Guide of FISH FARMING

FAO : Farming fish for the future, sustainably
During the five day working meeting, representatives from FAO member countries wrestled with a wide range of issues, including the environmental impacts of shrimp-farming, the use of antibiotics by aquaculture, the introduction of non-native fish species into new regions, harmonization of trade standards, and the need for better monitoring of product safety.
The report will be available on the FAO Fisheries Department website in all official Organization languages in September.
"The work that has been outlined for action by FAO, or for action by the member countries themselves, really represents a global agenda for aquaculture, " observed Serge Garcia, director of FAO's Fishery Resources Division.
To help promote national policies conducive to responsible fish farming, FAO will develop detailed guidelines for the responsible management of fish farms aimed at both improving the quality of the fish farmed there and at reducing their negative environmental impacts.
Responding to developing countries' comments that they are often unable to keep up with changing safety standards governing fish imports, FAO will work to improve information sharing between importing and exporting nations and, via the international Codex Alimentarius Commission, to develop international standards for the safety of fish products.


FISH FARMING

.

info: FISH FARMING


Photo by www.carpco.co.uk

Benefits



David Suzuki Foundation: Oceans: Open-netcage fish farming
Current fish farming practices involve open netcages like these that allow fish to escape and pollution to flow freely into the surrounding water.
Open-netcage fish farming was pioneered in Norway in the 1960s.
Open-netcage fish farming is a controversial practice and has raised serious environmental concerns around the world.
Communities on the BC coast rely on a healthy marine environment in order to support industries such as tourism, sports and commercial fishing, all of which are impacted by current commercial fish farming practices.  There are several problems associated with open-netcage salmon farming: Sewage  from farms pollutes surrounding waters.
Drugs , including antibiotics, are required to keep farmed fish healthy.
Net loss: Farmed fish are fed pellets made from other fish - depleting other fish species on a global scale.
In 2001, the Honourable Stuart Leggatt conducted an independent public inquiry into salmon farming in British Columbia.
Summary of problems: Since the 1980s, aquaculture - the aquatic version of industrial agriculture - has been the fastest-growing supplier of fish worldwide.
Some observers see aquaculture as an opportunity to take the pressure off wild fish stocks, while addressing the growing imbalance between fish production and food requirements for an expanding world population.

FISH FARMING:

Is more fish farming a good thing? | Worldwatch Institute
Home » Online Features » Food Is more fish farming a good thing? Brian Halweil – February 23, 2007 – 2:13pm Last year, a team of marine scientists reported that if current fishing practices continue, the world's major fish populations would be effectively extinct by the middle of the century.
In poorer nations, people are also eating more fish, if they can afford it.
For more than a billion people, mostly in Asia, fish supplies 30 percent of their protein, versus just 6 percent worldwide..
In light of these challenges, last week the National Fisheries Institute, the leading advocacy group for the U.S.
seafood industry, "spun" a panel on fisheries at the AAAS Annual Meeting in San Francisco, pointing to "the enormous potential for sustainable growth of healthy farmed seafood production, notably through advancements in feed efficiency and the ability to expand production in marine environments.".
Sure, fish farming has great potential: it already accounts for 40 percent of the world's seafood, and, according to the UN, global aquaculture production will need to nearly double by 2050 to meet consumer demand.
But not all fish farming is created equal.