Increasing Fish Population

[All Seeing Eye]

I just got hit by a clever gun and had a great idea.

We could construct a huge metal framework/cage and drop it into the ocean (any ocean, take your pick), the framework would be designed such that it would allow smaller fish to swim in it and generally chill out in but what would stop predators like larger sharks and whales etc from getting to the fish.
These frameworks would eventually become engulfed in marine flora aswell making it a better home to the fish.

It would literally be a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of fish.

I'm talking a huge cage, something like this:

 

[QuasarVM]

Safe until the Gorton's Fisherman or Mrs. Paul got there -- then they are breaded fish sticks (sometimes with a crunchy -- and rather tasty -- beer batter)!

 

[All Seeing Eye]

It could be constructed on a floating island and then shipped into the ocean and then just dropped there.

 

[Herbert1]

Wave action or corrosion would destroy such a cage in no time at all and what material do you propose to make such a cage? Metal would quickly rust away. How many square miles is this cage?Could other marine organisms get entangled in the cage and drown?

The problem with fish stocks isn't that small fish don't have a safe harbor away from natural predators such as sharks and whales. The problem with fish stocks is humans fishing at a rate that the natural environment cannot replenish itself, wasteful bycatch in which other organisms are caught and expire, and marine pollution that destroys marine habitat.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

1) The cage would be made of a material that would last a looooong time. Would perspex last a good many decades?

2) This protection isn't because of fish stocks so we can fish for more of them to sell, it's just to ensure a vibrant well populated ecosystem. But fish stocks after a couple of decades would likely benefit.

3) Other marine life wouldn't become entangled, it's not a net, it's a cage with decent sized holes in it, the smaller fish would get through and the bigger fish wouldn't even get their noses through.

 

[Scout101]

If it's that big (miles across), is this cost-efficient? If the holes are of a size so small fish can get in, but not bigger fish or predators, what happens when fish fit INTO this cage, but grow too large to exit?

What's feeding the massive amount of fish in this cage? As more and more bigger fish get trapped inside, wouldn't it eventually become a dead zone, with no food, and then eventually millions of dead fish?

 

[yellowdingo]

I just got hit by a clever gun and had a great idea.

We could construct a huge metal framework/cage and drop it into the ocean (any ocean, take your pick), the framework would be designed such that it would allow smaller fish to swim in it and generally chill out in but what would stop predators like larger sharks and whales etc from getting to the fish.
These frameworks would eventually become engulfed in marine flora aswell making it a better home to the fish.

It would literally be a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of fish.

I was with you until you drew the square - Metal Cage mesh (reinforced steel mesh) would be good in constructing artificial REEF towers where exiting reef organisms can grow on the Steel before it corrodes thus creating an artificial reef cage where the smaller fishies can hide out. But actual miles -even a hundred miles per side - you might as well have damned the Mediterranean and used it as a fishpond for feeding Europe.

 

[Meredith]

If the holes are of a size so small fish can get in, but not bigger fish or predators, what happens when fish fit INTO this cage, but grow too large to exit?

When they get too big they get turned into fishsticks

 

[Mike Farley]

What do we do with all the starved-to-death predator fish whose primary food source is now hiding in the cage?

 

[Zachary Smith]

What do we do with all the starved-to-death predator fish whose primary food source is now hiding in the cage?

Feed them Soylent Green that has passed the expiration date . . .

 

[The Borg Queen]

Isn't this similar to how fish farms already work?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

What do we do with all the starved-to-death predator fish whose primary food source is now hiding in the cage?

They wouldn't starve. There's plenty more fish in the sea.

If the holes are of a size so small fish can get in, but not bigger fish or predators, what happens when fish fit INTO this cage, but grow too large to exit?

Because even the largest of fish aren't the same size as a shark. Take a salmon for example, even when fully grown (and they can get pretty big) they no-where near as big as a lot of predators. So the cage wouldn't prevent fish from getting out as they grow.

What's feeding the massive amount of fish in this cage?

The same thing that's feeding them now, obviously.

As more and more bigger fish get trapped inside, wouldn't it eventually become a dead zone, with no food, and then eventually millions of dead fish?

No, because they wouldn't get trapped inside.

 

[Blueicus]

Big problem among many big problems: Fish like salmon need to return to fresh water streams and lakes to breed... they're not going to stay in the cage for their entire lives (not that the fish really know that). Secondly, very few sharks are as large as Jaws and they certainly don't generally prey on the sorts of fish you seem to want to protect. Perhaps you should also cover the top of the cage as well...

Big problem 2: Sharks and other large sea mammals or fish are an important part of the ecosystem, removing them will have unforeseen effects on the population in the cage... and not all positive for the inhabitants.

