Question

As the demand for seafood rises, nearly half of all

seafood now comes from aquaculture. Why hasn't the amount of wild-caught fish caught
each year increased as well?

Answer 1

The amount of wild-caught fish has not increased as the demand for seafood rises due to factors such as overfishing, limited productivity of seascapes, and unintentional captures of non-target species.

Step-by-step explanation:

As the demand for seafood rises, a significant portion is now coming from aquaculture. However, the amount of wild-caught fish caught each year has not increased at the same rate. This is due to a number of factors:

1. Overfishing: Many wild fish populations have already been exploited to their maximum level, with 25% being fished at their maximum level of productivity and 35% being overfished. This has led to declining yields and a need for increased harvests from other sources.
2. Limited productivity: Most seascapes are relatively low-productivity, and 80% of the global catch comes from only ~20% of the area. Therefore, there is a limit to the amount of fish that can be sustainably caught from the wild.
3. Bycatches: Indiscriminate fishing methods often result in large numbers of unintentional captures of non-target species, which can correspond to a significant portion of the total catch. This further reduces the amount of target wild fish that can be caught.

Answer 2

A major reason for the lack of any substitution effect with aquaculture, says Longo, is that many farmed species, such as salmon and bluefin tuna, are top predators so farming them requires feed made from other fish. ... “But it's hard to take a top marine predator and feed it soy meal,” Wiber says.

Step-by-step explanation: