On the surface, turning oil rigs into fish farms is an intriguing idea. It's re-using an existing resource; and it could help increase our food supply at a time when many wild fish populations are dwindling.

That plan sparked protests from environmentalists worried that the administration is just trying to let oil companies off the hook financially for cleaning up their drilling sites.

Ocean-based fish farms often release large quantities of fish waste, antibiotics and growth stimulants into the surrounding waters. And farmed fish invariably escape into the ocean, where they may crowd out their wild cousins, spread new diseases, or interbreed with wild fish and produce offspring that aren't hardy enough to survive.

And looking over the past eight years, environmentalists have no confidence that the Bush administration will handle the old oil rigs in a way that avoids such problems.

"This proposal is an absolute crock -- a huge handout to the oil industry so they don't have to take down those rigs," said Tom Worthington, co-owner of Monterey Fish Market. "They're just trying to get the oil companies out of the job of taking those rigs down."

"There's a real potential for Aquaculture, but the way the Administration is doing it is backwards," said Zeke Grader, director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "They should be developing aquaculture on land (like catfish farms in land-based ponds).... The ocean is not ready for prime-time aquaculture."

In reality -- with only a few months left until the presidential election -- the future of these old oil platforms will probably end up in the hands of either the Obama or McCain administration.

 The article is courtesy  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/chrongreen/detail?blogid=50&entry_id=29076#comments