Aquaculture is promoted as a sustainable alternative to wild-caught fish. Fish farming makes it easier to monitor environmental crimes and forced labor, but there are hidden costs. Farmed fish generate waste that damages water quality. They have to be fed, which drives global demand for fish meal. This drains fish stocks that local markets, especially in poorer countries, rely on. Global demand for seafood outstrips what we can sustainably catch. Over 80% of the world’s wild fish stocks have collapsed or can’t withstand more fishing. We need to reduce demand by eating less fish, while promoting more sustainable aquaculture techniques.
Author: Ian Urbina
Ian Urbina is an investigative reporter who writes for The New York Times, The Atlantic and The New Yorker. He is the author of The Outlaw Ocean, and Pulitzer Prize winner and Emmy nominee. Ian is also the founder and director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a journalistic non-profit that chronicles lawlessness on the high seas.