High-intensity coastal aquaculture

Seafood consumption is a vital part of many cultures and shows seldom signs of going away anytime soon. But the way in which we consume seafood has historically been incredibly unsustainable. The world has a massive overfishing problem that has devastated wild populations of fish and other sea animals. To accommodate the world’s demand for seafood while also turning around our practices of overfishing wild populations, we must implement high-intensity coastal aquaculture. Increased high-intensity coastal aquaculture might cause an overall shift in where consumers get their protein source from, by increasing seafood consumption and decreasing land animal consumption. This could mean an overall decrease in environmental degradation and energy devoted to livestock production which would undoubtedly have a positive effect on the environment. High-intensity coastal aquaculture has the potential to be a driving force against climate change and environmental degradation. By reducing the burden on the agricultural sector to produce land meat we reduce energy expenditure that way. If we are careful about choosing which species to farm and how exactly we go about doing it, high-intensity coastal aquaculture can help improve the ecosystems where they are. This effect can be seen in much of the oyster aquaculture done on the east coast of the United States. Where oysters improve the water quality and provide consumers with a sustainable protein source. High-intensity coastal aquaculture may be a controversial food system solution but it is absolutely necessary when it comes to creating a more sustainable global food system.