More Fish Farms Will Not Protect Our Oceans

Industrial-Sized Fish Farms Will Not Protect Our Oceans

Group Calls On Policymakers to Reject Off Shore Aquaculture

Washington DC – Evidence that ocean ecosystems are threatened should not be used as an excuse to authorize industrial-sized fish farms off our coasts, warned Food & Water Watch today. Increased reliance on open-ocean farming of commercial fish to meet rising consumer demand could further deplete our marine fisheries, the group said.

A recent study in the journal Science predicts that 90% of all wild fish populations will collapse by 2048 due to declining water quality and overall loss of biodiversity in marine ecosystems, among other reasons.

“Fish farming depletes our fisheries even further because every pound of farmed carnivorous fish, like halibut or cod, requires a least three pounds of wild fish to be caught and ground up for feed,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “The study released supports ecosystem based management of fisheries, but what we’ve been offered by policy makers is privatized oceans and industrial-sized fish farms.”

Industrial fish farms rely on heavy doses of antibiotics, chemicals, hormones and fish feeds with known carcinogens, which make it into our food supply and marine environment. Additionally, escaped farmed fish could compete with and spread disease to wild populations. And wild fish are often ground up to feed farmed fish, increasing the pressure on wild populations and actually decreasing the amount of food the oceans provide to people.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) believes such fish farms will help quintuple annual aquaculture production in the U.S. over the next 20 years. To achieve this, however, thousands of fish cages may need to be constructed. Aquaculture cages crammed with tens of thousands of fish generate enormous amounts of waste from excrement and uneaten feed, damaging seafloors and causing harmful algae blooms.

“Americans deserve safe and sustainable seafood, now and for future generations” continued Hauter. “Congress should approach fisheries management with caution, not gusto.”

No matter which political party controls Congress next Wednesday, legislators may take up fisheries and fish-farming policies this fall. Food & Water Watch urges members of Congress to reject single-species management schemes and privatization of our oceans in the form of individual fishing quotas and, instead, develop ecosystem and community based management systems. Congress should also reject proposed legislation that would authorize aquaculture cages anchored to decommissioned offshore oil-rigs.

Last year, the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service announced that Americans ate record amounts of fish for the third year in a row. A few weeks ago, the Harvard School of Public Health recommended that Americans eat even more fish. Policymakers must resist the urge to meet consumer demand by authorizing construction of industrial-sized fish farms off our coasts.

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