Closed containment salmon farming less attractive as world’s freshwater sucked up
Salmon Farm Science, August 13, 2012
Agriculture worldwide is rapidly sucking up freshwater from underground aquifers formed thousands of years ago.
Advanced agriculture, which relies on irrigation, has allowed our planet to flourish. We have the technology to feed every single person on this planet. The only reason this isn’t happening is purely because of political struggles.
But advanced agriculture has come with a price. New research shows we are using up freshwater at a frighteningly unsustainable rate in some parts of the world.
There is still a lot of groundwater which is not under enormous pressure, but that’s not an excuse to ignore what we are currently doing in the areas experiencing stress. Yes, we could suck these aquifers dry and then import water from other countries. But this is not acceptable if we want to have control over our own food supplies in Canada and the United States, or whatever part of the world we are in. It would also drive up food prices immensely, and is hardly a responsible use of one of our planet’s most precious resources: fresh water.
Besides, these aquifers won’t refill for thousands of years and draining them would have dramatic environmental impacts.
The problem with drawing too much water from an aquifer, which has been stored in these geologic formations for thousands of years, is that it can’t easily be restored once pumped dry. That’s the crisis facing farmers who rely on the Ogallala Aquifer, which once contained enough water to cover the entire continental U.S. roughly half-a-meter deep. Once pumped dry, the Ogallala would take at least 6,000 years to refill.
Another complication of pumping too much water from an aquifer is that creeks will run dry and surface waters can literally be sucked back underneath the surface. That’s not good for wildlife. Yet the world needs more water to meet the demand of a growing population for food.
Environmental problem-shifting
This brings us to closed-containment salmon farming. Pardon us while we climb up on our soapbox here.
Critics of salmon farming often say we should just grow fish on land, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. It’s about as natural as farming chickens underwater. Yes, you could do it, but why?
We do not believe there is any reason to farm fish on land when we have a perfectly good ocean. Responsible salmon farms have very small environmental impacts, so there’s no need to force them on land to manage what is really just a perceived risk.
To read the full blog and access embedded links go to: http://salmonfarmscience.com/2012/08/13/closed-containment-salmon-farming-less-attractive-as-worlds-freshwater-sucked-up/
