Aquaculture: Fulfilling Its Promise

▪ 1999

Introduction

by Anne Platt McGinn

      For 25 centuries fish farming (aquaculture) has been a mainstay of Asian agriculture. Throughout China, India, and Thailand, it prospered on traditional small-scale farms. In recent years, however, fish farming has begun to suffer from problems associated with rapid growth and careless stewardship. As the 20th century draws to a close, aquaculture must redefine itself in order to realize its full potential.

Early Aquaculture.

      The earliest-known documentation of fish farming is a Chinese book entitled Fish Culture Classic, written in 460 BC. The Chinese raised their fish, mainly carp, in small ponds to supplement other farm crops. Through experimentation, farmers discovered they could raise several species of fish together in one pond. This system, known as polyculture, proved highly productive and was taken to Thailand by Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century. Polyculture then evolved into "integrated" aquaculture—raising plants and fish together in the same pond. Up to this time, the fish farms had remained small operations, but in the mid-20th century fish farming became a serious commercial endeavour in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere.

      Starting in the 1960s and '70s, international development agencies supported aquaculture as the ideal industry to provide food for less-developed countries. Fish has important dietary benefits. It is generally cheaper to raise than beef or mutton, and aquaculture has less impact on the environment than traditional farming. A dichotomy developed, however, between aquaculture's potential and its reality. Aquaculture had become a resource-intensive industry that failed to emphasize resource reuse and recycling. Many fish were raised for quick cash, with little thought given to where the inputs of water, feed, and land came from, where the fish went after leaving the farm, and what environmental costs were incurred in the process.

World Status.

      Aquaculture is one of the fastest-growing sectors in world food production. Industry output more than tripled from 1984 to 1996, when it was valued at $36 billion. Between 1990 and 1995, world aquaculture production expanded at an average annual rate of 11%.

      China leads the world in aquaculture, providing two-thirds of total farmed fish in 1996. Between 1990 and 1995 alone, China's aquaculture output increased by 120%, and in 1998 it made up over half of total fish supplies in China. In 1995 India, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand—the other leading aquaculture nations—together accounted for almost 17% of world production. In contrast, all the industrial countries combined produced 14% of the world's farmed fish in 1995. Worldwide, marine catches remained at 80% of global fish production, but fish farmers were quickly altering the balance. For instance, 40% of all salmon consumed have lived longer in captivity than in the wild, compared with 6% a decade ago. It is expected that by the year 2000 one out of every four fish eaten will come from a farm.

      Aquaculture also affects the market for meat: for every 5 kg (11 lb) of beef produced globally, there are 2 kg (4 lb) of farm-raised fish. In the U.S. sales of farmed catfish exceed those of veal, mutton, and lamb combined. Aquaculture is expected to provide a growing share of dietary animal protein in the future; farmed fish requires fewer grain inputs than other types of animal protein for food, including pork and beef.

Environmental Issues.

      Aquaculture was originally touted as an alternative to marine fisheries, which themselves were under great pressure as harvests increased and stocks were depleting. Benefits may be imaginary, however, since marine fish are turned into high-protein feed pellets for the carnivorous cultivated species such as trout, shrimp, and salmon that make up 15% of all farmed fish and crustaceans. Demand for feed pellets actually increased pressure on marine fisheries and wild fish stocks. A net loss of fish protein occurred globally.

      Water pollution is another major problem. Researchers estimate that each ton of cultivated fish can produce up to a ton of waste. Poorly managed fish farms can produce high volumes of biological waste, primarily from uneaten food and waste material, which can then leak into surrounding areas. In 1995, for example, salmon farms in British Columbia produced a volume of waste equivalent to sewage from half a million people. Though generally not toxic, these nutrient-rich wastes can trigger eutrophication (enrichment of a body of water with dissolved nutrients that stimulate often undesirable plant growth).

