In many regions of the Earth, overfishing is a fact of life.  For some, it may even be a way of life because of many factors, the two most notable of which are ignorance and indifference of its environmental impact for the sake of survival and commerce.

No matter the reason behind overfishing, we cannot deny that we are suffering from its effects, again, in survival and economic terms.  For one thing, the economies of fishing villages have suffered because of overfishing, thus, leading to increased incidence of declining wealth and health.  For another thing, marine biodiversity is adversely and severely affected and that cannot be good for the planet we live in.

The Good News of Aquaculture

Fortunately, the science and art of aquaculture has come to the rescue of modern mankind.  Aquaculture is defined as the farming of saltwater and freshwater organisms under controlled conditions like onshore and offshore pens and ponds.  Take note, however, that aquaculture was first developed in China thousands of years ago and it is just sad that it is only in recent years that it has come to the attention of food producers and environmentalists alike.

The good news about aquaculture is that it has considerably lessened the pressure on the stocks of wild fishes.  In fact, aquaculture supplies about one-half of the total fish and shellfish consumed by humans for 2009.  You can only imagine the tens of millions of fishes and shellfishes produced this year and in the coming years.

The Bad News of Aquaculture

Unfortunately, despite the contributions of aquaculture to food production and to marine protection, it is still insufficient to sustain marine biodiversity.  Keep in mind that we still secure the other half of our marine food from wild stocks, which means that some highly-valued fishes are still in danger of either becoming endangered or near-extinction.

Then there is the matter of the negative environmental impact that aquaculture still exerts on our seas and lands.  These include but are sadly not limited to the following:

* The aquaculture-raised fishes must be feed with fishmeal that, unfortunately, impacts negatively on the environment.  Consider this: It takes about 5 pounds of wild fish stocks to make a single pound of farmed salmon.

* The antibiotics used to control growth and the chemicals added to fishmeal have caused concern in the acceleration of bacterial resistance among the fish stocks themselves and in humans.

* The habitats of aqua farms are in themselves invasive, hence, can cause environmental damage especially in sensitive areas.  And the negative effects also spread to the adjoining lands and seas of the aqua farms, again, due to the very nature of environmental co-dependence.

* The algae blooms that inevitably develop in areas filled with fish wastes and fishmeal can decrease oxygen availability especially towards downstream areas.  Again, wild fish stocks will become unwitting victims.

* The transportation of various farmed fishes to other areas in itself exerts a carbon footprint that needs to be looked into.

The bottom line is not to make more aquafarms since it will only aggravate the already perilous environmental situation.  Instead, we should strive to control our appetite for more food that only leads to more wastes, grow our own food in backyard gardens, pressure companies to adopt more eco-friendly production methods, and just strive to be as eco-friendly as possible.

Photo by: Olga Lyubkina -
Fotolia