Aquaculture

Aquaculture, also known as fish or shellfish farming is defined as the breeding, rearing and harvesting of plants and animals in all types of water environments including lakes, ponds, rivers and the ocean.
The social pros of aquaculture are that they contribute to feeding the growing population of the world, they can increase scientific knowledge and technology and it provides for the protein needs for third world countries. Some of the social cons are it can create conflict with other users of bodies of water such as lobster-men, fishermen or migrating fish as well as threaten the livelihood of fishermen.
The environmental pros are it may reduce fishing pressure on certain wild stocks if that species if that species can be produced through aquaculture rather than fished, it can reduce seafood trade deficit and can also place a better spotlight and awareness of protecting coastal waters from pollution, especially in the case of mollusk and seaweed culture. Meanwhile the environmental cons of aquaculture remain as having the possibility of putting pressure on wild stocks that are used to create high protein feed pellets, it can amplify and transfer disease and parasites to wild fish populations as well as affecting the aesthetic beauty of coastlines. Additional environmental cons are that it can compromise native gene pools if farmed fish and native species interbreed and it can pollute water systems with excess nutrients such as fish feed and wastes, chemicals and antibiotics.
Economic pros are that it can create jobs in communities, increase revenue on city, state and national levels and can encourage local investment. Economic cons are it can be an unpredictable enterprise for small local communities due to its susceptibility to severe weather, predators, disease and global competition and it can also cause other industries to become smaller therefore taking away various jobs.

  Aquaculture has many positive and negatives which can sway your point of view of it either way, however in my opinion from the knowledge I have gained, it does more harm than good. The reasons I feel this way are although economically it can create jobs for people and provides protein needs for third world countries which is very important it also does extensive irreparable damage to the environment and the existence of many species of fish. Although aquaculture is good and essential to some parts of the country, I believe that the human greed causing excessive fishing from other parts of the world such as the US and Canada is harming the heritage of many fish to the point where they may not exist in the very near future. However not only will the fish be extinct, the people that rely on the fish to survive may also go into famish and starvation and from there an abundant portion of the third world population will be lost due to starvation. Species of fish will be lost, lives will be lost, ecosystems will be jeopardized and environments will be severely harmed and polluted. In reflection to all these reasons I think aquaculture should continue, but it needs to be contained and standardized to where there is a limit to where fishermen may fish and how much fish they are allowed to catch.