Some of my friends are switching to fish and eating less chicken and meat. However, more and more of the fish being sold in the United States is coming from fish farms.
Farmed fish are causing damage to fisheries around the world because companies from dozens of countries are overfishing to catch smaller fish to be cooked and made into fishmeal to feed farmed fish. This includes dragging the bottom of the ocean to catch fish to be made into fishmeal.
An investigation by The New York Times lays out these problems and also describes other significant issues with fish farms including:
- Enormous, semi-submersible structures are being built in the open ocean that can house as many as 1.5 million salmon. Huge aquaculture ships also are being built.
- Conditions for workers on some of the ships and in the fishmeal factories are unhealthy and dangerous.
- Fisheries, such as the ones in the waters off West Africa, are being decimated. People who fish for a living are leaving traditional fishing areas by the thousands.
- The air pollution from fishmeal plants is smelly and also a carcinogen.
- Waste from fish farms is polluting the ocean, with salmon feces and uneaten feed creating a harmful seafloor sludge.
- American authorities only inspect a small amount of seafood that’s imported.
The Times article, “The Dirty Secret Behind the Farmed Fish You Eat,” is behind a pay wall. I recommend subscribing to The Times. However, if you’re unable to subscribe, you can set up an account and get 10 free articles a month.
If you eat fish, it would be worth your time to learn about farmed fish. Fortunately, I’m a vegan, so I’m not eating fish anymore.
The author of the article, Ian Urbina, is the founder and executive editor of The Outlaw Ocean Project. An accompanying article, also by Urbine, is “How to Buy and Eat Seafood Responsibly.”
