9 Surprising Fish Farming Facts (PHOTOS)

Over 1 billion people across the world rely on fish as their main source of protein, mostly in developing countries. In America, fish consumption is rapidly increasing with the growing awareness of its health benefits. Due to overfishing, over 70% of the world's fish are either fully exploited or depleted. As a result, fish farming, or aquaculture, has quickly stepped up to meet the demands of fish consumption. While there are methods of sustainable and environmentally friendly fish farming, many of the current methods employed are unregulated and can be extremely harmful to the environment.

We've put together 9 surprising facts about fish farming that you may not have known!

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With fish stocks rapidly depleting in the oceans, the industry of fish farming has continued to grow in response. In 2006, Americans ate an average of 16.5 pounds of fish per person, surpassed only by Japan and China. That same year, fish farming accounted for 47% of the world’s fish food supply.

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With fish stocks rapidly depleting in the oceans, the industry of fish farming has continued to grow in response. In 2006, Americans ate an average of 16.5 pounds of fish per person, surpassed only by Japan and China. That same year, fish farming accounted for 47% of the world’s fish food supply.

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Comments

[UltimateLifestyle]

03:36 AM on 04/01/2010

Fascinating - thanks for sharing!

Lara
http://ultimatelifestyleproject.com

[realitytrumpsbull]

01:49 AM on 04/01/2010

This just in: The average american is 15 pounds overweight. Hey, fatty! Find another hobby! LOL

[leajazz]

01:20 AM on 04/01/2010

Chemicals and polultion don't worry me anymore. I dug a huge pond and had it stocked.

[Friction57]

02:42 PM on 04/01/2010

Did the same thing, then added 500 rainbow's, they went from about 8" to about 24" in a little over a year, tasted great, that is until the otters found the pond, took them less than a month to eat everyone of them

[leajazz]

09:45 PM on 04/05/2010

Fric, I don't know much about otters. I live about 2 miles from a good sized river and never had a problem with otters. The only thing that shows up here is a huge crane that bobs along the edge of the pond. I get a big kick out of him the geese and deer.

[AlaskaFish]

12:33 AM on 04/01/2010

Fresh wild salmon, halibut and ling cod that is abundant and caught by independent fishing families. Alaska has some of the best managed fisheries in the world. Investigate for yourself, the health of the stocks come first. Farmed salmon - dyed for you.

[HHUA]

12:43 AM on 04/01/2010

The only kind of fish I will eat (for the last few years) is wild Alaska salmon (give it to my pets too whenever I eat it). I will look into the halibut and cod too... thanks for the info!

[jsarets]

02:19 AM on 04/01/2010

Most species of wild cod are severely over-fished, though.

I prefer to eat at a lower trophic level when it comes to wild fish. Alaskan salmon fisheries are well-managed at the moment, but higher demand will either bring stratospheric prices or unsustainable fishery management.

Sardines, herring, and smelt (tiny cousins of salmon) are my favorite wild fish.

[Balloon-Boy]

12:30 AM on 04/01/2010

Tilapia eats its own waste.

[jsarets]

02:09 AM on 04/01/2010

Just like any other filter feeder. Chickens and cows will also eat their own waste. The key is to have an efficient means of eliminating waste from the tanks at an appropriate rate.

Tilapia are the optimal species for aquaponics, where the water is filtered through hydroponic pebble beds and the waste consumed by plants growing in symbiosis with the fish.

Since the tanks and beds are collocated in greenhouses, photosynthetic bacteria and algae are cultivated in the fish tanks, which can provide a substantial portion of the food required by the fish. Therefore, the amount of external food and water required for the system is minimal.

[rf dude]

11:16 PM on 03/31/2010

'
As long as it tastes like dolphin...

[Jguig]

10:33 PM on 03/31/2010

If people would just stop eating, perhaps we wouldn't have any environmental problems.

[HHUA]

12:44 AM on 04/01/2010

Or maybe if they would just stop breeding!

[shockwave11]

01:58 AM on 04/01/2010

Like your comment.

[pyecat]

09:46 PM on 03/31/2010

learn more about seafood issues here: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_consumers.aspx

[RitaS]

09:03 PM on 03/31/2010

Although I prefer fish over red meat, one of the things that have remained in the back of my mind was from a Dirty Jobs show involving Tilapia fish..... Are they or are they not poo eating fish..... :-)

[katocat]

08:48 PM on 03/31/2010

I would love to own or even work at a fish farm.

I think it's a good thing when it's done right.

[Yatata]

09:52 PM on 03/31/2010

a good thing? they are one of the most ecologically devastating industrial practices you can find. Your statement is like saying "I'd love to own or even work at a mountain top removal mine, or unregulated nuclear waste facility." Only land-based aquaculture is promising, any aquaculture in the ocean is devastating.

[johnbchap]

10:07 PM on 03/31/2010

That was a cat you were responding to - now do you get it?

[siafu]

06:00 PM on 04/01/2010

Well, compared to the devastation being wrought by open-ocean trawlers overfishing our seas, drag nets devastating sea bottoms, and ghost nets collecting in the gyre, fish farming starts to look rather less terrible. The alternative is to make everyone stop eating fish; you may be able to do it in your home or convince your friends, but keep in mind that you then have to do the same for every person in China and Japan and Europe &c. Seems rather unlikely to happen without the catastrophic loss of all sea life forcing the issue.

