{"id":4807,"date":"2015-08-30T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blog.sdps-bbs.com\/?p=4807"},"modified":"2025-07-31T08:31:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T12:31:46","slug":"farmed-fish-a-more-sustainable-protein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/farmed-fish-a-more-sustainable-protein\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmed Fish – A More Sustainable Protein"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"FarmedInformation from Grist.org<\/a>:<\/p>\n

If you’re like many other Americans, at some point this week unless you are a vegetarian, you will probably be eating some sort of\u00a0red meat like beef or pork. In fact, you might be having it for dinner later this evening. However, a significantly smaller amount of the people reading this might have recently had a meal of seafood.\u00a0As of 2012, the average American consumed 71.2 pounds of red meat a year, compared to only\u00a014.4 pounds of fish and shellfish, according to the annual report\u00a0Fisheries of the United States 2012<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This might not seem like a huge deal today, but something to consider is our planet’s growing population. Over the next 40 years, we will have 2.3 billion extra people, 2.3 billion\u00a0extra mouths to feed and not a whole lot of extra space for producing food. Looking to the future, it is crucial that we think about efficiency and\u00a0sustainability to maximize the amount of food we can produce with the resources we have. And we have to start thinking about the idea that the amount of\u00a0red meat currently being produced\u00a0might not be the most effective way to do that.<\/p>\n

To feed a cow, it needs to be supplied with grass to graze on. A lot of grass, actually. A cow needs calories not only to grow but to produce heat and stay upright.\u00a0Pound for pound, a cow needs 8.7 pounds of feed for every pound of meat it provides. Pigs, while a little more efficient, still need 5.9 pounds of feed per pound of pork. A large percentage of our crops grown go straight into feed for animals that provide much less than they take.\u00a0This sounds pretty inefficient compared to just eating the plants and vegetables ourselves and skipping the energy-burning middle man. However, this is not to say that livestock is a bad thing – they provide many benefits to agriculture like consuming resources not edible to humans and providing natural fertilizer in the form of manure. Non-edible parts of the animals are used in many things from food glue to train brakes.\u00a0Eliminating livestock is not the answer, but perhaps switching our focus to farmed fish is.<\/p>\n

Farmed fish is not to be confused with fisheries. Both are highly inspected and\u00a0provide us with food with great health benefits as discussed in our blog post “The Benefits of Seafood Consumption<\/a>.” However, there is a distinct difference between the two. Farmed fish are grown in cages or monitored areas and fed regularly, similar to livestock on land. Fisheries catch fish in the wild and use a little more energy in the process. There are likely very few new areas for fishing\u00a0left to be discovered, and already there is a limit to how many fish we can catch so\u00a0that\u00a0the fish population can keep up. So while fisheries are also important, a focus on fish farming, where we can still grow, is important.<\/p>\n

Unlike a cow or any other warm-blooded livestock, a fish does not need to spend energy to keep warm and stay upright. In fact, a farmed fish can provide a 1 to 1 ratio of feed to weight.\u00a0This feed comes from other low-value fish, and research is being conducted for even cheaper alternatives such as insects<\/a> or flax<\/a>.\u00a0Shellfish actually don’t require feeding at all, taking their nutrients through filtering and cleaning the water. Some people have a negative view on farmed fish after some pretty unregulated and chemical-infused\u00a0fish farms of the 1980s showed the practice in an unflattering light. However, practices have changed dramatically since then, and as the industry evolves,\u00a0newer and cleaner methods are being developed every day. Salmon, once the face of “bad fish farming,” are now being certified sustainable for the first time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Using fish for a larger amount of our protein is key to sustaining our food supply to meet a growing need.\u00a0Farmed fish provide a very efficient source of protein that could lessen the demand for much less-efficient\u00a0red meats, freeing\u00a0up more resources and allowing us to feed more people.\u00a0It might take a conscious effort at first; a salmon might not be a desirable replacement for a steak dinner for some, especially in our country. We’re already making progress; as of 2012,\u00a0more farmed fish was produced than beef\u200b<\/a>.\u00a0With enough people on board, we can begin making\u00a0the change today and help to\u00a0feed the people of the future.<\/p>\n

Resources
\n<\/b>Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources<\/a>\u00a0Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources Extension
\nThe Benefits of Seafood Consumption<\/a>\u00a0The Education Store, Purdue Extension Resource Center
\nA Fish Farmer’s Guide to Understanding Water Quality<\/a>, Koi Organization International
\nEverything You Always Wanted to Know About Fish Farming But Were Afraid to Ask<\/a>,\u00a0Grist.org
\nAquaculture<\/a>,\u00a0National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries<\/p>\n

Aaron Doenges, Assistant Web Designer\/Videographer
\nPurdue FNR\u00a0Extension<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Information from Grist.org: If you’re like many other Americans, at some point this week unless you are a vegetarian, you will probably be eating some sort of\u00a0red meat like beef or pork. In fact, you might be having it for dinner later this evening. However, a significantly smaller amount of the people reading this might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-4807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aquaculturefish","tag-aquaculturefish","audience-for-enthusiasts","audience-for-homeowners","audience-for-landowners","audience-for-professionals"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4807"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33884,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807\/revisions\/33884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}