3 - Pesticide contamination in farmed fish: assessing risks reducing contamination

Abstract

This chapter discusses the use of conventional pesticides in terms of their wider application and use and clarifies the likely direct and indirect channels to contamination of fish that is consumed. Pesticide use, by volume and diversity, continues to increase globally within food production generally, toward broader human activities as well as more specifically in the production of farmed aquatic products. The relative risks to the environment and humans associated with increased pesticide application in support of intensification of aquaculture needs to be considered along with the risks to aquaculture from pesticides used elsewhere. Both the health and productivity of the fish and impacts on consumer health and perceptions deserve attention. The further development of global trade in aquaculture products would require continued improvements in traceability and adoption of Good Management Practices by producers. Increasingly, any aquaculture enterprise targeting high value markets, whether located in developing or developed economies, would be monitored by third party certifiers for which absence of pesticide contamination would be an essential aspect.