If suitable species are farmed appropriately, aquaculture could be an alternative to the ruthless exploitation of marine resources and to industrial fishing, which often prioritises something other than the welfare of fishes and sustainability. Around 100 billion fishes currently live in farms around the world – and fish farms face the challenge of improving the quality of life for their fishes.
As consumers, we can influence the fishing and aquaculture industries: by making conscious choices and demanding certain products, we can help to promote responsible products and eliminate unethical ones. Consuming mainly herbivorous fishes such as carp and tilapia from extensive pond farming is usually both animal-friendly and environmentally friendly.
It is also worth buying from local organic fish farms. Here you can find out for yourself how the fishes are kept and get a direct impression. Unfortunately, however, many fish species are farmed that are not at all suitable for this: please avoid salmon, for example. Salmon cannot be kept in a species-appropriate manner, either in cages or in tanks. Salmon farms are far too different from the complex natural living conditions. As they are carnivorous, they need a lot of wild fishes for food. This leads to even more overfishing of the seas. Norwegian farmed salmon, for example, requires around 2 million tonnes of wild fishes as feed every year. A large proportion of this comes from regions with high levels of food insecurity. Wild-caught salmon is also not recommended in most cases, as many stocks are already threatened.
fair‑fish is committed to incorporating measures for good fish welfare into all standards: In the Carefish/farm project, we worked with FishEthoGroup to develop fish welfare criteria for the Friend of the Sea label for aquaculture. fair‑fish is currently involved in Aquaculture Consultancy and education in Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
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