Zohar's team conducts sea bream research in an old converted warehouse in Fells Point, just a splash from Baltimore Harbor. The contained system of filtered and recycled water, however, discharges no waste into the harbor or bay. The resulting novel aquaculture technology is very suitable for commercial warehouse space in Baltimore's empowerment zones, says Zohar. In contrast, he notes, conventional aquaculture of fish in net pens in open waters or in earthen ponds is becoming more and more difficult in the United States as a result of increased state and federal regulations and site approval processes. While Greece, Spain, Italy, Israel and other nations have been raising sea bream in ocean net pens for many years, Harvey points out.
Sea bream grown in indoor tanks eliminates a definite set of things to worry about.
And Baltimore is perfectly situated to prime urban aquaculture of marine species. He notes that producing sea bream will add a white-fleshed marine species with name recognition to the market. I think the economic potential is very high. The beauty of sea bream is that we are not starting with a wild species. It has been domesticated for years in other countries with genetic improvement in captivity.