In theory, it could be done much more effectively and cleanly, but the latter will likely have to wait until open-ocean aquaculture becomes feasible. The biggest problem really is that most fish in farms are fed other fish, basically just worsening the problem of overfishing.

[wdmax]

07:20 PM on 03/31/2010

Everyone needs to do some reading regarding the Earth's carrying capacity... This is just a symptom of a growing problem the human population places on this planet.

More to come...

[Camille21]

12:20 AM on 04/01/2010

someone tell the mormons and that family with 19 kids and counting.

[Friction57]

02:45 PM on 04/01/2010

19 kids? They must not have TV in that town

[eawpd]

06:59 PM on 03/31/2010

Where is the research to support the 'facts?' I followed links from chemicals to antibiotics and ended up looking at irrelevant NY Times articles, yet never got to substance. Although I am aware of issues with fish farming, this did nothing to factually inform.

[tresluv]

08:14 PM on 03/31/2010

It isn't that hard to find facts regarding the appalling pollution, destruction to the marine environment and threats posed to human health, caused by these "factory fish farms".
The websites for organizations like Oceana, Greenpeace, Food and Water Watch, just to name a few, have a lot of factual information.
I believe even the Union of Concerned Scientists has information on their website, you just have to browse around.

[siafu]

07:20 PM on 04/01/2010

Not that hard, but apparently too hard to look up for your response? You can do better than that; this sort of hand-waving is what allows arguments like these to become so emotional and remain unresolved. When there are facts, we should see them, review them, and accept them.

[fleaba]

08:38 PM on 03/31/2010

You don't need effing research, just go work for a fish hatchery in Southeast Alaska. You will learn all you need to know and more. Fish cannot live in captivity like that without a lot of antibiotics.. They get horrific diseases. The list goes on.

[CAIA]

06:58 PM on 03/31/2010

Overfishing is depleting the world’s wild fish stocks. The United Nations predicts a seafood shortage of 40 million tonnes by 2030.

Aquaculture already provides half the world’s seafood, and will play an increasing role in taking pressure off wild stocks.

Donovan’s criticisms of aquaculture don’t account for responsible practices in specific countries. Canadian fish farms are monitored by five government agencies and governed by an extensive framework of 73 pieces of federal and provincial legislation. In short, our sustainability guidelines are second-to-none.

The waste he refers to is actually rich in nutrients, and is closely monitored. Farms are located in well-flushed waters, and fish farmers use fallowing, crop rotation and low stocking densities to limit nutrient pollution. And did you know that Canadian fish farmers use underwater cameras and sensors to detect uneaten feed and adjust feed delivery to the appetite of the fish? Plus, farmed fish commonly grow to maturity without any use of antibiotics.

Canadian feed manufacturers are developing new salmon feeds that are replacing some of the fish-based ingredients with those from sustainable sources such as vegetables. We use an average of 30 percent fish meal and oil in our feed, meaning only 0.5 lb of wild fish meal and oil are needed to grow 1 lb of farmed salmon.

If you’re buying seafood farmed in Canadian waters, you’re getting sustainable product that helps the world’s oceans.

Visit www.Aquaculture.ca.

Ruth Salmon
Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance

[tresluv]

08:19 PM on 03/31/2010

Well that was a great publicity release for the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance, and as full of lies and misrepresentations of the facts as an Exxon-Mobile piece about how oil tanker accidents never happen.

[siafu]

06:03 PM on 04/01/2010

Is this just automatic gainsaying because it doesn't fit your pre-existing worldview, or you can demonstrate in some way that he's actually lying?

[MollW]

01:09 AM on 04/05/2010

I think what CAIA is trying to do, is open up a conversation. It [CAIA] being a representative of the Fish Farming community they are trying to give the other side of the issue at hand.

If you would like some resources, take a look at these regarding fish farming:

Here’s link to the province’s inspection page for fish farms: http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/fisheries/compl/ce_inspectionoffishfarms.htm

Info on waste control from the province: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/industrial/regs/finfish/index.htm

[Denis Ethier]

08:30 PM on 03/31/2010

Hi Ruth,

Just a quick question, you say :
In short, our sustainability guidelines are second-to-none. The first law of sustainbility says : Population growth and/or growth in the rate of consumption of a resource is not sustainable.

Let me know how you incorporate this first law in your guidelines.

Denis

[nspca]

06:48 PM on 03/31/2010

We need to ban fish farming! Somebody tell Al Gore!

[jeremyemilio]

06:15 PM on 03/31/2010

Wow. So nice to see an article that provides some actionable information for once, rather than the typical 'we're all gonna die' hysteria.

Eliminate salmon and shrimp from the diet.

Replace with more tilapia and muscles.

Can do!

[Denis Ethier]

08:32 PM on 03/31/2010

Fantastic, I will be following your advice to the letter. elimate salmon and shrimp from diet will make the planet a better place.

Thanks.

[fleaba]

08:47 PM on 03/31/2010

You people are complete idiots. Bristol Bay Alaska has the largest sockeye salmon run in the world. It is wild salmon and has higher Omega 3s than farmed uh, tilapia. All of Alaskan Salmon fisheries are highly regulated to allow for escapement to insure that there will be plenty of returning salmon.
Educate yourselves...please

[skippyB]

11:04 PM on 03/31/2010

Thank You Alaska!!!
Perhaps he meant farmed salmon and shrimp.

But really, Alaska sets an example for the world.