Are We Eating Our Way to a World With No Fish?
Can you imagine a world where your children grow up without tuna fish sandwiches? With 70 percent of the world's commercial fisheries in decline, that is the world we are eating our way into. It's enough to make you want to forfeit fish for tofu.
Luckily, here at the Agriculture 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, I discovered some exciting companies that are poised to help keep fish on our plates. All are involved in new high-efficiency, high-yield aquaculture, which refers to raising fish under controlled conditions.
"The romantic notions are going to have to be dispelled," said aquaculture pioneer Neil Anthony Sims, president of Kona Blue Water Farms in Hawaii. "It's been the Wild West out there (in the world's oceans) and the results show in the management of wild stocks."
Neil is talking about the fact that our oceans are at capacity. Yields of wild-caught fish have remained static for more than a decade, indicating that we've already passed the point of so-called "peak fish." A new era of globally managed oceans hopefully lies in the future to protect now-endangered species. That will require political coordination among nations. But, more immediately we need new technology paired with conscientious business practices to turn the tide. Innovations in aquaculture may be coming to the rescue to take the pressure off our oceans and raise more fish.
This new-and-improved aquaculture offers benefits over traditional fish farming, which currently provides us with half of the fish consumed in the world. New techniques may enable us to raise fish without artificial coloring and with fewer antibiotics or other medicines used to treat diseased fish living in close quarters in many conventional fish farms.
To read about promising innovators in the aquaculture space, click here
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About the Author:
Christiana Wyly is an environmental advocate and an operating partner at Satori Capital, an investment firm focused on sustainable investing, providing conscious capital and helping to grow the market for products and firms dedicated to a sustainable future.
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