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Overfishing And Aquaculture In The United States

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As an ordinary consumer in the United States walks through the grocery store and observes the piles of food, they probably do not think twice about it. However, the process of globalization is fueling consumerism, which causes the overabundance of food present in environments such as grocery stores. One of the often-overlooked items that has a large impact is the high demand for fish, which causes overfishing that disrupts fish populations and by extension coastal communities that depend on fishing as part of their subsistence strategy. Consumerism also increases pollution, climate change, and plastic waste, all of which also devastate marine and freshwater organisms. The consumer industry that is growing along with globalization has a severe negative impact on both aquatic ecosystems and local cultures and economies. One of the largest factors that is threatening both marine and freshwater fish populations across the globe is the issue of overfishing, which is made necessary in part by the overly voracious desires of the consumer economy. In addition, the unbalanced fish consumption that is encouraged causes only a select few species such as …show more content…

Overfishing has been challenged by the rise of fish farming, or aquaculture, which allows popular fish such as salmon to be raised on farms. Aquaculture does help prevent the depletion of wild populations at an unsustainable rate, although the practice has its own issues. The process of raising fish on a farm raises ethical and hygienic questions, due to the fact that farmed fish normally grow up and live in cramped tanks or ponds their entire lives, and if not well-maintained, such environments can become filled with fish excretions, bacteria, and diseases that can then infect the fish. This issue is not present among wild-caught fish, which reside in large bodies of water or rivers that prevent a similar health and safety risk for people consuming the

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