Aquaculture has been a method of food production for thousands of years, and is a viable method of supplementing wild caught fish in order to feed an ever-growing global population. Recently, studies have indicated that many fish stocks around the world will be extinct within the next fifty years if overfishing continues at its current level, increasing the focus on aquaculture. Traditional inshore aquaculture systems are associated with many negative environmental impacts including eutrophication, disease transmission, and habitat destruction. Advances in aquaculture pen technology, however, have allowed the movement of aquaculture operations into environments previously deemed unusable. The strong currents and wave action associated with the offshore environment actually reduce the overall environmental impact of aquaculture operations making them more sustainable by diluting and dissipating fish wastes.