Fish raised in offshore pens, such as these yellowtail at Kona Blue Water Farms near Hawaii, could become a more sustainable source of protein for humans than wild fish or beef.
Image: Masa Ushioda CoolWaterPhoto.com
In Brief
- Meat consumption is rising worldwide, but production involves vast amounts of energy, water and emissions. At the same time, wild fisheries are declining. Aquaculture could become the most sustainable source of protein for humans.
- Fish farming already accounts for half of global seafood production. Most of it is done along coastlines, which creates substantial water pollution.
- Large, offshore pens that are anchored to the seafloor are often cleaner. Those farms, other new forms of aquaculture, and practices that clean up coastal operations could expand aquaculture significantly.
- Questions remain about how sustainable and cost-effective the approaches can be.
More In This Article
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Sidebar
See a Slide Show of Fish Farms
Neil Sims tends his rowdy stock like any devoted farmer. But rather than saddling a horse like the Australian sheep drovers he grew up with, Sims dons a snorkel and mask to wrangle his herd: 480,000 silver fish corralled half a mile off the Kona coast of Hawaii’s Big Island.
Tucked discretely below the waves, Sims’s farm is one of 20 operations worldwide that are trying to take advantage of the earth’s last great agricultural frontier: the ocean. Their offshore locations offer a distinct advantage over the thousands of conventional fish farms—flotillas of pens that hug the coastline. Too often old-style coastal farms, scorned as eyesores and ocean polluters, exude enough fish excrement and food scraps to cloud the calm, shallow waters, triggering harmful algal blooms or snuffing out sea life underneath the pens. At offshore sites such as Kona Blue Water Farms, pollution is not an issue, Sims explains. The seven submerged paddocks, each one as big as a high school gymnasium, are anchored within rapid currents that sweep away the waste, which is quickly diluted to harmless levels in the open waters.
This article was originally published with the title The Blue Food Revolution.
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9 Comments
Add CommentThanks for this article, I really enjoyed it and thought it was an excellent overview of modern aquaculture, and the growing need for it in the near future.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, I thought more could have been said about the salmon farming industry, considering it seems to be the lightning rod of controversy in any discussion about open-ocean aquaculture.
I work for a salmon farming company in B.C. Yes, there is fish waste, but farms are sited in areas where strong tidal currents disperse it and carry it away, much like it works in the Hawaiian farms you describe in the article.
As well, the sea floors under and around farm sites are monitored and tested with underwater robotic cameras and with samples from the surface, and we must follow strict government guidelines for site cleanliness or we cannot stock fish.
Anyone interested in more information about salmon farming in B.C. can visit http://www.bcsalmonfacts.ca or my company's website http://www.mainstreamcanada.com
One other link I would like to add provides some great information about the small fish caught to use as fishmeal and fish oil in aquaculture feed: http://www.iffo.net/default.asp?contentID=730
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFrom the link: "Fish In: Fish Out (FIFO) ratios for aquaculture, are often quoted by critics to imply that aquaculture is wasteful of fish – for example, by saying that the FIFO for salmon is 3:1, indicating that it takes 300 grams of feed fish to produce 100 grams of farmed salmon.
In fact the FIFO for salmon for 2008 is 1.7:1, so it takes 170g of feed fish to produce each 100g of farmed salmon.
Salmon is just one of many farmed species. Looking at the whole of fed aquaculture the FIFO is 0.5:1, which means that global aquaculture used just 50g of wild fish in feed for each 100g of farmed fish and crustaceans produced. Put another way, aquaculture globally is actually producing about twice as much palatable and in-demand farmed seafood as it uses wild fish via fishmeal and fish oil.
It is technically possible to grow high quality salmon using a feed that delivers a 1:1 ratio of wild fish to farmed, by substituting vegetable protein and oils for fish ingredients. The reason fish farmers choose wild fish over vegetables is that the resulting salmon is very high in the essential omega-3 fatty acids that we need for our health. Salmon is a very efficient converter of these essential nutrients from fishmeal and fish oil. If they are fed to land animals we do not reap the same human health benefits."
Excellent reading. Now I can eat farmed fish and not feel so confused about it: Patronise industry and hopefully regulation will improve industry.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn addition to replacing destructive over used land based farming, ocean farming may actually improve the ocean by enrgiching the suroundings with freigted in feeds and waste--- It's a matter of farming well and with ever more and better information.
I don't think you should rush in and start eating farm raised fish just yet---what if, one of those farm raised fish get free and start swimming in the ope ocean? How will that impact wild species? What are those farm raised fish being fed? Will you be getting a daily does of antibiotics from eating farm raised fish? What are the health risks to humans for this new supply?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAren't we just turning an unpredictable catch into a very predictable commodity? Wall Street LOVES this!! - you can now buy stock in fish!! - Oh goodie
What about eating seasonally? Why should we expect to eat something year round? Fish are seasonal- just like produce... If you're eating blueberrie in January you know their not from around here- that's the risk you take in not really knowing where you're food comes from.
SO go ahead eat farm raised- just don't come complaining later that you have some unexplainable health issue or think that we'll feel bad for the risk you took on a food product that really hasn't been very transparent to the public- good luck- this lady chooses to eat what's local, wild caught and in season- no preservatives, anitbiotics- AND YES- my fishermen fish sustainably, don't overfish, and can barely make a living- but I choose to support them over some fish factory on the ocean-
Best- fishlady
Very good article. I know very little of fish farming and it has always been negative. Until now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnderstanding the way fish farms work is just as important as understanding the way any food is produced and distributed.
Once we, as customers, understand the way fish farms work, which farms are the most sustainable, which farms do not use anti-biotics and growth hormones, the better we can make choices regarding what we buy.
Just as more people are becoming aware of how much better organic vegetables and meats are, they will need that same information for the fish farming industry.
Customer demands for organics have been on the rise, as more people become aware of the unhealthful practices of the food industry.
If unhealthful practices can be avoided, or at least mitigated in the fish farming industry through regulation and customer demand, the environment and the people will be better for it.
There is and will be problems with fish farming, as there is in any industry that aims to feed millions. However, the more we know about it, the better we, as customers, can demand the farms be as environmentally friendly as possible.
I may be a bit biased on this subject as I currently make my living as a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska. However, I can honestly say that the negative environmental impacts of inshore salmon fish farming have not been solved buy any stretch of the imagination. Not even close. Off shore facilities have been proposed and they would begin to address some of the environmental concerns but the feasibility of open pens in the middle the pacific during the winter storm season presents a whole host of other problems. Specifically, a huge increase in the risks of escapement.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFurthermore, it wont be small, organic, mom and pop fish farms that start up. It will be huge, expensive operations run by the giant food production companies that have come to dominate meat production world wide. And, inevitably, with a huge infusion of additional fish into the market, fish prices will drop to the point where thousands and thousands of families in Alaska will no longer have a way to making a living. The little guy will get ground beneath the iron wheels of progress once again. Please dont let this happen. Use the power of your economic vote and dont buy farmed salmon. Instead, only buy fish from sustainable wild sources. Its good for the environment, its good for you and yes its good for me too.
Cheers
A fish farm out at sea is a great idea. Dolphins could be trained to round up and control the herd. Whales could be harnessed to pull the plows.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere will be large operations, expensive out by large corporations in food production that came to dominate the global meat production. And, inevitably, with an infusion of large amounts of additional fish market, fish prices are reduced to the point where thousands of families in Alaska no longer afford to make a living.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.whatisguide.net/1230-aquaculture.html
This oceanic agriculture helps to preserve the ecological balance of the earth. http://www.whatisall.com/business-insight/what-is-aquaculture.html
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