Pacific Salmon Aquaculture

Human demand for fish has increased enormously over the last several years, particularly since the 1950’s. This is widely due to the reported health benefits of making fish a regular part of our diet. In fact, fish is the main source of protein for many people worldwide. This increased popularity has caused more business to

Along with the sheer capability to sustain fish populations and feed the increasing demands of humans, the practice of aquaculture itself is a resource efficient way of producing protein. By nature, fish are able to convert more of their food into body mass than when looking at land animals. For example, farmed raised salmon are one of the most intensively-fed cultured fish, but according to the NOAA, when comparing the ratio of pounds of feed to produce a pound of protein, farm raised salmon has a ratio of 1.2 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of salmon, which is still lower than the 1.9 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of chicken (whereas Pork is 5.9lbs : 1lb, and Beef measures in at 8.7lbs : 1lb) (NOAA,

The main intention of this experiment is to distinguish whether the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) has effects on Atlantic Croaker fish. Samples from Atlantic Croaker were taken from both tributaries, one being a Bisphenol A (BPA) free tributary, and the other being filled with Bisphenol A (BPA). In which data was recorded, analyzed, and had astonishing results. The results displayed that when the female Atlantic Croaker hepatic system were exposed to high dosages of Bisphenol A they showed physical abnormalities

The biggest attraction of British Columbia to me, is the wide variety of wildlife that is present. First of all, moose are one of the province’s most popular large mammals in British Columbia. The moose is the largest member of the deer family. They may weigh up to 1,300 pounds and stand seven feet tall. An interesting thing about moose is that their body types differ from the regions they live in (“Moose”). Another amazing animal of British Columbia is the Pacific salmon. Salmon is the traditional sportfish of the province. Just a few of the many species of Pacific salmon include the King, Coho, and Sockeye. Adult salmon may travel up to an astonishing 2,000 miles to spawn. Some specific salmon species use the Earth’s magnetic field to find

Salmon are both an indicator and keystone species to the survival of ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. A healthy salmon species implies healthy waterways with little pollution, and an abundance of native plants and animals, as well as thriving estuaries that effectively filter pollutants. Salmon are a vital food source for predators, and carry key nutrients to plants surrounding the rivers and lakes where they spawn. Along with environmental stability, a healthy salmon population contributes to a multi-million dollar industry of thousands of workers along the Pacific

Lou Gonzales, of Sonora, recently returned from a salmon fishing trip to the Kenai River in Alaska, near Soldotna. Due to low return numbers, the Kenai River had been closed to the taking of king (chinook) salmon for the past few years. Gonzales was amazed at how good the fishing was since the closure. Gonzalez and friends released over 30 kings during the trip, keeping the biggest of the allowable one per day limit, which weighed 48 and 50-pounds. Numerous silver (coho) salmon were also caught. While on the Kenai, the friend with whom he was fishing had a rule - to release kings under 30-pounds. Gonzales has been there on trips in the past, but never saw it quite this good. A few years back, he caught a huge king in the 70-pound class. The

This paper observes the efficiencies of three different feed types fed to Epinephelus coioides. These feed types include a soy-based plant protein pellet (AQUA-LIFE), fish meal pellets (Ridley Aqua Feeds) and whole Pilchards. The fish had their dry weight and length measured prior to the commencement of the trial. 12 tanks, with 5 fish per tank were fed the three different feed types. All fish were fed every day of the 5 week trial period. The results showed the fish meal pellets had the most efficient food conversion ratio (FCR) value (0.84), with a standard growth rate (SGR) of 4.28 grams per week. This FCR value was substantially more efficient compared to the value of 2.20 and 2.98 for the Pilchards and plant based protein respectively. Several mortalities occurred in the fish being fed plant based protein, possibly due to high aggression as a result of a lack of nutrients. Water quality parameters were also not ideal for the growth of the fish as all nitrogen levels were above the ideal threshold, with nitrate reaching 89 ppm before a water change was conducted. In conclusion, the fish meal pellets proved to be the most

There are misconceptions on farmed-raised fish. A lot of people read an article on Yahoo and think that is the norm. Customers stay away from farm-raised fish and tend to go for the wild-caught option. Yes there are a lot of bad farms and farming practices in the world but it isn’t fair to stigmatize the entire industry. There are good farms with good practices. After all, we do eat farmed-raised poultry, beef and pork and we don’t think twice about eating it. So why are many consumers afraid to eat farm-raised fish? Many consumers are misinformed. I’m going to discuss how Whole Foods Market has raised the bar when it comes to farm-raised fish with their Responsibly Farmed standards.