Big problem 3: Are you trying to protect anchovies and sardines? I don't think they're in any danger of becoming extinct

Big problem 4: The fish you mention (let's include other big fish like cod) are already apex predators in the environment (apart from the occasional bird or mammal or shark)

Big problem 5: Most (wild) fish don't normally stay in one place in the duration of their life... many follow seasonal migrational patterns and will move in and out of the area of that cage in no time. You wouldn't build a cage to protect Monarch butterflies and similarly wouldn't do so for most fish.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

^ The fish as I have already said can get in and out of the cage, if salmon wanna swim to fresh water then there is nothing stopping them. It's only the larger predators like sharks and whales and whatever other ones there are that can't.

Also this whole idea that it will destroy the ecosystem is beyond sanity, this cage doesn't engulf the entire ocean, there are billions of fish throughout the entire Atlantic, this cage may be big but it ain't THAT big that it would cut the sharks & whales entire food supply off.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

Krafft Ehricke proposed the use of "BioSoletta" orbital reflectors to raise the temperature and thus upwelling rates of arctic and antarctic waters for increased seafood production in his 1979 Acta Astronautica paper, Space Light: Space Industrial Enhancement of the Solar Option. I suspect that launching an entire constellation of those babies would amount to only a fraction of the cost of even one of your..... things.

TGT

 

[Scout101]

so, the result isn't to increase fish population, but to kill off sharks and whales?

And you realize that some sharks are small enough to be in the same size range as the fish you're protecting, so they'll just be gorging themselves, right?

And if the fish realize it's safer for some reason in the cage, you WILL destroy the ecosystem. That area will be stripped clean with all the fish feeding in that area alone. Plus all the rest of the areas that depend on fish as part of the circle of life, so to speak, will suffer immediately as well.

Massive, expensive project with no discernable value added, really. Money would be much better spent breeding up stocks in hatcheries, and then releasing them into the ocean, if you want to increase populations. Or investing in a lot of artificial reefs, which would provide habitats for plenty of fish without the whole silly "supercage" idea...

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Many of the predator species have fry that are just as small as the species the OP is looking to protect with this barrier. This would not work without some management process in action to keep undesirables from entering the farm.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

so, the result isn't to increase fish population, but to kill off sharks and whales?

And you realize that some sharks are small enough to be in the same size range as the fish you're protecting, so they'll just be gorging themselves, right?

And if the fish realize it's safer for some reason in the cage, you WILL destroy the ecosystem. That area will be stripped clean with all the fish feeding in that area alone. Plus all the rest of the areas that depend on fish as part of the circle of life, so to speak, will suffer immediately as well.

Massive, expensive project with no discernable value added, really. Money would be much better spent breeding up stocks in hatcheries, and then releasing them into the ocean, if you want to increase populations. Or investing in a lot of artificial reefs, which would provide habitats for plenty of fish without the whole silly "supercage" idea...

You're under the false impression that the entire oceans fish are going to be in it, they aren't. The same amount of fish in that section of the ocean will be the same with or without the cage. The cage is merely protecting that are. That area will be safe for the fish to breed and lay eggs but when those fish hatch there's no reason why they'd stay within the cage, they're not intelligent, they won't understand the cage is protecting them.
It would make no difference at all to the food levels for the sharks and whales, if anything it would increase the food for the sharks and whales because the cage is a safe breeding ground which will increase fish levels.

You're taking the word cage and assuming it's like a cage a lion is in, stopping them from getting out. That's not the case, it's a two way system.

 

[Scout101]

Many of those fish actively feed on the OTHER fish that would be in the cage, though. Sharks aren't the only thing eating fish. And if the bigger fish see that there are a TON of smaller fish and/or eggs around, why would they ever leave? massive supply of unprotected food!

They may not be writing books on astrophysics, but many of the fish are going to figure out over time that inside is safer than outside (especially if the predators just hang out outside, waiting for fat dumb fish to come out and feed on), so they'll stay inside.

That your cage is about the size of Ireland is another issue.

Really sounds like you just want to create a hatchery, but are going about it in a massively complicated and expensive manner, instead of just breeding up the fish stocks in tanks on land and releasing them into the ocean when they develop...

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Many of those fish actively feed on the OTHER fish that would be in the cage, though. Sharks aren't the only thing eating fish.

Yes, but the predator population won't increase, it will decrease as the number of predators capable of getting in fall. Just look how much fish a whale eats. Thousands of fish lives will be saved.

And if the bigger fish see that there are a TON of smaller fish and/or eggs around, why would they ever leave? massive supply of unprotected food!

If by bigger fish you mean the few who can actually make it into the cage, it makes no difference, like I said the cage works two ways!!! there's an in and out. The fish are no more in danger than they would be without the cage. They are less in danger because the predator population is LESS.

They may not be writing books on astrophysics, but many of the fish are going to figure out over time that inside is safer than outside (especially if the predators just hang out outside, waiting for fat dumb fish to come out and feed on), so they'll stay inside.

Dear lord. You're giving fish far too much credit. Their memory alone probably only lasts a few minutes. Bwahahahha.