How Do We Know If Fish Farming Is Sustainable?

This is the last article in my series on aquaculture. Many times in this small series, I’ve argued that the expansion of fish farming is both good and necessary. And, just as many times, I’ve said that this expansion needs to be sustainable. Sustainable is a problematic word. It means so many things to many people that it may actually mean nothing to anybody. For myself the short, and admittedly rather vague, definition I use is that sustainable means practicing now in ways that do not preclude the opportunity for others to practice in the future. Others, however, have undertaken much more rigorous efforts to define sustainable aquaculture in particular. They have also taken the steps to recognize those who adhere to their sustainability vision. In this article I describe some of the work of those who define sustainable aquaculture and what it means.