Demand for fish grows while oceans give everything they can

The aquaculture has been the fastest growing food sector in the world for decades, and now people eat more fish from fish farms than wild fish.

The industry has had to grow. The demand for seafood products is increasing and will continue with that trend. But the oceans are already giving everything they can: wild fish production has remained stable since about 1990.

Fish farming and shellfish production typically generates far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the production of beef and other animal proteins, but aquaculture can also cause serious environmental problems.

And as it has grown, the problems of large-scale aquaculture have grown with it. Many are problems similar to those faced by massive chicken, pork and cattle operations: farms and their waste can degrade and contaminate nearby ecosystems, diseases can spread quickly among crowded fish, and harvesting feed for animals can cause environmental problems in distant places.

Facing harsh criticism and stricter regulations—and eager to meet demand—fish farmers are experimenting with new ways to boost production and minimize damage.

Aquaculture villages in Indonesia

Indonesia’s rise to become the world’s third largest producer of seafood in aquaculture farms brought destruction to nearby coasts. Mangroves, which protect the coast and act as nurseries for a large number of aquatic species, were devastated.

Basins contaminated with untreated waste. Massive fish die-offs have shaken local economies.

“Every year we faced the same problem, especially when the seasons changed,” said Jono, an aquaculture farmer who, like many Indonesians, only uses one name. “We had a lot of dead fish.”

Jono was trained as part of a broader Indonesian government plan that will establish more than 100 “villages” of aquaculture throughout the country, designed to reduce the impact of fish farming and expand production.

He has learned how to better prevent and treat diseases, new feeding techniques, improved pond construction and proper waste disposal.

“Before we used to harvest every eight or nine months; now it can be every four or five months“, said.

China takes fish farming to the sea

China, by far the world’s largest aquaculture producer, is also trying to reduce the environmental impacts of fish farming. One way: take it out to sea, where currents provide clean water and debris can dissipate quickly.

Two kilometers (1.2 miles) off the coast of Yantai City in northeast China, there are three 80-meter (260-foot) wide round cages beneath the sea surface.

Sea bream, sea bream and other fish swim inside mesh made of lightweight, durable plastic that can withstand extreme weather conditions and keep barnacles at bay.

The facility’s platform is equipped with a monitoring system that constantly measures water temperature and quality, as well as oxygen levels, said Zhang Zhuangzhi, who is in charge of fish farming at Shandong Ocean Harvest Corporation. who manages the operation.

Until now, costs and technical challenges have held back widespread adoption of this system.

Salmon fishery in a Florida warehouse

In a warehouse near Miami, there are large indoor tanks designed to mimic the salmon’s natural environment, setting the right temperature, correct salinity, and precise lighting.

The idea: grow salmon indoors to reduce their exposure to parasites, warming waters and algae blooms that threaten fish farmed in open waters near the coast, while reducing the fish’s impact on this.

The technology “eliminates some of the disadvantages you might have in nature”said Damien Claire, director of sales and marketing at Atlantic Sapphire, the parent company of Bluehouse Salmon.

Claire explained that the company does not need to vaccinate or medicate its salmon, and has reduced the fish mortality rate to approximately 3%a much lower percentage than the industry average, which is twenty%.

Raising fish in an indoor, strictly controlled environment has also generated other benefits, he noted. The company produces about 3 million salmon a year, and eventually hopes to produce 65 million.

It’s a promising model, but it’s not easy to imitate because the system relies on a rare feature of the groundwater near the warehouse location: Salmon need both fresh and salt water, and both are found nearby.

French fly factory

When farmed fish are fed wild-caught fish such as sardines and anchovies, one of the farms’ main benefits—placing less stress on ocean ecosystems—can evaporate.

At Innovafeed, based in France, protein-rich black soldier flies are raised as a food alternative.

The company chose this fly for three main reasons: it doesn’t get sick, it eats almost anything, and it has a short life cycle that allows it to be raised and harvested quickly.

“There is a joke that says that the larvae of the black soldier fly eat everything, except concrete and steel,” said Nizar El Alami, business director of Innovafeed.

Protein from the company’s flies is used to feed salmon, sea bream, shrimp and other species raised by food producers in Europe, the Americas and Southeast Asia, according to Alex Diana, product manager at Innovafeed. The company has two factories and plans to have 10 more by 2030, which will produce insect proteins for fish, chicken and even pets.

“We are trying to reproduce what happens in nature, but on an industrial scale,” said. “We are trying to minimize the impact of the food chain on the planet’s resources”