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The explosion of marine fish farms across the world has transformed
coasts, estuaries, and deltas in dozens of countries. China has pursued
one of the most aggressive aquaculture development programs of
recent years. In 2003, marine aquaculture covered nearly six thousand
square miles, about half of China’s twenty- thousand- mile coastline. 30
Most of these farms were carved out of mangrove forests, mud flats,
salt marshes, and sea grass beds. Satellite photographs of the Bohai
Sea coast, one of the most intensively farmed regions, show the toll
taken. Straight-edged ponds incised in blue and turquoise pack the
coast to depths of a couple of miles inland, and crawl seaward across
mud flats. The Philippines and Vietnam have lost three quarters of their
mangrove forests in the last few decades, half of them to aquaculture.
Sadly, many of these ponds have been abandoned. When mangrove
soils are exposed to the air, they become acidic. The acid leaches into
pond water together with toxic quantities of aluminum, so the ponds
cannot be used unless they are lined.
Mangroves and salt marshes are self- repairing buffers that defend
coasts against storm and flood. If they remain healthy, there is a good
chance they could also ameliorate the worst effects of sea- level rise by
trapping sediment and building upward. In many places aquaculture
has not only removed this benefit, it has caused the land to sink by
sucking freshwater from belowground to create brackish ponds for
shrimp and milkfish.
Tiger prawns are much favored for their large size and rapid
growth, but they represent a tiny fraction of wild shrimp fry. Most
wild prawn fry are caught by night lighting in shallow water under a
moonless sky. Within minutes, netters are surrounded by a confusing
buzz of hundreds or thousands of tiny animals, fish and fry, all drawn
to the light like moths to a flame. For every individual tiger prawn
caught in Malaysia and the Philippines, several hundred fry of other
species are wasted. Half of the hundreds of millions of tiger prawns
grown in Bangladesh are from the wild. The waste doesn’t stop at
other shrimp species either. In one study, scientists found that every
tiger prawn fry collected cost the lives of up to hundreds of finfish fry
and over a thousand other animals that live in the plankton.
The industry will need to work hard to raise standards and improve
sustainability. I have met many fish farmers who are committed to
doing just that. With their energy and enthusiasm, aquaculture could
indeed help feed the world. But there are challenges ahead. Growing
shellfish has always been touted as one of the most environmentally
friendly ways to produce seafood. Mussels, clams, and scallops feed on
plankton and other organic matter filtered from the water around
them. They don’t need to be fed wild-caught fish and can improve
water quality. But there is a catch. They depend on their carbonate
shells, and life is going to get much tougher for them, and would-be
aquaculturists, as the seas become more acidic. If you are fond of mussels
and scallops, you may want to think hard about what we can do to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions.