Doctor

AQUACULTURE

Think of a “factory farm” that produces beef for fast food restaurants – thousands of animals are squeezed together into claustrophobic, unsanitary pens.  The farmers inject the herdwith a cocktail of medications and growth hormones.  Diseases abound, and powerful antibiotics are used to keep the animals alive.  Waste products and chemicals often run off into the surroundingwaterways and seep into the water table.
 
Now imagine the same scenario – but replace the cows with fish, and the pens with “net cages” submerged in the ocean.  Like land-based factory farms, these“aquaculture” facilities can seriously damage the surrounding environment.  AIDA is working throughout the Americas to strengthen the laws that govern industrial fish farms.
 
When we think of commercialfishing, we often think of casting a net and hauling in a huge load of fresh catch.  But fishing as we know it is becoming a thing of the past – dwindling wild fish populations and an ever-growingdemand for seafood have made it harder and harder for the fishing industry to stay afloat using traditional methods.  Aquaculture has emerged as the way of the future and it is big business.  Between1990 and 2004, salmon fish farming in Chile grew by 825%, and almost half of all the seafood consumed in the United States is now grown on fish farms.
 
In the context of such explosive growth, strictoversight is needed to protect coastal areas from irreparable harm.  The excess food and waste produced by thousands of fish in close quarters can sink to the ocean floor and suffocate delicateecosystems.  Pathogens also spread quickly among commercial fish stock and infect natural populations.
 
To make matters worse, it can be hard to contain the fish themselves. Storms, human error, and theforced intrusions of hungry local predators can lead to massive escapes of farmed fish.  When they disperse into the natural ecosystem, they breed with local populations and dilute the genetic...