The Dangers of Fish Farming

The industry of fish farming is one of the fastest-growing kinds of agriculture in the 21st century, with a growth rate around three times faster than land-based animal agriculture. Fish farming is the process of enclosing fish within netted or metal cages in indoor- or ocean-based locations for rearing and growth before they are slaughtered for consumption. The dangers of fish farming include overcrowding, injury and disease.

  1. Industry

    • Fish, or aqua, farming is a profitable industry for those who breed and rear healthy fish for human consumption. The use of fish as a food source is growing as fish are seen as part of a healthy diet because of their low calorie and cholesterol rate and their high percentage of protein. Fish farming can be profitable because fish convert a high percentage of their food into body tissue; around 70 percent of food is turned into tissue. The percentage of a fish that can be used for products can be as high as around 60 percent of the body of the fish.

    Injury

    • Fish farming dangers include overcrowding of small netted enclosures leading to a high incidence of disease and infection within fish farms. The majority of fish farmed for consumption are carnivorous, with larger fish within a farm often eating smaller fish. Fish are sorted by size to avoid the problems of larger fish bullying the smaller by pumping them through a series of grates and segmented filters to keep similarly-sized fish in pens together. The danger of these sorting procedures is the damage caused to fish as they pass through each segment; damage may include damaged scales that can restrict the ability of each fish to fight infection. Fish farmed for consumption can also be affected by overcrowding,which may lead to lice infections that can eat away areas of their faces and bodies. Other parasites can also breed in overcrowded fish farms resulting in sores and loss of scales that protect each fish from infection.

    Modification

    • The breeding behavior and growth rates of fish are also altered by fish farmers through the application of drugs and genetic modification. Noncarnivorous species of fish can have their diets altered by fish farmers attempting to increase growth rates by feeding fish oil and fish meal that is not part of the natural diet of a noncarnivorous species. Other dangers of fish farming include the large amount of ocean-caught fish that are required to feed a small percentage of farm-raised species. Farm-raised salmon and sea bass require up to 5 lbs. of ocean-caught fish to be consumed to return around 1 lb. of marketable fish.

    Contamination

    • Where aqua farms are created in ocean and river environments dangerous contaminants can be released into waters containing wild species of fish. Excrement that collects in fish farm pens and cages can be released in large quantities into waters used by wild fish and other aquatic species. There are no regulations within the U.S. in 2011 that require the owners of fish farms to treat their stock of fish humanely.