ocean ranching

English

Noun

ocean ranching (uncountable)

1. A type of aquaculture, used mainly in culturing Pacific salmon, wherein juvenile fish are hatched and reared, released to mature in the open ocean, and caught when they return as adults to spawn.
   • 2003, Porter Hoagland et al., “The Optimal Allocation of Ocean Space: Aquaculture and Wild-Harvest Fisheries”, in Marine Resource Economics‎, volume 18, page 132:

     For example, Anderson (1985a) models the interactions between ocean ranching (the hatching and release of smolts of anadromous fish, such as coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), which migrate into ocean waters and later return to be harvested) and commercial fishing.