IMPACTS OF AQUACULTURE! Aquaculture is the rearing or farming of aquatic animals and cultivation of aquatic plants for food.
● More than 40 percent of all the fish consumed each year are now raised on land­bas ● ed or ocean­based aquafarms where fish spend their entire lives in cramped, filthy enclosures and where many suffer from parasitic infections, diseases, and debilitating injuries.
● High mortality rates, disease, and parasite infestations are common.
Deformities and stress­related injuries are also a regular occurrence; on some farms, as many as 40 percent of the fish are blind—a problem that is not addressed because blind fish net the same profit for farmers.
● As many as 40 percent of farmed fish die before the aquafarm operator is ready to slaughter them. Fish who survive are starved before they are sent to slaughter in order to reduce waste contamination of the water during transport. Salmon, for example, are starved for 10 full days.
● Worker safety in fish farming depends on individual facilities and national regulations. Workers may be exposed to Weil's disease from fish feed and water contaminated by infected rats. ❖ In intensively crowded aquafarms, small fish are bullied and killed by larger fish, so fish are continually sorted to make sure that faster­growing individuals are moved to the appropriate size grouping.
❖ Many species of farmed fish are carnivorous, which means that fish must be caught from our already­exhausted oceans to feed the fish on aquafarms. It can take more than 5 pounds of fish from the ocean to produce just 1 pound of farmed salmon or sea bass.
❖ One of the most devastating impacts of salmon farming is the risk sea lice pose to juvenile wild salmon. Sea lice proliferate on salmon farms and spread to surrounding waters attacking baby salmon as they head out to sea.Open net­cages attract natural