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Fish Farming: Harming Oceans While Poisoning People and the Environment

Approximately half of all fish eaten around the world come from industrial fish farms. Farmed fish are typically grown in large tanks, industrial enclosures, sea cages, net pens, or small ponds to produce high yields of fish in short periods of time.

A study produced by the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) predicted that by the year 2030, two-thirds of the global food fish supply will come from fish farming.

While many people within the fish industry say that fish farming is done for sustainability reasons and to not overstress the marine environment of the oceans, there…

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But large-scale aquaculture can have significant environmental consequences. It can take a lot of wild fish to feed certain farmed fish. And when tons of fish are crowded together, they create a lot of waste, which can pollute the ocean. Fish farms can also be breeding grounds for disease. Plus, shrimp farming in Indonesia is at least partly responsible for the region's declining mangrove forests.

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