The problems associated with fish farming should not dissuade our delegation from supporting the Bush administration's aquaculture bill.

Fish is healthy food; it is better for us than too much red meat. The oceans are near their lower limit in the output of wild fish. More and more, humanity will turn to farmed fish, which already represent 30 percent of the world market.

The aquaculture bill would open up federal waters beyond the three-mile limit. So far, saltwater fish farming in America has been conducted mainly in state waters. In Washington, development has been slow, partly because of opposition by environmentalists and property owners. Moving farther out and using underwater pens could defuse some of these concerns.

Environmentalists are right to worry about disease, escapes and other issues, but not to imply they are insoluble. Much has been learned already — here, and in Canada, Norway, Chile and elsewhere. More will be learned as the industry moves ahead.

The aquaculture bill says the secretary of commerce may issue ocean-farming licenses for 10 years and extend them in five-year increments. It would allow licenses to be traded. It would allow the government to monitor and search the fish pens and to revoke licenses.

The bill has an important concession to state authority: The regulatory law of the nearest state would apply as long as it did not conflict with the federal law.

The bill does not set environmental standards, but requires the agency to set them. Much would depend on how carefully the Commerce Department acted.

Any expansion of aquaculture will be controversial among fishermen, who compete with it. In Alaska, the fishermen have succeeded in making all farming of fin fish illegal — at least in state waters.

But aquaculture is probably not stoppable. If it is stopped here, it will advance in other countries. It is better that Americans learn how to do it, and do it right.