Summary
Fish farming is too often characterized in a negative light. Without fish farming, the world's oceans would be devoid of fish. The development of alternatives for fishmeal and fish oil as feed ingredients will make fish farming sustainable and further reduce risks of human exposure to organic and heavy metal residues.
Analysis
Contrary to some popular beliefs, fish farming was not invented to plunder the environment. Indeed, fish farming is designed specifically to relieve pressure on natural fish stocks, and save them from overfishing and decimation. As precarious as the position is for some wild fish stocks today, their situation would be many times worse without fish farming.
As world population and demand for fish grow, fish farming necessarily must step in to fill an ever-widening void between demand and supplies from the wild. The "hunting and gathering" mentality is obsolete and can no longer be relied upon to satisfy our needs.
The demand by the fish farming industry for fishmeal and fish oil as feed ingredients is often cited as a key reason why fish farming "doesn't work." These critics, however, fail to mention a key point.
Since 1980, aquaculture production has grown steadily and vigorously, while annual production of fishmeal has remained stable at 5.3-7.7 million metric tons. Most notably, fish are far more efficient at converting feed to flesh than terrestrial consumers of fishmeal. Chickens, swine, cattle, and waterfowl--given their metabolic need to produce body heat--place a much higher per unit demand on fishmeal than farmed fish.
Finally, alternatives and replacements for fishmeal and fish oil are either already in use within the fish farming industry or on the drawing board. The development and use of alternatives will continue to grow, thereby reducing overall demand and minimizing human exposure to organic and heavy metal residues which may be present in fishmeal species.
Fish farming is not perfect. But environmental sustainability and high quality products will continue to be hallmarks of the industry as we move into the future.
