The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Fish-farming companies explore use of oil-rig-like platforms:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303887804579503330588540974

Amid growing global demand for food, aquaculture companies aim to be bigger players by investing in new feeding processes and betting on elaborate new farming techniques. By 2016, for instance, SalMar ASA—one of the world's largest salmon producers—will launch a pricey and largely untested offshore fishing platform designed by a longtime oil executive.

… Global output of aquaculture expanded 12-fold between 1980 and 2010 to 60 million tons… Total fish trade, including both fish farming and wild catch, grew to $217.5 billion in 2010 from $71.5 billion in 2004… fish farming accounted for 47% of global fish production, compared to 9% of the stock in 1980, with salmon farmers representing the fastest-growing segment of the industry…

…current farming techniques might be limiting the industry's ability to keep up with demand. Government farming quotas—largely aimed at limiting fish disease and pollution from fish farms—cap the output of companies such as SalMar and Marine Harvest, a Norwegian competitor that ranks as the biggest farmer in the world [#msg-96437824].

…Conventional fish farms essentially consist of a floating ring onto which a net is fastened... Water flow is more limited in these farms than in the open sea, which can lead to problems such as disease and pollution. SalMar's farming platform is one of the few "quantum leaps" on the horizon for addressing these issues...

The offshore farm will resemble a modern-day oil platform. Weighing 5,600 metric tons and standing 220 feet tall, the farming platform would be anchored half submerged far offshore so that water can flow freshly through the community of growing fish.

World population growth and the increasing demand for higher-protein diets make fish farming one of the premiere beneficiaries of The Global Demographic Tailwind. Unfortunately, there aren't many ways to invest in this industry.