Fish farming is a form of aquaculture which involves raising fish from birth until they can be harvested for human consumption. Fish farms, like real farms, can range wildly between highly sustainable and unsustainable ones. Additionally, just like regular farms, the added nutritional supplements and hormones which some farmers feed their fish has caused concern about the safety of farm-raised fish. Similarly, farmers often use fortified fish feeds which causes farm-raised fish to be lower in omega-3s and contain more saturated fats. Poorly run fish farms also have negative environmental impacts because of the highly contained amounts of fish waste the farms produce. This waste then sinks to the bottom of the fishes’ body of water creating large patches of fish waste on the watershed floor. All of these concerns would be eliminated if the fish-farming industry were revamped with broader regulations or more transparency, but that seems like a far-fetched idea when you realize 65% of fish farms are poorly run and highly unsustainable.
All that being said, we still need fish farms. As the human population grows, we’ll need more sources of protein and although in an ideal world we may all go vegan, the chances of that occurring are near zero. Similarly, current meat raising practices are highly unsustainable. As shown by the high volume of water (8000 liters) and feed (8-9 pounds) needed to produce 1 pound of beef. On the flip side, fish require substantially less water and require only one pound of feed per pound of fish produced. Additionally, the demand for fish is massive, and catching enough to meet that growing demand could not be sustainably accomplished. Thereby, fish farming really is one of the only possible options.
Unfortunately, as discussed earlier, fish farming as it stands is not particularly great. However, like with most other industries, it's one that could easily become more sustainable with a few adjustments. For example, current fisheries are land-based, and simply turning to open-ocean farming would alleviate the environmental impacts of fish waste because the ocean rapids would prevent the waste from gathering. Another option for sustainable fish-farming would be that fish farmers avoid cultivating fish species as one giant monoculture; rather, the fish could be raised in tandem with other species. This approach would cause an integrated farming system and is most commonly seen when carp is used in rice paddies to consume the phytoplankton in the fields. However, this sort of system could be integrated in duck, chicken, or pig farming. An even better option might be to integrate the waste from fish into more conventional farms (i.e. on ground) as a new sort of fertilizer.
In summary, fish farming as it stands today is largely unsustainable, but it could be fixed. The biggest issue with fish farming is it’s lack of transparency. If governments and farmers increased their communication (both with each other and the public) the industry could be pushed towards a greener future. It’s not impossible to imagine a world where fish farming alleviates environmental stress rather than continues it, but that future still requires broader focus on the industry.
Image source: https://www.bentoli.com/fish-farming-aquaculture-future/
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