5 Approaches to Make Aquaculture More Sustainable

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Aquaculture allows <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;food-eat-avoid-case-pcos-pcod&sol;">seafood<&sol;a> to be farmed under controlled circumstances rather than caught in the wild&period; Without aquaculture&comma; seafood fisherman runs the risk of over fishing&period; Instead&comma; the demand for fish for restaurants and grocery stores can be met without depopulating the seas&period; However&comma; there are still ways that aquaculture can become more sustainable&comma; check out the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;globalsalmoninitiative&period;org&sol;en&sol;what-is-the-gsi-working-on&sol;sustainability-certification-asc-standard&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">details at globalsalmoninitiative&period;org&sol;en<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">These five approaches can create aquaculture that is sustainable to support the seafood industry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>1&period; Encourage consumers to eat sustainable seafood<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If aquaculture is to succeed&comma; the end-users need to be encouraged to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;npr&period;org&sol;sections&sol;thesalt&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;15&sol;520023117&sol;i-want-to-eat-fish-responsibly-but-the-seafood-guides-are-so-confusing" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">buy from sustainable seafood farmers<&sol;a>&period; Aquaculture needs to be advertised like other popular foods&comma; like the Got Milk&quest; Campaign&period; When people understand how farmed fish is just as good as fish caught in the wild&comma; but is better for the environment&comma; more people will be interested in eating it&period; But&comma; if consumers don’t know what aquaculture is&comma; they don’t know how to support it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>2&period; Create incentives for sustainable seafood farming<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nal&period;usda&period;gov&sol;topics&sol;agricultural-subsidies" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Agriculture is subsidized<&sol;a> financially by the government&period; Aquaculture might not need subsidies&comma; but it does need to have incentives&period; When more fish farms exist&comma; less wild-caught fish are needed&period; The incentives do not have to be government-based&period; Incentives could come from private industries or from educational organizations&comma; especially those that are already active in coastal movements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>3&period; Incentivize and invest in technologies that support aquaculture<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Along with incentivizing aquaculture&comma; the technologies that support it should also have investment and incentives available for interested parties&period; With better technology&comma; farmed fish will be easier to grow and sell&period; Technologies are needed to treat wastewater&comma; to feed farmed fish&comma; to transport it&comma; and to maintain the environment&period; Developing new technology is not cheap&comma; so help from private industries&comma; educational organizations&comma; and the government is welcome&period; Investing in new technologies will only help the future of seafood&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>4&period; Develop new feed for farm-raised fish<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Currently&comma; many farm-raised fish are fed by fish caught in the wild&period; If aquaculture is to become more sustainable&comma; the way farmed fish are fed needs to be more sustainable&period; By taking young fish from the wild&comma; aquaculture is doing the opposite of what it is designed to do&colon; it is contributing to the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fishforward&period;eu&sol;en&sol;topics&sol;facts-figures&sol;">overfishing<&sol;a> of the seas&period; Developing a new feed for farm-raised fish needs to be treated like developing new technologies&period; Incentives and investments can encourage scientists to develop a feed that is sustainable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>5&period; Regulate the environmental impact of aquaculture<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Finally&comma; just as science is looking at the impact of agriculture on the environment as a whole&comma; science needs to look at the overall impact of aquaculture&period; Individual farms can be environmentally friendly and sustainable&period; But&comma; if all aren’t&comma; then too much damage is being done to the lakes&comma; oceans&comma; and other waterways that support fish farms&period; Agencies need to take a close look at regulations regarding diseases and pollution&period; They also need to look at zoning for fish farms and what the ideal capacity is&period; It is also important to consider the environmental impact of transporting fish to their final destination&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&NewLine;