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Bren Smith used to hustle oysters on the streets of Brooklyn, New York. After two hurricanes in a row wiped out his crop, the fisherman took his ocean farm ''3D", and says the model could help boost food security.
Locked in place with hurricane-proof anchors, horizontal ropes sunk below the surface of the sea form the layered framework of Smith's three-dimensional ocean farm. Streamers of kelp grow downwards, scallops hang in nets and mussels in special socks, with oysters in cages below. Clams grow under the mud on the sea floor. |
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"We went 3D and started growing a whole mix of species - but only species that you don't have to feed; that are zero input.
"So no fresh water, no fertiliser, no feed, which makes it the most affordable food to grow," said Smith, who dropped out of school at the age of 14 to work on industrial ships hoovering up vast quantities of fish, sometimes illegally.
Kelp sucks up five times more carbon than land-based plants while oysters can filter 189 litres of water a day, said Smith.
The easily assembled underwater farms are also a magnet for fish and help regenerate reefs. |
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