Land based agriculture has a far greater effect on biodiversity than fisheries, a prominent American professor says. To replace the protein from global fisheries, grazing land would be needed that equals the world’s rain forests 22 times over.
In a meta-study, Professor Ray Hilborn of Washington University has evaluated published research into the effects on the environment of protein production, both from farming and from catching fish.
Commercial fishing, according to Prof. Hilborn, proved to have a lesser impact on the environment than land-based animal farming, and seafood industries keep “higher environmental standards generally” when compared with other food producers.
“When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that fishing has a relatively small environmental impact. In terms of water use, water pollution, pesticides, fertiliser, antibiotics and soil erosion, fishing barely figures. Then when you compare energy use and CO2 footprint, fishing in general comes out on top again”, he said in a press release published by the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council.
“Protein production is always going to have some effect on the environment. But it is important that we are aware of the trade off required to feed the world. It wouldn’t be smart to suggest we stop producing any single category of food, especially without thinking about how and with what we’re going to replace it”.
“Commercial fishing in particular is held to higher environmental standards. If green groups were consistent and applied those same standards to other forms of food production we wouldn’t have anything to eat”.