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Aquaculture |
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A Sustainable Solution
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Aquaculture Quick Facts
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Aquaculture presently provides nearly 40 percent of the world's edible seafood supply.
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Crustaceans, mainly shrimp and prawns, account for about 5 percent of aquaculture production.
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About 40 percent of all harvested shrimp are now grown through aquaculture.
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Worldwide, about 1 billion people rely on seafood as their primary source of animal protein. Yet according to a recent report in Science journal, 90 percent of the ocean's edible species may be gone by the year 2048 due to over-fishing, pollution and the destruction of natural habitats.
With our world population increasing by about 80 million people each year, 8 billion people are expected to occupy this planet by 2025. And with the demand for seafood in the U.S. alone expected to increase by more than 3 billion pounds by the year 2010, expanding our resources is no longer an option.
That's where aquaculture comes in.
Aquaculture — the cultivation of aquatic animals — currently accounts for nearly 40 percent of the seafood we consume, and is the fastest-growing food-producing segment in the world. It's a sustainable, reliable way to provide food for the masses.
When carried out responsibly, aquaculture allows shrimp stocks to be maintained and replaced indefinitely. It provides a much-needed source of protein without damaging the ocean floor with shrimp-trawling nets. And it doesn't trap creatures — like sea turtles — inadvertently, only to be thrown overboard as "bycatch." Aquaculture is even used in replenishment programs for a number of overfished species to offset the number that are caught in the wild.
Traditional Food Sources Aren't Enough
Agricultural farming operations take up 12 billion acres, or 33 percent, of the Earth's total land mass. The loss of productive soil — aggravated by soil erosion, poor farm management and excessive livestock practices — is progressively reducing usable land. The result? Farmers of all types are trying to feed the world using only 9 percent of the Earth's surface, and that small percentage is gradually fading away.
Aquaculture and Species Diversity
"In contrast to terrestrial farming systems, where the bulk of global production is based on a limited number of animal and plant species, more than 210 different farmed aquatic animal and plant species were reported in 2000. This great diversity reflects the large number of aquatic species that are readily adaptable to the wide range of production systems and conditions present in the different countries and regions of the world."
— United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Fisheries Department
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Aquaculture is the future
As an environmentally responsible food manufacturer, Contessa has thoroughly studied aquaculture and how it can benefit all of us. And we are convinced that aquaculture is the solution to a number of the challenges we are all facing today, and in the future.
When yields from wild seafood harvesting shrink ever smaller, the world's population continues to soar and land used for agriculture diminishes, aquaculture techniques developed and improved by companies like Contessa will help carry us through. And with little or no impact on the environment.
Wild-caught vs. Farm-raised: You be the Judge
"Aquaculture — the practice of raising fish, crustaceans or mollusks in captivity for human consumption — is gaining importance as wild fish populations dwindle. If current consumption rates continue, a 2006 scientific study predicted, all wild aquatic species currently harvested for food will fall below a tenth of their largest historic population by 2050."
— Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2007
"Trawling accounts for over 50 percent of the estimated discards (bycatch), while representing about 22 percent of total landings. Tropical shrimp trawls have the highest discard rate and account for over 27 percent of the total estimated discards. Among shrimp trawls, 62 percent of the catch is discarded."
— National Geographic Interactive Edition, June 2007
"Enormously effective at catching fish, the [trawling] nets also wipe out almost everything in their path, smash coral and stir clouds of sediment that smother sea life, marine experts say."
— CNN.com, May 2007
"Science journal predicts 90 percent of the fish and shellfish species that are hauled from the ocean to feed people worldwide may be gone by 2048."
— USA Today, November 3, 2006
"One million: Tons of wasted fish — 28 percent of the annual U.S. commercial catch — that get tossed overboard, often because they are not the desired species. Four: Pounds of so-called bycatch discarded by Gulf Coast shrimpers, the worst offenders, for each pound of shrimp kept."
— Time magazine, December 12, 2005
"The ecological ramifications of dumping all of this [bycatch] material overboard range from behavioral changes in resident organisms, particularly among scavenger species, to the creation of localized hypoxic or anoxic zones on the sea floor."
— Ecological Effects of Fishing in Marine Ecosystems in the United States, Pew Ocean's Commission, 2002
"The overwhelming evidence from available fishing data points to the severe, dramatic, and sometimes-irreversible consequences of fishing on marine ecosystems."
— Ecological Effects of Fishing in Marine Ecosystems in the United States, Pew Ocean's Commission, 2002
"Unfortunately, many activists are more interested in preserving the status quo than they are about improving sustainability."
— John Z. Blazevich, 2007
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