Aquaculture is the fastest growing food producing sector in the world according to those promoting a fish farmer’s conference in Adelaide this week.
Farm Online have reported that there are 1,000 delegates at the conference and aquaculture is being talked-up with conference organising committee chair, Bruce Zippel, saying, “Many Australian primary producers are looking to supplement their incomes or moving into a more rewarding vocation .. and fish farming is seen as very attractive”.
Aquaculture apparenty provides about 27 percent of total world seafood supply and some experts predict that within 25 years half of the fish we eat will be farmed.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Unfortunately currently Aquaculture (with the possible exclusion of farmed oysters, clams and mussels) has a number of major flaws:
Degradation of the environment –
http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/shrimp.html
Pollution of the environment –
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Oceans/Aquaculture/Salmon/Pollution.asp
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/aqua-ch.htm
Parasite and disease transfers from farmed to wild stock –
http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:U3bnbr0maSMJ:www.puresalmon.org/pdfs/diseases.pdf+fish+farm+parasites+and+disease&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=7
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/problems/aquaculture/parasites_disease/index.cfm
Probably the biggest problem of all; many aquaculture industries depend on an unsustainable harvesting of wild species to be processed into fish meal for the farmed species –
http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:ZPb9mDl9g8AJ:www.esa.org/science/Issues/FileEnglish/issue8.pdf+fish+farms+require+fish+meal&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=12
There is also the risk posed by the escape of proposed farmed GM transgenic stock into the wild-
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:F6LGTksw4BoJ:www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/2217_NOCtestimonyJul2002.pdf+transgenic+fish+farm+escapes&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=2
However this does not mean that there is no potential to improve the sustainability of aquaculture –
http://www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca/rcbtoa/services/aquaculture.html
Dear Lamna
If “Probably the biggest problem of all; many aquaculture industries depend on an unsustainable harvesting of wild species to be processed into fish meal for the farmed species” then there is no problem; unsustainable harvesting of wild species, by definition, means no future supply of fish meal; problem solved.
Blair
This is a bit off topic but as we discuss unsustainable fisheries I have one really crazy story on fisheries from Norway.
Cod is fished in the Barents Sea and you would believe the fish would be filet on the local market.
But no! It is transported to China for fileting and then back again to Scandinavia to be sold on the market in Northern Europe.
Yes, it’s cheaper in this way!
Blair the potential ramifications of “unsustainable harvesting of wild species” are greater than the continued existence of fish farms. Note that you referred to ‘species’, not ‘gross fish biomass’.
“unsustainable harvesting of wild species” may make those species and perhaps even their ecosystems vulnerable to population decline or extinction. There *may* be flow on effects. (We shouldn’t assume we’ll find technological substitutes or remedies).
Fish stocks, species and ecosytems don’t heed market mechanisms or economic logic.
Fish farming as it is practised today is totally unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly.
New ingredients for fodder used in fish farming must be found because an increase in fish farming will lead to a substantial increase in the demand for fish fodder.
Today farmed fish as salmon and cod are fed with herring and capelin.
The farming industry is now trying to substitute these fish with copepod plankton and krill.
It is important that the fish fodder contains the fatty acids in the Omega group.
Even if salmon farmed in Norway today is very tasty it is contaminated according to some scientists and vets and for example Russia has/ had(?) import restrictions on Norwegian salmon due to contamination.
The salmon lives also in very dirty environment in farms.
http://www.ntnu.no/gemini/2002-06e/36-38.htm
I think in the list of barriers to fish farming (all of which terrestial farming has managed successfully for thousands of years) the big one has been missed.
Most of the truly dangerous diseases of man have come through agriculture (eg the current scare over bird flue). When will the first great pandamic disease arise from fish farming ?
i recommend that Australian consultants get onto this bandwagon early. It should be a nice money earner every five to ten years. Scientists could probably get the scare timing nicely aligned with the timing of grant applications.
I think fish farming pandamics has everything going for it to be successful.
Ann
Lamna made a good point that farming the gill feeding shell fish species like oysters, mussels, and clams are quite sustainable. Just need to find calm water with enough currents to carry nutrients to the fish – farmed in cages or on ropes, etc. In Australia the Environmental and health agencies have really made these start up aquaculture ventures jump through hoops. The result is a tightly regulated, high quality, world class product.
Another one starting is farming abalone. This is done in tanks, pumping sea water in, then out. Here, there is some risk if the fish concentrated in the tanks get a disease and the outflow is allowed to go back to the sea. Tank hygene, monitoring, and properly applied outflow controls should handle that.
I have little knowledge of farming fin species. We get wildcatch here.
further to my above post, some more information. The organiser of the Adelaide conference, Bruce Zippel, is an oyster grower.
The problem with abalone is that they are in high demand in the Asian markets. So they bring good money. Poaching wild fish is a problem. The Australian catch is licensed, with limits on minimum size. The Asian market likes small abalone too. Only one smaller species of abalone can legally be taken from the wild, from Western Australia.
A number of abalone divers, as they give up diving (pressure/ear problems) are setting up abaline farms, so that the market for smaller fish can be legally supplied. Hopefully this will eventually take some of the pressure off the wild stock.
Dr Stark (other thread) said 70% of domestic seafood consumption is imported. Meaning Aust? Cos everyone commenting here seems to eat only wild caught fish. Must be all those stupid urban greenies and squid gobbling new Australians eating all the imported stuff.
