Can we farm the ocean without destroying it?

The oceans cover 70% of the world’s surface, but they only supply 2% of its food. Farming fish, the fastest growing food production activity in the world, could change that. But even though it’s been practiced for thousands of years, it still poses environmental challenges. Can we change that?

Reporter: Kai Steinecke
Camera: Tomas McDonagh
Video Editor: Kai Steinecke
Supervising Editor: Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann

We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.

#PlanetA #FishFarming #OceanFarming

Read more:

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:35 The Feed Problem
4:39 The Energy Problem
6:32 Toxic Fish Poop
7:49 Shellfish's Power
9:06 Magic Seaweed
11:07 Conclusion

[DWPlanetA]

We apologize for the bad sound quality in parts of the video – we only noticed it once we were safely back on land and it was too late 😔

[SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

I was legit angry for most of the video that you weren’t talking about seaweed….but then you got around to it!

I’m ok with farming fish, but I’m waaaay more interested in farming seaweed and moving more of my diet to incorporate that.

[Saalor]

FCR (Feed conversion ratio) is somewhat misleading. The "feed" is very different for the animals being compared. Fish needs a high protein content feed, while the protein content ( and sometimes moisture content) in the feed for other animals are different. Better to look at protein retention. This puts for example poultry on an equal efficiency as fish farming. If fed without fish meal, then you drastically reduce the harm to the marine environment.

[freeman]

I know they sort of target different species of fish but I feel like no matter the impact this kind of farming/fishing has, it has to be immensely better than bottom trawling KMs of ocean floor, just sucks that the fish food is most likely a result from mass/unsustainable fishing endeavors.

[areyousneaky]

as a former fish farmer, we can do it sustainably, just not profitably. It's not about whose making money in this business, it's about who is going out of business slowest.

[stephentroake]

I'm not surprised by your conclusions. I'm glad you joined the Marine Institute to get the low-down. I gather that another issue with salmon feed is that it may be made from fish which were harvested from Africa's west coast, depriving many people of food and income.

[jk-bfnw]

It would be interesting to test the quality of that water.

[jonwarland]

Kai is a great presenter. He has great energy and enthusiasm for sustainability.

[vishalrabari]

When I was young I used to watch the mat Geo, discovery chanels .
Now found DW as their representative and find it even better.

[Amalokch]

I work in the land-based aquaculture industry, and I have always been taught that land-based systems are the most environmentally friendly. Therefore, I was quite surprised by your statement at 05:50. Could you provide a link to the study you mentioned? I'm curious to know how accurate it is. If it turns out to be true, it will come as a major shock to all my colleagues. From my understanding, we utilize degassers to mitigate CO2 emissions.

[michaelrm]

A very personable host! For an otherwise "boring" topic, it was presented with quick edits and engaging visuals

[ThomasAKHIL]

FYI .... Just because fishes have lower FCR doesn't imply that they are better than cattles. Cattles even though they have FCR around 10 are more efficient at converting low grade food material like grass into its own body weight. While fishes since they have poorly developed digestive system requires higher quality of feed. Hence we can't directly compare the FCR as an efficiency of their growth

[DC]

Interesting video, so by quadrupling the size of the scallop & algae farm next to fish farm, you will reduce the fish pollution problem by 50-60%? I have also seen concepts where the whole fish farm is movable and operates in the sea rather than a bay. In theory you could have larger nets at sea so the fish have more space to roam

[ryanparag]

Great points. But the farms that will be running these systems will most likely disregard the guidelines.

[Noukz]

Thank you for the message in the end! 🙂

[TheMarkvq]

really interesting. I would like to learn more. I live in LatinAmerica and few kilometers from the ocean. This is an alternative that needs to be evaluated.

[badrinair]

Thank you for the good information. We're glad you came to Ireland

[Edoras]

Hats of to Mr. Wan for the call out to them issues. telling it as it is

[dingodyno]

So they are pretty much filtering the water the way you would in saltwater tank, thats pretty cool.

[mukkaar]

"we are running out of land to produce food"
Not really, we are running out of land to produce food for animals :D Producing animal calories is pretty damn inefficient.
I'm just praying for a day we can precisely genetically engineer animals into vegetables, grow them like lettuce in vertical farms, inject them with nutrient solution and electronically stimulate muscles to artificially produce some stress.
I really look forward to lab grown meat. But at the same time you can't replicate actual animal animal meat and other parts people enjoy eating with it. Before that though, I think we really need to think about how to manage our consumption, and not just food.