Woolworths commits to sustainable fish sourcing - Is this the start of something bigger?

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Comment by saugato mukerji on April 2, 2011 at 6:40pm

the MSC  is definitely a very welcome initiative for natural marine fishery. However seafood caught from marine sources is unlikely to be able to meet the growing demand for seafood. Fresh water is really the most critical sustainability issue in the 21st century, as the population heads towards the predicted peak of 9 billion and climate change makes water availability less predictable. We need to find ways to provide sustainable alternatives to beef and lamb since both of these need large amounts of water and the growing middle class of the growing population will want even more of it. In most cases beef and lamb are actually finished by feeding grain and this is not sustainable in world facing grain shortages. Inland fisheries can in principle, provide an increasing and scalable source of alternative protein. The fishmeal or feed for such inland fisheries too needs to be produced sustainably, perhaps by replicating nature, In nature algae form biomass which are eaten by small fish which in turn are eaten by the seafood we eat. It may be possible to create the food chain for the inland fishery and also find useful application of the ntirogen rich wastes produced by the fish. There are already small aquaponic systems which process the urea rich water from fish ponds as plant nutrient. The plants are grown with hydroponics like techniques. Bacteria in gravel beds are used to break down the urea to nitrogen forms that are easily absorbed by the hydroponic plants. The end result is pure water which is put back into the fish tank. While this has only been done on a small scale, a community level fish farm coupled with an aquaponic community garden may provide an organic and sustainable organic future source of fish and vegetables.  The best part is that this can happen in a semi closed environment even in the arid areas of the world.  While all this may seem futuristic in 2011 it may all be reality within the next 20 to 30 years. Actually bits of it are actually here. We in Australia already eat the lovely hydroponic truss tomatoes grown in large multi hectare glasshouses at $5 or less a kilo.

Comment by Leon Young on March 28, 2011 at 12:22pm

That's an interesting point Saugato, but wouldn't you agree there are many other issues to be considered apart from water? Issues that need to be considered with fish farming, that I am aware of, include the source of the fish food (usually fish meal and fish oil...but where does that come from?), pollution of the surrounding environment from the farm, transportation (this issue is the same as for wild catch), and I am sure there are more. Which is not to say fish farming can't be an important part of the solution, I am sure it is, but selecting a sustainable fish product is still a complex issue and while there are a couple of guides out there, at the moment they don't list specific fisheries but rather provide very generalised, non-specific guidance.

However, here is more proof things are moving in the right direction: http://www.msc.org/newsroom/news/australia2019s-sustainable-seafood...  

Comment by saugato mukerji on March 28, 2011 at 12:03am

Farmed fish is the most sustainable water efficient source of protein. It takes 16000 litres of water to grow 1kg of beef. In case of fish the water use is mainly limited to the evaporated water loss the equivalent water use in the order of 10s of litres of water per kg of protein equivalent to beef. Additionally the fish protein is healthier than beef in terms of cholesterol.

Supermarket chains could take significant action for the sustainability  cause by promoting and evangelising the consumption of farmed fish from coastal fish farms and inland pond / tank fishery enterprises.