      Aquaculture can also affect the land surrounding fish-cultivation waters. Shrimp farming is particularly notorious in this regard. Between 1985 and 1995, aquatic farmers in some 50 countries produced 7.2 million tons of shrimp. More than 150,000 ha (370,650 ac) of valuable coastal area—mangrove forests, tidal estuaries, and even farmland—were choked with waste and abandoned. In the Philippines alone, shrimp ponds accounted for one-half of the country's losses of mangrove forests. Thailand became the world's leading seafood exporter, thanks to an enormous leap in giant-tiger-prawn culture between 1970 and 1990. The coastline was so ruined by farming, however, that by the mid-1990s Thai aquaculturists had begun transporting salt water inland to convert productive rice fields to shrimp farms. The farms were profitable for a time but eventually became polluted and were then abandoned. In July 1998, fearing for the future of their vast rice-growing regions, the Thai government banned shrimp farming from all inland waters.

      Raising fish in densely populated, highly contained environments can also trigger outbreaks of disease. In early 1998, at a cost of U.S. $10 million, more than one million diseased farm salmon in New Brunswick had to be slaughtered in their cages to prevent the spread of infectious salmon anemia (ISA). By mid-1998 Scotland had forced the closure of 40% of its salmon farms because of outbreaks of ISA. Diseases originating on fish farms sometimes spread beyond the confines of the farms and required drastic measures. Recently, over a period of several years, for example, Norwegian taxpayers have paid $100 million to contain diseases spread from farmed fish to wild stocks. Entire rivers in Norway had to be poisoned in order to kill the diseased fish. Still another environmental hazard is the possible escape of farmed fish. The fugitives can disrupt the gene pool of wild species by eating them, outcompeting them for food, or displacing them altogether. Norwegian scientists recently reported that one-fourth of salmon spawning in freshwater areas originally came from farms.

Directions.

      Some governments have finally realized the costs of unregulated fish farming and are enforcing regulations. To protect its coastal areas, Honduras implemented a one-year moratorium on new shrimp farms beginning in August 1998. India restricted all industrial shrimp farms from operating within 500 m (one-third of a mile) of the high-tide line, and Norway banned floating metal-frame salmon net-cages from fjords and coastal areas.

      Beyond government legislation, however, new approaches to aquaculture are being developed to capitalize on ancient and ecologically sound practices. Some studies indicate that by using aquaculture waste to feed the fish—by processing it into feed and thereby using the fish as a means of wastewater treatment—costs for the water treatment could be reduced by 30% to 90%. In addition, aquaculture waste output can be used as an input to another industry. Many aquaculture facilities in the U.S. cultivate hydroponic vegetables, fruits, and herbs together with fish. Plants are grown with their roots immersed directly in the fish pond or in a connected channel. The plants remove large quantities of nutrients from aquaculture effluent—essentially aquatic manure—and the water can be returned to the tank. The technical capability to recirculate water is a key to the success of such systems in areas where freshwater is in short supply. These systems have already been widely adopted in China, India, and Germany. Thousands of tilapia and carp are farmed in closed-pond systems—aquatic greenhouses—in the Israeli desert. Earlier flow-through systems that used continual flushing with water to remove wastes have given way to biofiltration, a natural cleansing process that utilizes bacteria to degrade the organic fish waste. The pH levels, temperature, and nutritional content in this type of facility are monitored and adjusted by computer. Tilapia here can grow to full size in about 12 months, compared with 17 months in traditional ponds.

      Integrating pond systems with local resources is another beneficial approach that offers enormous potential for resource efficiency. Farmers in Southeast Asia report that raising fish in their rice paddies enables them to reduce fertilizer inputs and save money on herbicides and pesticides. The preferred species for such use are the noncarnivores—such as carp, tilapia, and catfish—and mollusks, both of which eat low on the food chain (i.e., consume relatively little protein) and generate comparatively little waste. An estimated 10 million small-scale farmers in Asia could potentially raise small amounts of fish in rice paddies and improve the security of local food supplies.

The Future.

      The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that under favourable conditions, aquaculture could supply the world with 39 million tons of fish by the year 2010—about 70% more than was produced in 1998. If aquaculture is to remain an important source of food and income in the 21st century, however, the industry must change its current practices to become more ecologically responsible. This includes cultivating less-resource-intensive fish species such as carp and tilapia, reducing water use and pollution, recirculating nutrients and water, and preserving coastal ecosystems.

Anne Platt McGinn is a research associate with Worldwatch Institute.

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