"If Neil Anthony Sims gets his way, he'll make history by opening a fish farm 40 miles off of Florida's west coast, where his company will begin raising 20,000 almaco jack fingerlings in a floating pen 130 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

While aquaculture in state-controlled marine waters is nothing new, Sims' Velella Epsilon project would be the first of its kind in federal waters that extend between 3 and 200 miles off the coast.

If he can line up all the necessary permits for the pilot project by early this year, Sims said, he'll have the fish in the water by July or August."

Rob Hotakainen reports for Greenwire January 27, 2020. [2]