Fish Farming In Australia

1.0 Introduction.

According to sustainable seafood there are 40 different types of seafood cultivated in Australian aquaculture farms, from barramundi to silver perch, and the others like mussels, prawns and oysters. But how good are fish farms for the marine biome and the surrounding environments? In this report I’ll be looking into how fish farms have a positive and negative affect on the environment and how we can better them for the environment .

2.0 Background

Fishing Farming in Australia isn’t one of Australia’s biggest agriculture but it still plays a big role in the economy but none the less aquaculture in Australia is the country’s fastest-growing primary industry, with 34% of the total gross value of production of seafood. 10 species of fish are farmed in Australia, but the main ones are the southern bluefin tuna, Atlantic salmon and barramundi. Fish farming takes place in marine biomes, and is slowly destroying it, as the biome has been altered to be able to fit hundreds of enclosures, which means there’s loss of sea space for native marine life. This is not a good thing as loss of marine biodiversity threatens the health of the oceans as a whole and especially for the animals in it.

3.0 Analysis of the environmental impact of these alterations.

The most common negative environmental impacts that have been associated with fish farming include waters eutrophication, water quality, alteration or destruction of natural habitats. But the main ones is that the dead fish or uneaten food just goes into the water to other sea life which could cause introduction and transmission of aquatic animal diseases making the other marine life sick or could cause death. We need fish farms though because as demand for fish as a food source grows, as the human population grows, and the number of fish available in the wild isn’t keeping pace.Fish farms help as they have the upper hand on things like climate change and pollution. Fish farms can produce fish with these unpredictable variations unlike fish in the wild. So fish farming helps to maintain the population of fish and keeps them from things out in the wild, like other prey or the chance of eating something like plastic from the pollution which causes death. But none the less some fish farms aren’t sustainable as some fish farms waste goes back into the sea which is unhealthy for marine life and the surrounding environment.

4.0 Evaluation and assessment of management strategies and recommendations.

There are many ways to make fish farming more sustainable one of those ways is to not have so many producers in the same area as it can lead to increasing environmental impacts, such as water pollution or fish diseases, even if the fish farms are following the law. Spatial planning and zoning can ensure that the operations stay within the surrounding ecosystem’s carrying capacity and can also lessen conflicts over resource use. Norway’s zoning laws, for example, ensure that the producers are not overly concentrated in one area, reducing disease risk and helping lessen the environmental impacts.

4.1 Evaluation of past and current management strategies

Currently in place in Australian fisheries is a limit of how many fish can be in one enclosure and the size of them that there is no overpopulation or crowding. This is in place because if fisheries are overcrowded then the fish will not have enough room to move meaning they might become sick or die and if they become sick and get exported then it may make the buyer also sick which is not good and can lead to worse things.

4.2 Recommendations

The controlling of fish population in the enclosures is a good idea and should continue to use it as it is affective and an good concept. Another way they could make it more sustainable for the environment is to control where the dead fish and uneaten food ends up. A way to control this is to figure out how much the fish eat so that there is no waste. Another way they could clean up there fish and uneaten food is to have some sort of cleaning system so that there isn’t so much waste going into the sea affecting marine life. If we do this then it will become more sustainable and better for the environment and if we don’t do this then the sea will become very sick and bad.

5.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, fish farming isn’t the most sustainable and safe for the environment but there are many ways to make sure that it is sustainable. We can’t shut fish farming down as its beneficial for the Australian people and economy, so to make sure its sustainable all we have to do is make it a little bit more sustainable for the marine biome and the species that live in it.

6.0 Reference List

1. SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF FISH FARMERS. (2019). Retrieved August 23, 2019, from http://www.fao.org/3/Y2876E/y2876e0j.htm
2. ABARES Fisheries economics. (2019). Retrieved August 22, 2019, from http://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/fisheries/fisheries-economics
3. Department of Agriculture Australian Fisheries Legislation. (2019). Retrieved August 22, 2019, from http://www.agriculture.gov.au/fisheries/legal-arrangements/legislation
4. Facilities: List of Australian fish and marine life farms – Aussie Farms. (2019). Retrieved August 23, 2019, from https://www.aussiefarms.org.au/facilities/food/fish
5. Fish Farming Advantages & Disadvantages. (2019, February 11). Retrieved August 22, 2019, from https://bizfluent.com/list-6426179-fish-farming-advantages-disadvantages.html
6. [bookmark: _Toc16843015]Marine Spatial Planning – the need for a common language – MarineSpecies Introduced Traits Wiki. (2019). Retrieved August 22, 2019, from http://marinespecies.org/introduced/wiki/Marine_Spatial_Planning_-_the_need_for_a_common_language