks,

 

I often hear concerns voiced for preserving the natural habitats of the seas, and the importance of not causing damage by our "experiments."  I would like to offer a different viewpoint.

 

It was about 10,000 years ago that mankind switched from a hunter-gatherer economy to farming on the land in many parts of the world.  This was a crucial invention.  Without this change, man would have completely destroyed the land environment, driving every edible land animal to extinction and ruining virtually every ecosystem.  It's a strange paradox that husbanding the landscape actually allowed for more of the land environment to be preserved for a very long time.  Is there a lesson here for the future of the seas?

 

Three-fourths of the earth's surface, the oceans, are still being managed as a hunter-gatherer system.  (And we have nearly ruined the ocean ecosystems in the process.)  I say it is time to make the bold step and consider husbanding the seas in a fashion similar to the way the land is managed.  This holds great promise to avert an imminent population crisis.  The world is in a dire situation, running out of energy, food and water.  Can we "kill two birds with one stone?"

 

Don't you think it is true that if we increase the productivity of the oceans, we will simultaneously make them more bountiful while also lowering ocean acidity?  (Recall that photosynthesis has the effect of increasing pH while producing oxygen, but oxidation converts nonmetals to acids.)  It just might be that one of the best ways to curb global warming is to use the oceans to solve man's food and energy needs.

 

It is true that we have made innumerable mistakes along the way to learning how to use land renewably, and we are still learning.  But you must admit that we are learning, that farming has been a boon to the world over thousands of years.  Farming is the foundation that supports all of modern civilization.  We can do better the second time, learning from past mistakes. 

 

We must go forward and learn to manage the seas.  We will make mistakes and we will learn.  And, the result will be healthier ocean ecosystems in the long run.  We can farm the oceans to produce a great abundance of food and renewable energy, and the global climate should be better for it.

 

What would have happened if 10,000 years ago, ecologists had succeeded in stopping land cultivation on the grounds that we couldn't predict what unintended consequences might follow?

 

Ernie Rogers