Aquaculture and Fishing

What is aquaculture and fishing doing to the planet?

What is aquaculture and fishing doing to the planet?

Farmed fish can be diseased, laced with chemicals, and overall unhealthy for people and the environment. When the pollution of pesticides, antibiotics, and other chemicals from fish farming leaks into the ocean, it kills off the natural ocean life and biodiversity.

The operation of fish farms also harms vital habitats like mangroves. It has even been found that some types of aquaculture release more methane than beef production. Now, aquaculture isn’t all bad when done sustainably, but methods like open aquaculture done in open bodies of water is what really hurts the planet. In these farms, chemicals seep right out into the ocean to affect other ocean organisms. Food to feed farmed fish is taken from the wild, therefore taking food from other wild species. Farmed fish can also escape and breed with native fish, causing mutations and unnatural species.

Fishing

85% of the world’s fisheries are being overtaxed, meaning fish are being caught at a quicker rate than they can reproduce. Not only is this unsustainable, but it kills biodiversity, which in turn weakens ocean resilience and leaves it more vulnerable to climate change. Researchers have also found that 80% of the microplastics in the ocean come from discarded fishing gear. Microplastics have massive effects on marine life. Organisms ingest the plastic and often die. These organisms ingesting plastic are also fish we eat, which is toxic and unhealthy for us too.