Aquaculture

Today you are going to look at aquaculture.

1) Define Aquaculture (1 mark)

Aquaculture is defined as the rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food.

2) Look at the Social (on people), environmental, and economic pros and cons of aquaculture. For each of the three you should list 3 pros and 3 cons. (18 marks)

Social pros:

-can help feed people

-can increase scientific knowledge and technology

-can encourage local investment

Economic pros: 

-can create jobs in the community

-increase revenue on city

-can reduce seafood trade deficit

Environmental pros:

-can place more emphasis on protecting coastal waters from pollution

-may reduce fishing pressure on certain  wild stock

-Fish Farms can be created on Coastal Areas and Inland Lakes and Rivers

Social cons:

-can conflict with other users of water bodies such as lobster men, fishermen or migrating fish

-can threaten livelihood of fishermen

-there is a risk of eating the supplied fish from fish farms

Economics cons:

-can be an unpredictable enterprise for small local communities

-although farmed salmon production has risen dramatically the number of jobs in it has not. Wild fisheries employ five times as many people than farmed fishing.

-wild fish are worth more to Bc economy than aquaculture

Environment cons:

-Can compromise the beauty of coastline

-Can transfer disease and parasites to wild fish populations

-Can pollute water systems with excess chemicals and antibiotics

3) Write a short paragraph (7-10 sentences) explaining your point of view on aquaculture. Is it a good thing? A bad thing? Why. Use examples from your pros and cons in #2. (6 marks)

I think aquaculture is not a good thing. As I was researching I saw more cons than pros with this solution. For instance excessive use of chemicals, such as antibiotics, anti-foulants and pesticides, can have  consequences for marine organisms and human health. If a fish which was farmed escapes it can interbreed with local wild stocks of the same population. Which leads to altering the overall pool of genetic diversity. Excess food and fish waste increase the levels of nutrients in the water and have the potential to lead to oxygen deprived waters that stress aquatic life. Why find a solution that damages more of the marine organisms when its suppose to help improve its life?