the very purpose for aquaponics, vermiponics, bio or veggiponics is for that very reason; to conserve resources and produce food.
numerous countries have already turned to alternative sources, the USA may well be the last in line to adapt; it certainly is in the world being "green".

back to your eel; most folks do not realize that fish do have a fair level of intelligence and can be conditioned or trained to do a lot of different tricks, work mazes, etc. The T. Mozambique is one of the smartest, behavior studies were performed at a university here in CA in the late 60"s for a graduate students doctorate. i was fortunate enough to get one of the pairs from the study in 1970. They did drive me nuts trying to ring bells for food or attention.