http://www.care2.com/greenliving/12-problems-with-ocean-fish-farming.html
12 Problems with Ocean Fish Farming
Also called open ocean aquaculture or offshore aquaculture, ocean fish farming it is the practice of growing finfish in huge, often over-crowded cages out in open ocean waters. Before any regional or federal plan for ocean fish farming moves forward, we need to better understand how these intensive fish farms affect human health, the economies of local fishing communities, wild fish populations, marine mammals, endangered species, birds, and essential fish habitat.
1. No compensation to the general public for potentially exclusionary use of public resources for private profits: Our U.S. waters and our ocean resources are held in trust by government officials for the American public. Allowing ocean fish farming in our waters would grant private, likely foreign, companies the right to use a public resource–our oceans–for personal financial benefit in a manner that could conflict with, or even completely exclude, others’ existing uses.
2. Problems with competing/conflicting interests: Because ocean fish farming facilities would take up real space in the environment, they could cause conflict of interest problems in areas including fishing grounds and routes to those fishing grounds, vessel traffic lanes, military sites and areas of national security concern, marine reserves, sanctuaries and other protected or fragile areas, and areas of significant multiple use.
3. Economic concerns: Commercial fishermen often lose their jobs when there is farming of the species that they normally catch in the wild. Farming fish can make fish prices go down because farms produce a lot of fish, all the time, consistently flooding the market. Also, companies can charge less for farmed fish, which are produced more cheaply, given expenses of pursuing wild fish like oil, gas and crew time. However, often lower prices and more fish do not mean good quality, or healthy seafood. Recreational fishing could be hurt by ocean fish farming too–charterboats and other for-hire vessels could lose customers because farms take up space and pollute the water and wild fish. Additionally, industry has failed to demonstrate that ocean fish farming is environmentally sustainable, technically possible or financially viable on a commercial scale. Most existing farms require large amounts of funding from the government and/or others to continue operations.
4. Escapes: Ocean fish farming uses cages, net pens, or other containers to hold fish. These structures, even if well-designed and well-built, are subject to complications like severe weather, sharks and other predators, equipment failure, and human error. Fish escapes can jeopardize the recovery of depleted or endangered species and lead to the spread of diseases, breeding with wild populations, and disruption of natural ecosystems.
5. Feed Inefficiency: Farmed fish are often fed wild fish either directly or after being processed into fish meal or oil. These prey fish are a crucial part of the marine ecosystem, serving as food for marine mammals, birds and other larger fish. Feeding wild prey to farmed fish is also inefficient: it can take two to six pounds of wild fish to raise one pound of farmed fish.
6. Habitat Impacts: Dredging, drilling, and other sediment and bottom habitat disturbances like large anchors can cause seagrass and coral die-off, displacement of ocean wildlife, and other potentially significant ecological changes.
7. Species of concern, endangered or threatened species: Growing endangered or threatened species and/or species of concern could be a major problem for their wild counterparts. Because such species are already at a lower level, and an arguably weakened population state, escapement or intentional addition of artificially cultured animals could completely change the integrity of the wild population.
8. Stocking: Often ocean fish farming operations are developed for programs to re-stock natural populations in decline. Cultured animals can look or behave differently than wild ones because of their captive conditions and may even be genetically different because they were raised to grow faster and to be larger. Captive fish might not have the ability to feed, reproduce, and survive in the wild. Intentionally adding cultured animals to wild populations can, over time, change the genetic composition and behavior of natural stocks.
9. Unexpected Environmental Harm and Abandoned/Bankrupt Facilities: Ocean fish farming facilities are often subject to uncontrollable conditions including weather, currents, disease, and human precision. Facility damage by any number of unplanned events (violent weather, hungry predators, human error) could cause a major escape or significant chemical pollution.
10. Use of oil rigs for aquaculture: During violent storms in the Gulf of Mexico in recent years, oil rigs were destroyed and carried miles to shore. Had fish farming facilities existed on these rigs at the time of the storms, there could have been massive releases of captive fish, feed and other pollutants. Remedying such situations would require significant monetary resources that might not be available from the company at the time of the incident.
11. Water Pollution: Fish wastes, excess food, fish escapes, antibiotics, and various chemicals from fish farms can all result in water pollution and harm surrounding habitats by poisoning wildlife and causing other disturbances.
12. Trade problems: Ocean fish farming is unlikely to solve our import problem. Currently, we export about 70 percent of the fish we catch and grow here in the U.S. and import cheaper, often lower quality, seafood products. Fish grown in offshore aquaculture cages would likely follow the current export pattern, and the small quantity of newly farmed fish likely to be kept in this country would not offset the vast amount of fish imported.
Food & Water Watch is an organization dedicated to the belief that the public should be able to count on our government to oversee and protect the quality and safety of food and water. For more information, go to www.foodandwaterwatch.org.
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21 comments
add your comment »I have to agree with Paul P. The bottomline is simply that there's too much demand and insufficient supply. Fish farms stemmed out of a need to meet increasing demand in the first place (basic principle of economics: no demand, no supply). Unless this ever-increasing demand is somehow eliminated - and the only way I can think of that is a major holocaust in which a significant portion of the world's population is exterminated - there will continue to be fish farming. There's no way to solve the inherent problem - the root of the whole issue - that population is just increasing so much more than the world can sustain.
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Before I even heard of these problems with fish farming I refused to buy or eat it. It just makes sense that it is not the best way to solve our fish supply problems. Lets start solving the problems that are causing the fish populations to run out. Stop putting band aids on problems. What we are really doing is creating ways for capitolists to make money. I think it is ok to make money but it must be in a conscious way that does not harm humans, animals or the earth. We have adopted a society that always wants to take the easy way out. Well we are taking the easy way out that is going to end in a trashed environment. Check the package. Don't buy it if it has been farmed.
