A paper from the a nonprofit consumer organization, Food & Water Watch, warns that government support for open ocean fish farms is environmentally and economically unsustainable.

The report, Fishy Farms: The Problems with Open Ocean Aquaculture, reacts to moves by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, to promote open ocean aquaculture as a way to reduce the United States' seafood trade deficit and ease pressures on decimated wild marine fish populations.

Tens of thousands of fish in cages have been anchored to the seafloor between three and 200 nautical miles (322 km) off the U.S. coast, thanks to millions in subsidies provided by the U.S. government. The study claims that at one aquaculture facility, each pound of fish sold costs about USD3,000 in taxpayer money to produce.
 
"Despite this substantial financial and political support, open ocean aquaculture has not been shown to be environmentally sustainable, financially viable, or technically possible on a commercial scale," argues Food and Water Watch.

The report warns that open ocean fish farms share the same risks as those closer to shore: pollution from chemical runoff and the threat of inferior farmed fish breeding with wild fish.