Sustainability of Fish Farming
Ian A. Fleming
Depletion of fisheries globally
Aquaculture
• Last decade – triple in weight &
doubled in value
• 40% of fish consumed globally
• Promising avenue to increase
marine fish production for future
Grow-Out
NL,NB,NS,USA
HatcheryNL,NS,USA
Cooke
Aquaculture
Great Bay
Aquaculture,
USA
Not just salmon
OSC
Scotian Halibut
Sustainability of Fish Farming
3 Pillars
Social
Economic
Environmental
Environmental Challenges
• Feeds
• Escapes
• Waste &
Pollution
• Diseases
• Scaling Up
Mitigation
• Cage technology
• Feed improvement
• Species, sterility & domestication
• Code of practice
• Siting & Area planning (zoning)
– Nature reserves
– Industrial reserves
Photo: Martin Iversen
The Promises & The Challenges
Ocean farming of fish offers
great opportunity, if it is
environmentally sustainable
Mitigation
• Cage technology
• Feed improvement
• Species, sterility & domestication
• Code of practice
Photo: Martin Iversen
Code of Practice
•
•
•
•
Cage standards & regular inspection
Record keeping
Handling & Grading practices
Disease & Parasite treatment /
veterinary control
• Ecosystem monitoring / fallowing
• Efficiency – e.g. feeding regimes
• Regional coordination
Photo: Martin Iversen
Ecosystem
Environmental Fingerprint
1. Bio-deposits (feed & feces – nitrogen loading)
• amount of feed used to grow salmon is now 44%
of what it was in 1972 (Norway)
2. Accumulation of heavy metals (cooper & zinc)
3. Use of therapeutic compounds (pharmaceuticals
&pesticides)
• Antibiotic use < 0.5% of a decade ago (Norway) –
vaccines
4. “robbing Peter to pay Paul”
• fishmeal content of feed reduced from 70% in
1972 to 35% today