Download Wetlands

AQUACULTURE: The Blue Revolution?
Aquaculture
• Status: fastest growing food production industry in the
world (1/3 of all fishery landings)
Aquaculture: Fish Farms
• Energy flow perspective
– Terrestrial herbivore (cow) vs. aquatic herbivore (carp)
– Salmon vs. carp vs. filter feeders
– Farmed salmon vs. wild salmon
Sustainable Aquaculture?
Sustainable Aquaculture?
A Closer Look at Farmed
Atlantic Salmon
• 95% of Atlantic Salmon population is in Aquaculture!
• Health Concerns
– Disease, antibiotics, nutrient loading
– Human health: cancer
• Effect on Wild Salmon
genetic adaptability
–
–
–
–
Inbreeding
Competition
New selective pressures
Food web effects
Invasive Species Glossary
• native: an organism that is living in its home environment
• exotic
• non-native
• foreign/alien
originally from a different location
• naturalized: a non-native that has become a part of its new
environment
• invasive: a non-native that has spread to become a dominant
member of its new environment
•
weed: an invasive species of plant that causes
environmental or economic problems
- Noxious weed: legally designated as a pest
Shrimp Farming
• Mangrove destruction
– Change of ecosystem
structure
– Social inequalities
• Where does ‘stock’
come from?
• Salinization
• Land conversion
Shrimp Farm in Mexico: www.fao.org/docrep/005/y1818e/y1818e00.jpg
Aquaculture: Risks
– Impact on wild fish populations
• Feed for farmed fish
• ‘Seed’ for farmed fish
• Fish escapes- invasive species
–
–
–
–
–
Algal blooms
Oxygen depletion
Downstream impacts
Disease
(Wet)land conversion
Aquaculture: Integrated Systems Approach
+
Aquaculture: Integrated Systems Approach
BENEFITS:
Waste = food
Whole is greater than
sum of parts
COSTS/RISKS:
Pesticide use
Labor intensive
Limit to fish density
What Can You Do?
• Vote with your dollars!
• Get involved!
• Educate others!