During class, I came across a topic that seemed to grab my interest because it appears to be a good substitute for the farming of meat. With the increasing demand of fish throughout the world, commercially caught fish can no longer support the demand and the solution is known as aquaculture or "fish farming". It creates a good amount of fish meat for the consumers and is much more efficient. The feed per pound ratio for fish is about 1.2:1 which means it takes 1.2 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of fish whereas the chicken ratios is 1.9:1 and for beef it is 8.9:1. In addition, the population of fish in the ocean has dramatically decreased due to overfishing so commercially catching fish is becoming increasingly difficult. With fish farming, we are able to create a much more consistent, more stable source of food. If we were to expand the aquaculture industry, we may be able to better meet the increasing demands of meat in the world and with the expansion of the industry comes the expansion of jobs which can help many individuals out there who are unemployed. Of course good ideas always have their drawbacks. If the industry becomes very irresponsible, pollution in the ocean will increase. In the event that a fish escapes the farm, it would interbreed with other species which could potentially be a major problem.
Ted Talk - The case for farm fishing
Salem State University: Benefits of Aquaculture
I remember reading about this last year while doing a research project for english. The book "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer mentions the way fish are caught and how they developed fish farms. Fish farming sounds kind of weird and silly, but I think it's better than commercially catching fish. Foer stated that while fishermen caught fish, they would catch other creatures like dolphins, turtles, endangered fish, and even sharks. This was ruining the ocean and its ecosystem. I don't know much about fish farming, but I think it's better than accidentally hurting endangered species. I could be wrong though, so researching about fish farms sounds interesting.
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