While the world struggles to find sustainable alternatives for our daily practices, one area is starting to make headway. As the demand for seafood grows, we are seeing entire species of fish start to go extinct. Since our love for a good sushi roll does not seem to be going away anytime soon, scientists are having to get creative with how and where we get our fish.

As overfishing becomes a larger issue, aquaculture may be a solution. What is aquaculture you ask? Think of it like a farm where fruits and vegetables are grown and harvested, and animals like cows, chickens, and pigs are raised for food. It is like that, only in the sea. Here in the United States, organisms like oysters, clams and mussels are raised along with fish like salmon and yellowtail. Even Algae and seaweed are grown and harvested.

This concept can create jobs for local communities, protect coastlines from developing, and even give us the ability to watch the life cycles of these species unfold. The latter of these being a major perk for the scientific community. With perks, however, comes the cons. Like with land farming, a lack of genetic diversity can cause breeding problems. Another issue is water contamination. Think about it like this, whatever waste they produce has to go somewhere. Aquaculture farms have thought of this. The fish and similar species are above those "bottom feeders" that will consume the waste dropped from above. Unfortunately, this is not a full-proof plan. Any waste and contaminates can get out into freshwater sources and contaminate them. This can also hurt the fragile natural ecosystems around the farms.

Groups like NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are supporting the aquaculture community, but they are keeping an eye on things. While this can be a long term answer to a serious problem, they want to make sure that it does not cause other problems.

Aquaculture can help us continue to utilize sea organisms for food and other things like medicine and cosmetics, but is it worth it? Do the pros out way the cons? I guess we'll see.

Works Cited

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/aquaculture.html

Have you ever caught a fish while out fishing, but thrown it back because it was not the one you wanted. Not everyone does that. In fact, most don't. In the world of commercial fishing, bycatch is a serious problem very few are addressing. This problem occurs when nets are dropped and brought up with a large load of fish. Most of the time, the fishermen are looking for only one or two types of fish. Anything else they catch, most of which are dead by the time they reach the boat, are thrown back into the water or thrown away elsewhere.

The part that is so alarming is that bycatch is not just other fish of similar size. Bycatch can be whales, sharks, and dolphins. Sea Turtles are especially at risk of these nets. Even some seabirds can get caught in the fishing lines and nets. According to the Consortium for Wildlife, over seven million tons of organisms are accidentally caught every year. They say that many times the number of bycatch out ways the intentional catch. In the same article it states that "In 2007, the world learned that the Baiji, a freshwater porpoise found only in China’s Yangtze River, finally succumbed to decades of incidental hooking (among other causes of mortality) and is now believed to be extinct." An entire species went extinct because of bycatch!

These giant nets and trawling nets are used because it is easier to collect large numbers of fish at a time. This makes it easier on the fishing companies. They need less employees and less boats. They can serve more customers more frequently. As the human population grows, so does our need for more fish. These nets help us, but hurt our oceans tremendously. Is it worth it? What is the real cost of your last seafood meal?

Works Cited

https://www.bycatch.org/about-bycatch