I’ve eaten farmed fresh oh so fresh seafood in Asia that was larger & tasted far better than alternatives (altho dried seafood always has an interesting texture and taste). There’s a trend towards serving FAKE seafood. not just seafood sticks or fake squid, but fake king prawns (made in prawn shaped moulds w prawn colouring on outside), cooked into dishes. Seen this in a number of countries now. Imagine if you ordered a steak Diane and some fake protein glob shaped & coloured like a steak came out? But it’s ok to fake seafood – most people can’t tell the difference anyway so guess they deserve it and it relieves pressure on fisheries.
NB some seem to assume terrestrial activities as they key focus but there’s an increase in farming tuna etc in cages at sea. Could be direct impacts eg disease, pollution, escaped fish not native to that area, plus impact of catching juveniles to be fattened.
And there’s the matter of having to declare the chemical additives on the ingredients list on retail pacakaging. eg the dye chemicals added to farmed salmon to give the salmon colour they naturally develop in the wild.
Pinxi,
I have heard that the chemical( don’t recall the name right now) that gives salmon the pink colour is harmless, but dunno..
Anyway farmed salmon contains antibiotics and PCBs( the PCBs come from fish pellets)
Thanks Helen for informing me on abalone that seems to be a good seafood choice…
There is also an animal welfare issue connected to fish farming that we ignore, it is especially stressful for fish like cod that is used to migrate great distances to be caged…actually to cage a cod is equivalent to cage an golden eagle, something we tend to forget.
So this shellfish consumption is something I think we should encourage.
Doesn’t matter if it’s harmless, usually harmless or not, still should be declared on label as a food additive if it’s added to the food. The way it works can be considered as a food additive.
You are right Pixie, the labeling system seems quite bad around the whole world.
Just checked out my freezer. My Norwegian salmon isn’t labeled either. I really got a shock. It was farmed in Norway but produced in Thailand according the label. Guess they mean it was filet in Thailand. Bad, bad for a Greenpeacer to eat stuff like this…
U run a FREEZER!??! GASP. surely you can stick yr fish under ice on the window sill? You eat packaged food too? Flesh?!!! Does yr employer know yr on this blog toying with right wingers and rednecks? Next you’ll be running a save the Hummer campaign! I hope yr computer is woven from hemp and corn plastics.
Hey Pinxi,need the damm freezer thanks to global warming, even if I live on the same latitude as southern Greenland…nowadays it’s never colder than -25C in the winter!!!!
A farmed fish, in my example a cod that is caged in a stressfull environment is also more susceptible to diseases. Diseases that affect the fish immune system.
To boost a fish immune system you often give them immunostimulants in the pellets. You really don’t know what mix of chemicals and additives you digest when you eat the farmed fish, but I really don’t know what is good to eat or not, you get those new alarmist reports every day on food!
Pixie, do you know it is forbidden to cook the hummers alive in Italy!!!
Not sure if I want to boost the fish farming industry but I just checked out a Norwegian fishermen’s site and their main news were that the Rolling Stones were giving a concert in the favourite marine biologist town Bergen tonite or tomorrow and the first thing they did were eating Norwegian salmon, probably farmed!
Glad though they didn’t chow a whale beef!!!
Ann – can’t help but smile – need the freezer because of global warming to make things colder, but the freezer uses power and emits CO2 (? if not nuclear or wind generated) and makes things warmer still, which requires a bigger freezer emitting more .. .. is there a positive feeback loop here?? Aussies are using the same logic with air-conditioning and summer temperature/humidity.
Hmmm Luke, there’s 50% chance that my freezer runs on nuclear or hydro power, no emissions, but still not environmental friendly. Really don’t like neither nuclear nor hydro power stations. The hydro power stations are destroying the wild salmons migratory paths.
But to improve my stats – I hardly use the freezer from December to Mars, I can use a box that I can store meat and food in outdoors.
Luke, of course I mean my freezer runs from electricity generated from hydro power or nuclear power stations… this is off topic but just yesterday I read that off shore wind farms can replace some reactors in Sweden, good news. And this was not news from Greenpeace but from a big financial paper…
Ann – fret not – just pointing out the ethical dilemmas for us all.
I think Ann should fret. Her avaiability of hydro and nuclear forces Australia into a very bad position re greenhouse per capita.
If only she could get those hydro and nuclear generating plants shut down Australia would be a good world citizen.
wjnd farms disrupt the flying pathways of birds and insects,set up electromagnet fields in the near sky reduce the energy of winds and are not in your backyard.
My own favourite is wave generated electricity because they would drive all those surfers to get decent god fearing jobs.
I was once impressed by a report of Asian fish farmers suspending lamps over the ponds at night, so harvesting lots of insects as fish food. If these included winged termites (likely in the tropics) this would decrease methane emissions, so pleasing GWTB (Global Warming True Believers). Stink bugs might not be such a good idea. Some Asian carp grow well on grass clippings. How about community fish pond shrines in Australian suburbs, fed by Victa lawn mower worshippers? Just trying to help…
Luke – it’s time lag & certainty. Joe Bloggs can be certain that if he turns on the air-con, he’ll be cool very soon. I like to sweat (glow) instead.
Davey – it’s permaculture farming of fish (poo = N) in yr rice paddies that yr after, you ole hippy you.
quick question, i don’t understand why this is even being discussed if we actually pay the full price for the wild fish we eat then we would not need farms as there would be only a very few people that could afford to eat fish and therefore the demand and need for farmed fish would vanish. i see most of these “enviromental” issues steming from the fact that none of us either in the first or third world, pay the true cost of almost anything that we consume. the sooner we get to paying the true cost the sooner the planet and humanity can start to heal.
ps does anyone really see a difference between drowning a tuna or harpooning a whale?