“The goal of this project is to show to the Florida fishing and boating community that offshore aquaculture can be something that they can learn to love and embrace,” said Sims.

The Hawaii-based company is his latest venture. “Our goal here is to set up a very small-scale single cohort, one batch of fish, only 20,000 fish, which that’s about one percent of what the size of a commercial farm might be, and to then grow those fish through to harvest size,” Sims said.

Captain Gene Luciano of Dalis Fishing Charters in Naples thinks aquaculture could be beneficial in the Gulf. “It could be very good for the tourists that are fishing or for local people that want to go out and fish,” said Captain Luciano.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants to expand aquaculture to the Gulf of Mexico.