Approximately 1.3 million U.S. households are home to salt water fish (Pet Statistics). These fish are not swimming about in oceans or other salty bodies of water; instead they are confined to small tanks where their lifespans can be shortened by over ten years. But how did these fish end up here? Illegal activity has brought “up to 90 percent of the 11 million tropic fish” (Bruckner 17) to the United States each year, causing detrimental effects to both the fish and surrounding marine life. The marine aquarium industry is in desperate need of reform and is one of the most pressing enviornmental issues today, despite its easy solution. The aquarium fish trade needs to be regulated in order

When fish like salmon are farmed, often the fish are still kept in the ocean; however, they live inside of nets so that they are still contained. There are many ethical arguments based around these net systems because these nets pose threats to wild salmon. Captive salmon can escape from the nets, which allows them to breed with wild salmon. This can disrupt the natural gene pool of wild salmon. Farmed salmon have been shown to outgrow wild salmon when introduced into the wild, and typically have higher mortality rates, which would be poor traits to be introduced into the wild gene pool, (Hindar, et al., 2006). Unfortunately, with the invasive farmed salmon being introduced to wild populations from escapees of net systems, the recovery of the original wild salmon is unlikely, even if decades went by without more intrusive farmed salmon being present, (Hindar, et al., 2006). Another problem is that the nets do not contain wastes from the captive salmon inside, wastes such as uneaten feed, and feces from the fish are dispersed into the open waters of the ocean. Wild salmon can contract infections and parasites from captive farmed salmon in nets. A study indicated that these parasites, such as sea lice, and infections lead to high mortality rates in wild salmon passing near

Another global effect of overfishing is fish farming or aquaculture. It was first started to help preserve the ocean and hoped to help people to obtain a reliable fish source. Unfortunately, what many came to realize is the downside of fish farming. One example is water contamination, where consequently waste products such as foods eaten, feces and other dead fish, are all dumped into our main water supply which contributes to water pollution. Moreover, chemicals that are used to treat the fish farms like antibiotics and algaecides are all released into the ocean; which is a real cause for concern for our oceans. Fish that come from the fish farms are pumped full of drugs, to prevent sickness in the fish but this is not healthy for us to eat. There is also a great environmental impact which includes the fact that to sustain fish farms, portions of

Walmart has a large retail seafood business and it is always a challenge to reduce cost and promote sustainability. With upward trend for the demand of sea-food, depletion of the seafood supply is inevitable unless Walmart have a deep engagement of their supply chain. One strategy that Walmart wants to promote to their suppliers is for all of them to take up the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification program. This process will be time consuming, expensive and complex. The depletion of some fish poses a threat to Walmart and its seafood supply chain.

A Monte Carlo simulation typically provides one with an overwhelmingly high amount of simulations, whereas a change of all the variables occurs on a random basis. However, only the average of these is of importance. The input incorporates the correlations of all the variables included. The output is then

At the end of World War II, fishing became exacerbated as fishing technology improved; technology allowed for more catch, at a quicker rate, at an increasing distance from near shore waters. Fishing became a larger portion of the world’s food supply and economy. However, fish abundance was short lived. The United States, along with the rest of the world, found itself in a conundrum. By the 1960’s, fish stocks exhibited dramatic decline and major fisheries around the U.S. were overfished. 2 Legislation was needed for better regulation, and in 1976 the first comprehensive bill was passed to protect fishing areas farther offshore and prevent further decline. The Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) promoted the U.S fishing industry’s optimal exploitation of coastal fisheries by consolidating control over territorial waters through the establishment of eight regional councils to manage fish stocks, which are controlled largely by industry representatives.3, 4 The ultimate focus was, and is to this day, to protect the fishing industry, while also protecting fish stock. 1,5,6 The MSA helped to prevent foreign fisherman from fishing inside U.S. waters. Other nations developed similar laws and management practices.2

(2003) found that acceptance of aquaculture activities was greater where socioeconomic benefits were perceived to be high and there was a lower incidence of concerns about environmental pollution from the industry. Women, community groups (particularly those with conservation interests), ecotourism industries, some researchers, local governments, some state agency staff and informed members of the general public were more likely to focus on aquaculture’s negative (environmental, economic and social) risks and seek improvements in aquaculture planning and management to substantially reduce those risks ( Nicole et al; 2008)