Can fish be trained to associate a bell with food? Well, the Army Corps of Engineers (after being sued by a national consumer advocacy group) has been given the okay today by a U.S. District Court Judge to go ahead and find out.

The Corps plans to install an “Aquadome” – a fish cage shaped liked a geodesic dome - on the floor of Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts, and fill it with 5,000 black sea bass. During each feeding of the sea bass, a tone will be broadcast. Researchers are hoping that once the Aquadome is removed, the farmed fish will return to the same location upon hearing the tone – with their new, hungry and trainable wild fish friends.

Um, why do we want Pavlovian fish? Because predictable concentrations of fish will make industrial scoop-and-run fishing much more efficient. (I mean, you don’t think Bob and his shrimp boat are going to invest in a geodesic dome and underwater stereo-system, do you?)

Good lord. Why don’t we spend our tax dollars on marine habitat restoration to increase overall fish populations naturally, instead of trying to vacuum up the last few with a bell?

Via Cape Cod Times

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by wesley bruce, July 17, 2008

It's been done successfully in Japan. The fish come to the chow bell routinely. The Japs just used a buoy, no complex dome needed. Someone needs to tell the Army Corps of Engineers their not on 'Planet America'. The need to do their homework and stop reinventing the wheel.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment