By John Roach 250-foot tall wind towers at sea would generate electricity for 10,000 customers. Forget about the ranchers who settled the American West. A Cape Cod, Mass., man has plans for a ranch out on the ocean that would both provide food and harness the wind for energy. The concept is to construct a platform out in the ocean where 250-foot high wind towers would generate electricity for 10,000 customers and native fish species would be raised in giant pens, supplying a growing demand for marine foods.
Environmentalists are opposed to fish farms because they pollute and spread disease.
The proposal weds two seemingly environmentally benign industries in a world grappling with the issues of global climate change as a result of human dependence on fossil fuels and severely depleted ocean fisheries. Nevertheless, wind towers and fish farms are unsightly contraptions that nobody really wants to look at, said Braginton-Smith. Environmentalists are also opposed to fish farms because of the pollution and spread of disease associated with the high-concentration of fish feces, as well as a fear that genetically altered strains of fish could escape from the pens and mix with the natural species.