KAMPERLAND, Netherlands — Adri Bout trawled Dutch waters for 25 years until he recognized the ocean's limits. Now he raises 100 tons of turbot a year in a unique high-rise tank that has overcome some of farmed fishing's most persistent problems.
"I knew 20 years ago there is an end. When you keep fishing like this, the North Sea will be empty," he says.
When he started out, Bout knew nothing about aquaculture.
Turning to neighbors and books for advice, he ran into headaches that plague enclosed farms like his: The fish suffered disease epidemics, he spent a fortune on energy to pump and heat water in his tanks, and he had to dispose of the fish waste without befouling the surrounding area.
"We did everything by the book. But the books were wrong," he said.
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