Factory farms of the ocean- Part I

Over 1 billion people today depend on fish as a major source of animal protein in their diet. 40% of the fish consumed are grown in fish farms in a $78 billion aquaculture industry. The business of factory fish farming is the fastest growing food supply source, growing 9% a year since 1975. 


Part of the boom is due to the widely publicized health benefits one receives by eating fish and to counteract the overfishing of wild populations. However, eating farmed fish can be a risky business. Like the land-based factory farms, fish farms pack as many fish into the enclosures as possible to increase profits often causing health risks to the fish and people. It is also doubtful that fish farming alleviates the wild fish population dilemma. 


Health issues of aqua-farming
On salmon farms, fish spend their entire lives in a space no bigger than a conventional bathtub and trout often have less space with up to 27 fish sharing a bathtub-sized space. Without sufficient space to move and isolated from their natural ecosystems these fish are susceptible to disease, injury and dirty conditions. 


In the wild, fish move through the open waters with a large variety of other fish species, their waste is dispersed and sometimes consumed by bottom feeders or other inhabitants of the ocean. Parasites are cleaned off of them by "cleaner fish" keeping them healthy. The mono-species environment of fish farms are so crowded and dirty with fish excrement and sea lice that many fish become diseased. There is evidence that the crowded conditions cause stress in the fish populations making them more prone the lice infestations. Sea lice feed on tissue, blood and mucus, once a fish is infested their immune system breaks down, reducing growth and making disease an inevitability – many do not survive. 


To combat the health issues caused by the unnatural surroundings, fish farmers treat their fish population with antibiotics and carcinogenic fungicides. The over use of antibiotics causes antibiotic resistant bacteria to emerge increasing disease susceptibility not only in fish but the people who consume the fish.


Environmental issues of aqua-farming
The largest impact of fish farms is their negative influence on the environment. In the global fish market, demand is high for top of the food chain, carnivorous varieties of fish like: tuna, striped bass, cod and mackerel. These fish eat other smaller pelagic fish which are harvested from the open ocean, depleting the wild fish population. 37% of global seafood is used for fish food and distributed to fish and shrimp farms. This practice takes the food from the oceanic food chain further disrupting the ecosystem and is highly unsustainable. 


The lice infestation and disease that farmed fish succumb to are passed on to wild populations. Aqua-farms are usually located around coastal areas close to inlets, rivers, bays and estuaries which are also used by wild fish populations. Wild fish have to navigate around fish farms, frequently coming in contact with contaminated fish contracting their afflictions. 


The high concentrations of fish produce a significant amount of condensed faeces, often contaminated with drugs, which affect local waterways. The bacterial growth, resulting from fish waste and uneaten fish meal pellets, strips the water of oxygen, reducing or killing off the local marine life. Algal blooms occur in these nitrogen and phosphorus rich waters further disrupting the surrounding areas, proving to be toxic to wild fish larvae and marine mammals, such as porpoises and seals. It also kills caged farmed fish. Once an area has been so contaminated, the fish farms are moved to new, uncontaminated areas.