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Imagine hundreds of fish squeezed into a small fish bowl. That's what ocean farming looks like. Add to the fact that they eat artificial fish food. How could such fish be nutritious?
Salmons that are fish-farmed are no longer healthy. And there's also mercury-laden wild fish! Alternate omega-3 oils: consider krill oil
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Let's not forget the fish lice ! Farm fish are usually covered with this parasite.
The bottom line is: With the world population approaching 7 billion, there is just too many humans devouring other species at ever increasing rate. I am afraid that those of us who care about this planet are a minority.
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continued. I used to live in the Keys and during the 10 years I was there the reefs and estuaries degraded so much that National Geographic did a special on the dying of our living reef in John Pennecamp Park, which, by the way is the only underwater national park in the country. We lived on the boundry of the park and were informed which fish we could catch and how many-I used to joke that they should tatoo the fish that lived in the park to protect them from anglers-fish migrate-they do not stay in one place. Mahi Mahi, Wahoo, Cobia, Jacks, Pompano, Red Snapper, Snook, Sea Trout all travel wide areas to hunt their prey. I have seen Red Snapper, Pompano and Snook removed from restaurant menus because they are too scarce to fish anymore except for sport, Mahi Mahi isn't far behind nor is grouper-one never sees Wahoo or Cobia on menus-they are caught by sport fisherman only. We have been conditionned to eat Tilapia which is touted as being a great bland fish-Tilapia eat the excrement of other fish-mainly some kind higher on the food chain fish so the expensive Tilapia that is sold in restaurants is a fish that was raised on poop and I won't eat it. As for fish farms polluting the oceans-what do you think our sewage outfalls, oil spills, practice of cleaning bilges with chemicals does to the oceans? FIsh farms are cleaner and much less harmful to the environment than fishing boats, tankers, cruise ships or any other vessels,and much cleaner than sewage outfalls.
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Because we have overfished and polluted our reefs and estuaries with our effluents, the only way for fish stocks to increase unfortunately is to either ban fishing of all species outright for a period of years to allow them to reproduce and increase naturally or to farm them. We destroyed their habitat already, the fish that we choose to eat are only a small part of the many species that exist in the oceans of the world. It is possible to farm shrimp-we should-the resulting shrimp would be healthier than their wild counterparts who consume such things as plastic bags or parts of them, human sewage, chemical runoffs-remember, shrimp, lobsters, clams, oysters are near the bottom of the food chain-they eat whatever drifts their way whatever it is and we in turn eat them, as do fish higher on the food chain. Farming such animals as oysters, clams, shrimp, lobsters would not harm present wild populations, it would ensure that the wild populations are left alone to reproduce and restock the reefs where they live. Larger fish are harder to farm because their needs are different-you can't farm tuna because it is a primary preditor and has to swim over large areas-penned up they would die-they are meant to swim the oceans, we could, however farm mullet, possibly grouper, some snappers, but the prime fish are large predators that have to swim free and would not do well in farms. I have lived by the ocean and fished all of my life and I have seen first hand what has happened.
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THanks for this important article, Mel! I understand now the inconvenients of fish farming. I'm not completely convinced though that wild fish catching is less harmful to the environment. I am no vegeterian, but eat a mostly vegeterian diet, thus trying to do my bit towards lessening our impact on our planet's resources while trying to keep a healthy diet. I also try to go for the organic (or "bio") option whenever there is one. I suppose that in all our food producing activities, we need to strive and respect the animals and ecosystems we take from. Reducing our meat and fish intake is one step, favouring organic products yet another one, I believe.
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Yet another inevitable step in human domination over natural world. People should have been wiser 8000 year ago before imprisoning animals and plants for their consumption. Too late. I'm not a vegetarian, but would prefer to eat what comes from a natural source, i.e. had a dignified life before being eaten.
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O-Another boiling kettle, this one is not for vegan either: it's not vegetale.
I had many aquariems and fish need medecine like people. In their naturel habitat if they are sick...they die and they don't get eaten by heahlty, only scavengers. I agree in part with Jeannie-but the problem is also politico-monetare. Ex: a country has a lot of fish=they will sell on the market to the highest bidder...& so Japan for their sushi pays thousand for a good size tuna from anywhere as long as it is fresh frozen. American buy tons of shrimps from Asia=there are no more here commercially. Sharks are killed for theirs fins, shark meat is very good indeed, most are put back out for scavengers. Myself I would only eat raised catfishs or fishes in picisculture. There are a lot of fish that could not survive in a basin...neither should orcas or white whale or dolfpins...for people amusement. Think about it.
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In the 1980's there was an article written in our city's primary newspaper, that had many people up in arms concerning the safe health practices of fish farming. This being the use of Malachite Green to counter disease in farmed fish. As malachite green is a chemical meant to treat ornamental fish only, and is relatively safe and effective in treating such things as the protozoa, "Costia" and "Chilodonella", it has also been used to treat fishes gills that are infected with "Branchiomyces", a gill fungus responsible for gill rot in European cultured fish. Malachite Green is toxic to humans, and this practice was banned..only who regulates exactly what is being used on these farmed fish today? I feel that this mass production of meat, poultry and fish is so obvious of greed that our minds are conveniently being warped into thinking that we have to shovel mass amounts of animal matter into our mouths, when it's really all for the sake of making more money. Is this the newer of animal factories that the media will flood us with, in the name of commerce?
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