Friday, March 4, 2011

Open-ocean aquaculture needs more scrutiny

Despite significant environmental, cultural and economic concerns about open-ocean aquaculture (OOA), permitting and other forms of government support make Hawaii "ground zero" for testing this risky new technology.

The dominant story justifying OOA is part of a larger story about food systems that views highly industrialised, globalised and large-scale production as the only way to feed the world. However, as we are well aware in Hawaii due partly to the ingenious example of loko i'a, or Hawaiian fishponds smaller-scale, community-based and localised systems of production may present more environmentally sustainable and socially just alternatives.

Additionally, whether or not marine aquaculture to date has provided food security is highly debated, and many studies have shown that local livelihoods and food systems especially those of the poor in developing countries have been severely undermined by aquaculture production for richer nations. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.
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