Understanding the Connections Between Coastal Waters and Ocean Ecosystem Services and Human Health Workshop Summary (2014) / Chapter Skim
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4 Seafood Supplies and Food Security
4 Seafood Supplies and Food Security
Pages 45-74
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From page 45... ...
Morgan Professor of Sciences, Eminent Scholar and Director, Center for Quantitative Fisheries Ecology, Old Dominion University Cynthia Jones began by outlining the main topics of her presentation -- dietary recommendations for seafood consumption, fish production, and the effect of climate change on fish productivity. Jones highlighted the distinction between food security and food safety, noting that food security means having enough food to feed the nation.
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From page 46... ...
Fish Production The source of the fish harvest is the commercial and recreational capture fisheries and aquaculture. In passing, Jones pointed out that marine fish are the last commercially captured wild animals in the world -- no other wild animal is hunted commercially for food.
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From page 47... ...
harvest. Turning to the fish harvest in the rest of the world, Jones noted that the worldwide production of fish has risen in the past 50 years, but the marine capture component of that has leveled off since the 1980s, remaining at about 80 million metric tons.
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From page 48... ...
The Marine Stewardship Council1 is predicting that climate change will have a significant impact on fisheries from • ocean acidification, • warmer water temperatures, and • changes in oxygenation levels in the oceans. 1 The Marine Stewardship Council develops standards for sustainable fishing and seafood traceability to increase the availability of certified sustainable seafood.
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From page 49... ...
Speckled Trout Speckled trout is a favorite fish for recreational fishing and for food. Their optimal habitat is seagrass, and the variety present in the Chesapeake Bay -- Zostera marina, or eelgrass -- is at the edge of its southern range and is being replaced by Ruppia maritima, or widgeon grass, which is a very ephemeral habitat.
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From page 50... ...
production alone is relied upon, food security for the nation will be compromised. The impact of changes in management on diminishing the gap between available food and the amount needed would not be significant, she added, emphasizing that, contrary to common perception, the U.S.
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From page 51... ...
Declining Fisheries As a boy, Seaver spent his summers by the Patuxent River, fishing, crabbing, and enjoying the amazing bounty of those waters, reeling in blue fish, perch, porgies, croakers, striped bass, and many others. At 25, when he achieved the post of chef he decided to look to his past and serve up the bounty he remembered from his youth.
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From page 52... ...
As food is a primary driver of human interaction with nature and a principal cause of some of the most detrimental forces that have been visited upon nature, logical policies should be developed to protect ecosystem services that protect human needs (food security) more than human desires (monetary gain)
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From page 53... ...
But, in this case, Seaver believes that the placement of this mine would be a mistake, adding that he saw it as a choice between food security for the human population versus monetary gain. He added that the country supports a strategic oil reserve -- perhaps it could also have a strategic food reserve.
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From page 54... ...
Environmentalism has not come to terms with the idea that human interests and economic systems are vitally important to managing our resources, Seaver said. Seaver noted that currently farms are subsidized, and a farm is an economic system governed by imperatives of increased production and lowered costs.
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From page 55... ...
There is no technical solution to any resource management problem that can succeed in absence of a complementary behavioral shift in how we use that product. The solution, Seaver said, is simple: "take what you need, share the rest, and leave the system intact." While the technology of aquaculture and increased crop yields on land may very well give a necessary and vital boost to food production, no alchemy will ever make an "all-you-can-eat buffet" sustainable -- neither for human health, nor for the planet.
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From page 56... ...
AQUACULTURE: ENSURING A FUTURE SEAFOOD SUPPLY FOR A HEALTHY POPULATION AND ENVIRONMENT Kevan L
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From page 57... ...
However, Main predicted future shortages in food and water will not only constrain growth in terrestrial agriculture but will also require freshwater aquaculture to shift to recirculating systems. The task will be to increase global food security, continue the supply of high-quality seafood, and to restore declining fisheries (i.e., stock enhancements)
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From page 58... ...
Tank Production Systeems So ome of the en nvironmental impacts are rreduced whenn fish are raissed inside tanks. Howeever, not onlyy are large voolumes of watter required ffor open tank systems, but that wateer must be disscharged, and if concentratted affluennt is discharg ged back into o lakes and cooastal habitatts it can havee a negativve impact.
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From page 59... ...
. The growing need to expand food production, and the problems encountered with the coastal systems in particular, have encouraged expansion into offshore cage systems.
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From page 60... ...
. At A the Mote Aquaculture A Research Paark in Sarasota, Floridaa, there is a commercial farm produccing sturgeonn and caviar in water recirculaating systemss, and a marinne research uunit working on freshw expand ding the recirrculating systtems to produuce a wide raange of mariine speciess.
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From page 61... ...
For aquaculture, one of the primary issues is the availability and use of high-quality water resources to grow the seafood products. Water Quality Standards for Recirculating and Other Land-Based Aquaculture Farms In determining water quality requirements, the water needs to be evaluated at three different points in the system: incoming water, water within the tank or pond, and the water that is discharged from the system back to the environment.
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From page 62... ...
Following publication of those first scientific studies on the potential to restore marine fisheries resources using stock enhancement in 1989 and the 1990s, more evidence was
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From page 63... ...
However, the use of marine stock enhancement requires a "responsible approach" to stocking that is focused on protecting wild fishery resources, Main said. In closing, Main gave an outline of the important issues she had covered in this presentation: • Fish is the primary source of protein for nearly 1 billion people.
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From page 64... ...
Interactions at the Triad In terms of the people–water environment–food supply triad, Murawski stated, the environment and food production issues are linked to societal well-being and human outcomes as well as general preparedness for environmental catastrophes, including storms, sea-level rise, and harmful algal blooms (see Figure 4-3)
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From page 65... ...
W When looking at all those life-cyclle analyses, Murawski noted, theree are differing perspeectives on the type of "currrency" includded in the life-cycle analyssis. The currency may y be energy, toxic and hhazardous suubstances, food producction or consu umption, wateer productionn or consumpttion, economiics in term ms of the con nsumer or pro oducer, humaan mortality aand well-beinng, carbonn footprint or greenhouse g gaas issues, or nnatural resourcce sustainability.
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From page 66... ...
. Fishery Sustainability While the world annual seafood production is static among wild sources, the proportion from aquaculture sources is increasing.
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From page 67... ...
with pooor recordds in terms of sustainabilityy scores. Murawski explained that in the United Sttates fishery ssustainabilityy is defined with respecct to the sizee of the stockk.
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Movements to value sustainably caught seafood and create sustainable certification programs are also occurring at the global level. Life-cycle analysis is being utilized to assess the sustainability of various fishing methods and stocks as a positive feedback to value sustainable fisheries.
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From page 69... ...
Seaver stated that this is an example of how the systematic approaches of sustainability should be acknowledged along with the production aspects. Lynn Goldman asked Main to comment on the amount of fish feed that is required to go into farm fish production and address whether this is the best way to deliver fish protein.
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From page 70... ...
As a result, Jones said, many fishermen are now part-time, rather than full-time, and many boats sit idle for part of the year, which is a terrible use of capital. Jones noted that one potential solution is to decrease to a sustainable fleet size for the fish catch that is available and start circulating new licenses and catch shares as they come along.
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From page 71... ...
Murawski noted that starting with basic metrics, it would be helpful to include these diverse societal goals into the life-cycle analysis without it becoming unwieldy. The classic fishery metrics are how big the stock is, and how fast is it leaving.
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From page 72... ...
2013. Household food security in the United States in 2012.
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From page 73... ...
2008. Silver Spring, MD: National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology.
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