For the first time, fish farming is more popular than regular fishing

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A new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO, reveals that in 2022, more fish were farmed worldwide than wild-caught, an apparent first.

Last week, FAO published its annual report on the state of aquaculture – which refers to the cultivation of seafood and aquatic plants – and fishing around the world. The organization found that global aquaculture and fisheries production reached a new high – 223.3 million tonnes of animals and plants – in 2022. Of this total, 185.4 million tonnes were aquatic animals and 37.8 million tonnes of algae. Aquaculture was responsible for 51 percent of aquatic animal production in 2022, or 94.4 metric tons.

In many ways, this step was expected, given the world’s insatiable appetite for seafood. Since 1961, seafood consumption has grown twice as fast as the world’s population, according to the FAO. Given that fisheries production levels are not expected to change significantly in the future, meeting the growing global demand for seafood almost certainly requires an increase in aquaculture.

Even though fish production levels fluctuate from year to year, “it’s not like there are new fisheries waiting to be discovered,” said Dave Martin, program director of Sustainable Fisheries Partnerships, an organization international organization that strives to reduce the environmental impact of seafood supply chains. “Any growth in seafood consumption will therefore come from aquaculture. »

But the rise of aquaculture highlights the need to transform seafood systems to minimize their impact on the planet. Aquaculture and fishing – sometimes called capture fisheries because they involve catching wild seafood – have important environmental and climate considerations. Additionally, the two systems are often dependent on each other, making it difficult to isolate their climate impacts.

“There are a lot of overlaps between fishing and aquaculture that the average consumer may not see,” said Dave Love, a research professor at the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University.

Studies have shown that the best diet for the planet East one without animal proteins. However, seafood generally has much lower greenhouse gas emissions than other forms of protein from land animals. And given the reluctance or inability of many people to go vegan, the FAO recommends transforming, adapting and expanding sustainable seafood production to feed the growing global population and improve food security.

But “there are many ways to do aquaculture right, and there are many ways to do it wrong,” Martin said. Aquaculture can lead to nitrogen and phosphorus be released into the natural environment, damaging aquatic ecosystems. Farmed fish can also spread diseases to wild populations, or escape their confines and breed with other species, leading to genetic pollution that can disrupt the fitness of a wild population. Martin points out that diesel fuel used to power equipment on some fish farms is a major source of aquaculture’s environmental impact. According to an analysis by Project Drawdown, a climate solutions nonprofit, replacing fossil fuel-based generators on fish farms with renewable energy hybrids would be avoid 500 to 780 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2050.

Other areas for improvement will vary depending on the specific species grown. In 2012, a UN study found that mangrove forests – a major carbon sink – suffered a lot due to the development of shrimp and fish farming. Today, industry players are exploring how shrimp farmers’ new approaches and techniques can help restore mangroves.

Meanwhile, wild fishing operations present their own environmental problems. For example, poorly managed fisheries can harvest fish faster than wild populations can reproduce, a phenomenon known as overfishing. Certain destructive wild fishing techniques also kill many non-target species, called bycatch, threatening marine biodiversity.

But the line between aquaculture and wild-caught fish is not as clear as it seems. For example, pink salmon raised in hatcheries and then released into the wild to feed, mature and ultimately be caught again is often marketed as “wild-caught”. Lobsters, caught wild in Maine, are often fed with bait by the fisherman to help them gain weight. “It’s a wild fishery,” Love said – but lobster fishermen’s practice of fattening their catch shows how much human intervention is present even in wild fishing operations.

On the other hand, in a majority of aquaculture systems, breeders provide food for their fish. This food sometimes includes fishmeal, Love explains, a powder that comes from two sources: seafood processing waste (think: fish guts and tails) and wild-caught fish.

All of this can create a confusing landscape for climate- or environmentally-conscious consumers who eat fish. But Love recommends a few ways consumers can choose when buying seafood. Buying fresh fish locally helps shorten supply chains, which can reduce the carbon impact of eating aquatic animals . “In our work, we have found that the main transportation impact is international shipping of fresh seafood by air,” he said. For example, most farmed salmon is sold in the United States. is transported by plane.

Both from a climatic and nutritional point of view, small fish and sea vegetables are also good options. “Mussels, clams, oysters, seaweed — they’re all rich in macronutrients and minerals in different ways” compared to fish, Love said.

This article was originally published in Grist has https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/the-world-is-farming-more-seafood-than-it-catches-is-that-a-good-thing/.

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