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WASHINGTON - It's known as open ocean aquaculture, and if this wave of the future in fish farming develops as some envision, huge pens filled with growing halibut and black cod someday may be anchored underwater off the coast of Washington.

While the idea may seem far-fetched, open ocean operations are established off Cyprus, the Canary Islands, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, the Philippines and China

Off Hawaii, a bi-conical 50-by-80-foot sea cage that looks like a UFO and was developed by a Bainbridge Island company is moored two miles off the beach. The cage, 40 feet underwater, has been stocked with up to 70,000 threadfin, or moi, a fish once reserved for royalty. Backers of the commercial venture believe open ocean aquaculture in Hawaii could eventually be a $400 million a year business

The federal government, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is funding projects off New Hampshire, where haddock, cod and halibut are stocked, and off the Gulf Coast, using such fish as cobia and snapper

Similar projects are planned for Washington and Puerto Rico

The focus in Washington is the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Port Angeles. And though the strait isn't the open ocean, its weather can be horrid, with 20-foot waves, 60-knot winds and major tidal changes

"The strait is viewed as a transitional zone as we move further and further out," said Dan Schweiker, a Republican state senator from Rochester who is secretary of the Washington Fish Growers Association. "The strait has a lot of characteristics of the open ocean, but is not as harsh.

Schweiker and others believe it is a matter of time before the pens are anchored in the Pacific off Washington

"It's moving ahead slowly, but yes, eventually it will happen," said Colin Nash, a biologist at NOAA's research center in Manchester, near Bremerton

Schweiker said he expected commercial fish farms to be established in the strait in the next five years or so and in the ocean in 10 to 15 years

Until now, fish farming in Washington has been confined to more placid, inland waters near Bremerton and Anacortes, where Atlantic salmon have been raised

But the farms have their critics

Some scientists fear Atlantic salmon escaping from the existing pens could establish themselves in the wild and compete with native salmon stocks or even interbreed. Environmentalists are concerned that the waste from current operations settles beneath the pens, creating biological dead zones. And people who live near the pens are showing an increasing not-in-my-backyard attitude

"We need to move these operations away from populated areas," said John Forster, an aquaculture consultant

Environmentalists aren't quite sure what to make of the move offshore and are taking a wait-and-see attitude

"It's something we will keep an eye on," said Mark Powell, director of fish conservation for the Ocean Conservancy in Seattle. Powell said that because of winter storms that blow off the coast, the risk of escape could be greater than from inland waters, and the net pens could float away while being battered by winds and waves

"We have trouble keeping buoys in place," he said

Backers of open ocean fish farming say the net pens could be equipped with global positioning satellite systems that could make them easy to track and retrieve if they slip their anchors

With a glut of salmon depressing prices worldwide, the offshore pens probably would be stocked with halibut and black cod if hatcheries to raise brood stock can be developed

"Halibut is definitely a species with potential, and there could be a strong market for black cod as an alternative to Chilean sea bass," said Forster

Ocean Spar Technologies of Bainbridge Island has emerged as one of the leading developers of open ocean net pens. The company, in business for 12 years, has built about 50 pens in use worldwide, and its bi-conical Sea Station is being used in the open ocean

"We're talking to a lot of parties about doing the Washington coast," said Langley Gace, aquaculture manager for the firm

Using the same netting as is used in bulletproof vests, the company suspends the material from a huge floating spar. The bi-conical shape comes from sturdy girders used along the edges. Anchor lines are attached to the girders and the lines are then attached to anchors on the ocean floor

The pens are anchored deep enough below the surface to avoid being damaged by winds and waves

"Why fight Mother Nature when you can duck it?" said Gace

The pens also can be equipped with automated feeding systems for the fish

Gace, an engineer, is convinced the pens are strong enough to withstand open-ocean conditions and points out that some of his firm's pens are located in the Caribbean's "hurricane alley."

Others say more testing may be needed

"We want to make sure these technologies operate when we get out there," Nash said.

Les Blumenthal: 1-202-383-0008
les.blumenthal@mcclatchydc.com