In 2005 the National Sea Grant College Program and other NOAA agencies and the Oceanic Institute of Hawaii sponsored a workshop to identify key factors and parameters needed for ecosystem-based management relative to aquaculture and how aquaculture can contribute to ecological function and better water quality in coastal areas as well as reducing fishing pressure on local fish stocks. The workshop organizers invited 65 experts from Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Chile, Sweden , Malaysia and the US to participate in developing country- based development plans and strategies. Those plans and approaches were developed for each country and may still be available in The World Aquaculture Society library as publication.
Using many of the approaches identified in that meeting in 2005 ,a new company, Indigo Seafood, was started in Palau in 2016 to grow giant clams, a herbivore rabbitfish, a valuable grouper species and a edible marine Algae( Caul erpa). We made some good progress on many fronts and found that the rabbitfish were very good for keeping the cage clean and giant clams were not compromised on the nearby reef and they had the ability to clarify the water . Caulerpa algae settled immediately on the cages at the depth that we kept them. The Aquapod cages performed very well and were the right size for small vessels available on the island. Feed supply, shipping costs and juvenile availability were the greatest challenge and cost areas.