My comment? - Culturally, Americans have always favored the hunter/gathers in our society. The cowboy is much more exciting than the farmer, pirate tales win over that of the merchant seaman, and the fisherman's life is preferable to that of the fish hatchery worker. Historically, economically and environmentally however, it is always the farmers who endure, the farmers who end up providing the most food while (hopefully) depleting the natural resources the least.
In this evolutionary progression of man from hunter/gatherer to farmer it is now time for the fisheries to realize that they have reached the end of an era. The buffalo no longer roam the plains in herds large enough to blacken the plains to the horizons, and fish no longer swim in vast schools. They have been fished out. And - as was done for the oyster over 200 years ago, it is now time to turn to responsible farming - if we are going to continue to harvest them.
Economically speaking the adoption of widespread aquaculture is a no-brainer - it's already making lots of money in other countries. Environmentally speaking the pieces all fit also. Why drive wild species to the point of extinction when we can, with sound regulation, raise the species without harming the environment? Presently over 70 percent of all fish sold in the US comes from foreign fish farms - farms that are not regulated and that do harm the environment. Bring the farms to the US where they can be regulated and it will not only improve the environment but also the safety of the product. And while it is always difficult for the hunter to become a farmer, in the cases where the transition has already been made in the US, it is the fishermen who are now making the best aquaculture farmers.
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