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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT><BR><FONT size=2 face=Arial><FONT
size=4>Farmed fish overtakes farmed beef for first time</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=instapaper_title>by <A
href="http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Michael+Marshall"
s_oc="null">Michael Marshall</A> </DIV>
<DIV>19 June 2013 </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23719?cmpid=NLC|NSNS|2013-2006-GLOBAL&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS">http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23719?cmpid=NLC|NSNS|2013-2006-GLOBAL&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS</A></DIV><!-- pgtop -->
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<P class=infuse>Cows have been overtaken by fish. For the first time in modern
history, the world has been producing more farmed fish than farmed beef. But
instead of being a boon for the environment, many fish farms are damaging it
because of the types of fish they breed.</P>
<P class=infuse>A report by the Earth Policy Institute in Washington DC has
found that <A href="http://www.earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates/2013/update114"
s_oc="null">farmed fish production is rising rapidly</A>, reaching a record 66
million tonnes in 2012. Cattle farm output, by contrast, has levelled off, with
just 63 million tonnes of beef produced in the same year.</P>
<P class=infuse>If current trends continue, <A
href="http://www.oecd.org/site/oecd-faoagriculturaloutlook/highlights-2013-EN.pdf"
s_oc="null">humans are set to consume more farmed fish than wild-caught fish by
2015</A>, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.</P>
<P class=infuse>Some farmed fish are good for the environment. Chinese
aquaculture, which accounts for 62 per cent of the world's farmed fish, relies
heavily on <A href="http://eol.org/pages/220327/overview" s_oc="null">species
such as silver carp</A>. These can be grown on rice paddies and feed on grass,
plankton and detritus. This relatively sustainable way of farming fish boosts
rice yields and produces little pollution.</P>
<P class=infuse>However, other popular farmed species such as salmon are
carnivorous. They must be fed on smaller fish like anchovies, caught from the
wild. As a result, salmon can only be farmed by further depleting wild fish
stocks. "It would be preferable to shift the balance back in favour of farmed
fish raised without feeds based on protein from other animals," the report
concludes.</P>
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