Local fishing advocates are split over whether a federal push to encourage fish farming in American waters would help recovering stocks or would be an environmental and navigational danger.

A bill in Congress would make it easier to start fish farms by creating a streamlined permitting process in federal waters, which stretch from 3 to 200 miles offshore, though it would allow the adjoining coastal state veto power over any proposal 12 miles or closer to its shores.

Fish farms, or aquaculture, are large areas of ocean, usually measured in square miles, fenced in with barges and containing underwater tubular or conical nets that keep fish in one location.

Some in Gloucester are concerned that having a high number of fish penned in one area will create environmental problems for the wild aquatic population.

"There are problems with mixing with the wild, with waste and antibiotics, and all these things that might have resulted in a negative impact," said Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association.

However, Michael Linquata Sr., president of the Gloucester House Restaurant, said aquaculture is a way to end a large trade imbalance that finds the United States importing much of its seafood.

"It could create a tremendous amount of employment in the fisheries locally," he said. "If we did it seriously, we could produce as much from aquaculture in the near future as we did from the wild fish 50 years ago. We could probably equal the tonnage."

Fish farms placed offshore in areas with a slight current, and nets that end about 25 feet above the ocean floor, could provide a flushing system for the waste, Linquata said. Plankton, shrimp and smaller fish would feed on the waste and provide forage food for larger wild fish in the area as well.

"It's inshore waters where you have the problems, the waste release, they get sea lice, parasites," said Gloucester's Vito Calomo, executive director of the Massachusetts Fisheries Recovery Commission. "If you get out there far enough, and you have the deep water where cleansing can take place from the currents running through the pens, the chance of disease is far less as long as you don't overcrowd."

Twelve different salmon farms in Cobscook Bay, Maine, were struck in 1999 and 2001 with the infectious salmon anemia virus, which is harmless to humans, but causes hemorrhaging in the kidneys and other organs, protruding eyes, pale gills and a swelling of the spleen in salmon. The virus is transmitted by direct contact with an infected fish, contact with equipment that touched an infected fish and contact with humans that touched an infected fish and infected sea lice.

About half of Maine's 800 acres of salmon pens are located in Cobscook Bay, near the Canadian border.

Aquaculture could also provide jobs for fishermen displaced by strict federal regulations limiting the amount of time they may spend at sea.

The bill, introduced in Congress last month, would give the Department of Commerce the power to issue 20-year permits for aquaculture proposals in federal waters. Companies proposing the projects would have to issue bonds or other financial guarantees that they would remove the farms once operations are finished.

Citing the environmental concerns, the bill also gives adjacent coastal states a veto over projects that are 12 miles or closer to shore.

About $4 million would be appropriated to get the permitting process moving.

Aquaculture is a $70 billion business globally, about $1 billion in the United States, and provides about half the seafood eaten. About 70 percent of seafood consumed domestically is farm-raised and imported, Gutierrez said. Farming saltwater species such as salmon and shrimp is common in Canada, China and Scotland, and much of their harvest is sold to American consumers.

There is a salmon farm off the coast of Maine, and Massachusetts has many shellfish farms around Cape Cod and the islands that produce quahogs and cherrystone clams. In the U.S., much of the domestic farm-raised fish are freshwater species, such as catfish and tilapia.

Melissa Wagoner, a spokesman for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said Kennedy is reviewing the draft bill and how it might impact the health and sustainability of the state's fishery.

In the late 1980s, Linquata attempted two aquaculture projects to raise salmon about 50 miles offshore. He said he had investors and portions of his own money, totaling about $200,000, along with permits ready to go before the proposals were killed when the U.S. Navy rejected the locations because they were in submarine test areas.

"The whole process is skewed against anyone who wants to get into that business," Linquata said.

Sanfilippo said the Fishermen's Wives Association opposed the projects, ending an alliance they shared on many fishing-industry issues.

"We felt very strongly that after the first nor'easter, this would be all over the place," Sanfilippo said.

Linquata is skeptical the bill will change much. Local fishermen, many of whom are against aquaculture, would pressure state governments to veto proposals 12 miles or closer, and a $4 million starting package is "not a commitment at all."

"You can't even build a building with $4 million. It's a farce," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The pros and cons

Aquaculture, or fish farms, are pens to raise fish for food.

Pros#Cons

* Relief for wild stocks#r Potential spread of disease and sea lice

* Less reliance on imports# r Potential environmental problems with waste and antibiotics

* Job creation#r Potential navigation hazard

What the bill entails

A bill was introduced in Congress last month to create a permitting process for aquaculture projects in federal waters, which stretch from 3 to 200 miles offshore. It would:

* Allow the U.S. Department of Commerce to issue 20-year permits for aquaculture facilities in federal waters

* Give adjacent coastal states a veto over projects within 12 miles of shore

* Require companies proposing aquaculture projects to post bonds or other financial guarantees that they will remove the farms when operations end.

* Appropriate $4 million to start the permitting process