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The world now eats more farmed seafood than we eat from the wild ocean. That’s turned farming fish into a massive business, one that American consumers have benefited from. We get the vast majority of our seafood from overseas, at cheap prices — and about half of what we import is farmed. But here in the U.S., we have very few fish farms. Now, though, that might start to change. There are proposals to build massive fish farms in U.S. federal waters. And the Gulf of Mexico is where some of the early action is unfolding. In the first of two episodes on the future of seafood farming in the Gulf, reporter Boyce Upholt explores how the shift from wild-caught to farmed is affecting the connection residents of the region have with the ocean. What will these new, offshore fish farms look like? And how should those who love the Gulf, and want to eat fish in a way that’s healthy for themselves and environment, feel about them?
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