27 September 2009

Aquaculture Boom ~ Scrutinizing Seafarming...

Interesting to read Aquaculture boom under scrutiny: Seafood farming creates concerns and optimism by Juliet Eilperin of the WashPost...
"Although there is still debate about farming’s share of the world fish supply -- the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates it stood at 44.3 percent in 2007, whereas the PNAS study says it will reach over half in a matter of months -- no one questions that aquaculture has grown exponentially as the world’s wild catch has flattened out. In 1970, farmed fish accounted for 6.3 percent of global seafood supply. This trend reflects global urbanization -- studies show that as more people move to cities, they are consuming more seafood -- but it is changing the world’s seascape as well."
The fears surround parasites, second- and third-order effects, the open-loop nature of fish meal trawling, and more. I've written before about ocean ranching and how aquaculture is illustrating the need for much more sophisticated understanding of ecosystems engineering.

2 comments:

Tecolote said...

The aquaculture boom takes relatively clean near shore waters and turns them into a toilet.

As we cascade down declining marine ecosystems that can no longer produce sufficient fish, entrepreneurs have to find new ways to continue to plunder natural capital.

Aquaculture takes all that remains, the so-called "free water," and pollutes it. By ignoring the depreciation of ecosystems, private and national accounts artificially inflate profits. This is fraud.

See: "Swimming in Circles: Aquaculture and the End of Wild Oceans," by Paul Molyneaux

Joost Bonsen said...

Thanks, Paul, for pointing out the many problems. Now, how about contributing something constructive -- the point of my post -- towards solving these issues instead of merely ranting on about the past?

--Joost