Change for Aquaculture Industry: Vancouver Courier

With the catch of wild fish in decline, consumers turn to farmed seafood. “Aquaculture is already a $244-billion industry … and is the fastest-growing sector in the global food industry,” notes a new Nature Conservancy and Encourage Capital report, as reported by Nelson Bennett for the Vancouver Courier. The planet has limited food-production capabilities, and a growing population cannot rely on wild-caught fish: “60 per cent of the world’s wild-capture fisheries are harvested at their maximum sustainable levels, and 33 per cent are overfished. Climate change already appears to have hurt some wild fisheries – southern range Pacific salmon being one of them.” New high-cost aquaculture technologies include large open-ocean farms that minimize contact between wild and penned fish, preventing the spread of disease and pests like sea lice. Norway built the world’s first open-ocean salmon farm, about 40 kilometers off the coast, at a cost of $300 million. Environmental groups oppose fish farming due to pollution and habitat impacts, and Canada has imposed a moratorium on new farms. Still, the report suggests that aquaculture is efficient and sustainable, requiring limited land while providing top nutritiion. New technologies do not require aquaculture facilities to be located in traditional fishing communities and could bring the farms closer to markets. – YaleGlobal