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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Dealing with the Aquaculture Dilemma

thinkprogress, 19 June 2011

Not sitting in front of your computer screen with your arm in the air, are you? With the exception of the occasional bit of boar or venison, virtually every piece of meat Americans consume is cultivated for the purpose of being devoured.


Fish, of course, are different. When we tuck into a swordfish steak or halibut filet, we generally expect that it was caught in the open ocean. And yet, the efficiencies of aquaculture—or cultivating freshwater and saltwater fish under controlled conditions—are becoming ever more a part of our seafood diet.

Aquaculture is a divisive topic, pitting those who fear its potential to pollute ocean waters and wild fishes’ gene pools against those who see the possibility of alleviating pressure on traditional fisheries and providing an additional source of protein. Commercial fishermen frequently ally with environmental groups, their typical adversaries, to oppose the practice as one that will create additional competition for their product while potentially compromising the habitat and raising the specter of introducing non-native species to the marine environment that could outcompete their native counterparts.


This is a critical debate because seafood is big business. Americans consumed 4.83 billion pounds of fish in 2009—nearly 16 pounds per person. What’s striking is that 84 percent of that fish was imported, and fully half of our imports were farmed, not wild caught. The reality we must face is that as world population and prosperity increases, so too will the demand for fish, and we won’t be able to meet this demand solely with fish caught in the wild. Aquaculture will have to continue to play a role.

So what are our options to balance the demands of rising populations with aversion to aquaculture?

Full story: thinkprogress