Aquaculture
The combined effects of environmental
stress, global warming and overfishing have depleted the
world’s fish
supplies by 52 percent since 1989 and are expected to
further deplete those supplies by 1.5 percent annually
until the year 2020. The increasing demands on wild fisheries
by commercial fishing operations have caused overfishing.
As a result, there has been an increasing
demand for alternative sources of seafood. Aquaculture — the
growing of fish in closed systems that provide the fish
with sufficient oxygen, fresh water and food — has
offered a solution to the market demand for seafood.
 Sustainability
Sustainability generally
is a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained
at a certain level indefinitely.
The term, in its environmental usage, refers to the potential
longevity of vital ecological support systems, such as
the planet’s climate system, systems of agriculture,
forestry and fisheries. Sustainable agriculture refers
to the ability of a farm to produce food indefinitely,
without causing irreversible damage to ecosystem health.
Organic
Organic foods are produced according
to certain production standards. For animals, this means
that they were reared
without routine use of antibiotics and without the use
of growth hormones. While industry standards do exist,
organic fish farming is not formally regulated in America.
The
European Union has a regulatory body that has begun developing
such standards and a certification process,
but these have not been fully adopted in the United States.
While organic farming generally operates without the use
of herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics and growth hormones,
the organic farming of fish often requires additional limitations
of the feed — food that is not derived from animals
with hoofs or feathers.
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