Abstract
Aquaculture has been considered as an option to cope with the world food demand. However, criticisms have arisen around aquaculture, most of them related to the destruction of ecosystems such as mangrove forest to construct aquaculture farms, as well as the environmental impacts of the effluents on the receiving ecosystems. The inherent benefits of aquaculture such as massive food production and economical profits have led the scientific community to seek for diverse strategies to minimize the negative impacts, rather than just prohibiting the activity. Aquaculture is a possible panacea, but at present is also responsible for diverse problems related with the environmental health; however the new strategies proposed during the last decade have proven that it is possible to achieve a sustainable aquaculture, but such strategies should be supported and proclaimed by the different federal environmental agencies from all countries. Additionally there is an urgent need to improve legislation and regulation for aquaculture. Only under such scenario, aquaculture will be a sustainable practice.
Highlights
Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, has been the agroindustrial activity with the highest growth rate worldwide in the last four decades
The last FAO report revealed that the world population increased by 6.3% from 2004 to 2009, whereas the production of aquatic organisms by aquaculture increased by 31.5% in the same period (Figure 1) [2]
The proportion of fishmeal supplies used for fish production have increased from 10% in 1988 to more than 30% in the last years, which classifies aquaculture as a potential promoter of the collapse of fisheries stocks worldwide [24]
Summary
Aquaculture has been considered as an option to cope with the world food demand. criticisms have arisen around aquaculture, most of them related to the destruction of ecosystems such as mangrove forest to construct aquaculture farms, as well as the environmental impacts of the effluents on the receiving ecosystems. The inherent benefits of aquaculture such as massive food production and economical profits have led the scientific community to seek for diverse strategies to minimize the negative impacts, rather than just prohibiting the activity. Aquaculture is a possible panacea, but at present is responsible for diverse problems related with the environmental health; the new strategies proposed during the last decade have proven that it is possible to achieve a sustainable aquaculture, but such strategies should be supported and proclaimed by the different federal environmental agencies from all countries. There is an urgent need to improve legislation and regulation for aquaculture. Under such scenario, aquaculture will be a sustainable practice
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