The Center on Food Security and the Environment is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
In an editiorial printed in Science magazine, aquaculture specialist Rosamond Naylor comments on the impact of the newly introduced National Offshore Aquaculture bill which establishes a permitting process for offshore aquaculture development within federal waters of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and encourages private investment in aquaculture operations, demonstrations, and research.
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Conference Room
If aquaculture is to play a responsible role in the future of seafood here at home, we must ensure that the "blue revolution" in ocean fish farming does not cause harm to the oceans and the marine life they support. The ratio of wild fisheries inputs to farmed fish output has fallen to 0.63 for the aquaculture sector as a whole but remains as high as 5.0 for Atlantic salmon.
With continued human pressure on marine fisheries and ocean resources,
aquaculture has become one of the most promising avenues for increasing
marine fish production in the future. This review presents recent trends and future
prospects for the aquaculture industry, with particular attention paid to ocean farming
and carnivorous finfish species. The benefits of farming carnivorous fish have been
challenged; extensive research on salmon has shown that farming such fish can have
negative ecological, social, and health impacts on areas and parties vastly separated in
space. Similar research is only beginning for the new carnivorous species farmed or
ranched in marine environments, such as cod, halibut, and bluefin tuna. These fish have
large market potential and are likely to play a defining role in the future direction of the
aquaculture industry.We review the available literature on aquaculture development of
carnivorous finfish species and assess its potential to relieve human pressure on marine
fisheries, many of which have experienced sharp declines.
The depletion of many marine fisheries has created a new impetus to expand seafood production through fish farming, or aquaculture. Marine aquaculture, especially of salmon and shrimp, has grown considerably in the past two decades, and aquaculturists are also beginning to farm other marine species. Production data for salmon and shrimp indicate that farming supplements, rather than substitutes for fishing. Since most farmed marine fish are carnivores, farming them relies on the capture of finite supplies of wild fish for use in fish feeds. As aquaculture is not substituting for wild fisheries, heavy dependence on wild fish inputs is a concern as marine aquaculture grows. Other likely impacts include escapes of farmed fish and large-scale waste discharges from fish farms. A viable future for marine ecosystems will require incorporation of ecological perspectives into polices that integrate fishing, aquaculture, and conservation.
Continued growth in farmed salmon production worldwide--combined with emerging growth in the production of other lucrative farmed finfish species such as bluefin tuna, cod, and halibut--threatens marine ecosystems and heightens the need for sustainable solutions to farming practices. The debate over "whither farmed salmon" remains widely polarized, with environmental groups calling for the complete elimination of marine aquaculture or a move to land-based systems that are economically unviable under current market conditions.
Over the past quarter century, the salmon aquaculture industry has grown rapidly. Price declines caused by the resulting worldwide increase in salmon production have severely impacted the salmon fishing industry, particularly in Alaska. In this paper, we examine the reasons behind the success of farm salmon. In addition to its inherent market advantages, farm salmon has benefitted from a legal structure that limits the ability of the fishing industry to adjust to competition. We look at these fisheries laws and at the impacts of various policy options on the future economic, ecological, and political sustainability of the fishing industry.