Aquaculture navigates through troubled waters

Abstract

Industrialized aquaculture is the world's fastest-growing animal food production system and is regarded by some experts as an integral part of the long-term solution to growing global food demands. Others, however, contend that the aquaculture industry has no place in sustainable food production, citing an overuse of wild fish to feed farmed stock and the industry's ecologic impact on surrounding marine systems. Much of the controversy has focused on the practice of open-net pen aquaculture along with the use of anti-infective agents and bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in larger fish. Against this backdrop, government and academic programs are striving to make the industry more sustainable through measures such as developing alternatives to the open-net pen system and a rigorous organic standard for farmed fish.