Monday 27 October 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
ARGENTINA:
Caution and Enthusiasm
for Fish Farming
By Marcela Valente*
BUENOS AIRES,
(Tierramérica) - Fish
farming is expanding in
Latin America, fuelled
by the demands of a
global market that is
facing the stagnation of
commercial fishing. But
some people are warning
about the limits of
industrial production of
fish and the
environmental and social
risks.
According to the United
Nations Food and
Agriculture Organisation
(FAO), 45 percent of the
fish consumed in the
world comes from fish
farms. Today that means
48 million tonnes, but
by 2030 that volume
would have to be doubled
because of the decline
in commercial fishing
and the increasing
demands of a growing
population.
In Mexico, aquaculture
dates back to the
pre-Hispanic era.
Historians say that
several species were
raised in ponds and that
the Maya Indians
controlled fish
reproduction in natural
pools known as "cenotes".
Currently, fish farms in
Brazil, Colombia, Chile,
Ecuador, Mexico and Peru
produce volumes that are
the envy of Argentine
producers. But in
Argentina, the
continent's southernmost
country, the climate and
topographic conditions
are not conducive to
developing large-scale
fish farming, say some
experts and activists.
Environmentalists here
point out that the
social and environmental
harm that can arise from
aquaculture do not
justify industrial-level
promotion, and recommend
instead fomenting
responsible fishing in
seas and rivers that
still have a rich
biodiversity.
With an output of
710,000 tonnes annually,
Chile is the region's
leading aquaculture
producer and one of the
top 10 in the world,
alongside China and
India. It is also the
world's second leading
producer of farmed
salmon and trout (both
of the Salmonidae
family), after Norway.
But the sector is not
without its risks.
In 2007, the outbreak of
infectious anaemia in
salmon closed down many
fish farms in Chile. One
thousand of 55,000 jobs
were lost, according to
the government, though
the unions say the
layoffs affected 3,000
workers.
Argentina has its
potential, "but it is
not Chile or Brazil,"
Laura Luchini, national
director of aquaculture,
told Tierramérica.
"Some provincial
governments are
promoting this sector,
but our job is to make
sure people keep their
feet on the ground," she
said.
Along Chile's long,
southern Pacific coast,
there are many fjords,
making it "very
favourable for this
activity," said Luchini.
In contrast, Argentina's
southern Atlantic
coastline does not have
any fjords, which
provide protection,
except in Tierra del
Fuego, the country's
southern-most province,
where mussels are
farmed.
Fish farming in this
country is being
developed on a small
scale, with trout,
Patagonian flounder and
mussels. But production
amounts to no more than
3,000 tonnes per year --
an insignificant volume
when compared to
fishing, which produces
between 850,000 and 1.1
million tonnes of fish
and shellfish.
"Nor can our country
compare to Brazil, which
has tropical waters,"
said Luchini. South
America’s giant produces
250,000 tonnes annually
of fish and shrimp in
freshwater and on its
Atlantic coast, in an
inlet near the
southeastern city of
Florianópolis.
The aquaculture official
believes that the
enthusiasm of Argentine
producers, who see
enormous potential in
fish farming, is a
response to the pace of
the sector's growth
worldwide. "While
fishing production has
slowed and beef
production is growing at
a rate of 2.5 percent,
aquaculture has grown
8.5 percent annually for
the last eight years,"
she said.
Aquaculture has become a
booming activity due to
the higher global demand
for food and the
possibility of tracing
the history, location
and path of a product
along the entire supply
chain.
By 2045, FAO estimates
that fishing and fish
farm production will
become homologous.
Producers in Argentina
believe that with
credits, subsidies and
better technology, they
will be able to make the
most of the opportunity
to do good business,
said Luchini.
But there are no magic
solutions. Claudio
Baigún, a biologist who
is an expert in
freshwater fish
resources, agrees that
the expectations of the
producers do not take
into account Argentina's
limitations.
"They take Chile or
Brazil as a guide, but
Argentina is different.
There are projects to
raise pacú (Piaractus
mesopotamicus) in
Rosario (in the eastern
province of Santa Fe).
But while in Bolivia or
Brazil, with their warm
waters, the species
matures in eight months,
in Argentina it takes
18," Baigún told
Tierramérica.
"Argentina is at the
limit in South America
for raising warm water
species," he added. In
any case, he warned that
aquaculture is not a
panacea. There are fish
diseases, high costs of
energy and fish food,
and also the risks
associated with the lack
of genetic variation
among the fish raised in
pools.
"We want to believe that
fish farming will
resolve everything, but
we have to preserve what
we have, promote
responsible management
of the fish stocks and
not believe that
aquaculture is a
life-preserver that's
going to save us," said
Baigún, a researcher at
the Technological
Institute of Chascomús.
From the environmental
perspective, Jorge
Cappato, director of the
Proteger (Protect)
Foundation, maintains
that it is essential to
differentiate between
community and industrial
aquaculture, because the
latter could have
greater negative social
and ecological impacts.
In a conversation with
Tierramérica, Cappato,
whose foundation works
to preserve biodiversity
and promote sustainable
fishing, remarked that
"the chemical products
used in fish farming --
antibiotics, pesticides,
fertilisers -- have
negative effects on the
water.
"Local communities of
artisanal fisherfolk
then lose access to
sufficient fish stocks
and run the risk of
being turned into fish
farmers," he added.
Colombia produces 70,000
tonnes of farmed fish
per year, according to
2006 data from the
Colombian Agriculture
Institute. With the
disappearance of the "bocachico"
(Prochilodus magdalenae),
the principal freshwater
fish species, local
small-scale fishermen
were turned into fish
farmers, Cappato said.
"They earn less, are
poorer and have less
nutritious diets," said
the Argentine foundation
director, who visited
the fish-raising ponds
along the Sinú River, in
the northern Colombian
department (province) of
Córdoba.
Cappato also mentioned
the case of Ecuador,
where the intensive
production of lobster
has been promoted in
coastal areas of
mangrove forests. The
companies "destroyed 60
percent of the
mangroves, left jobless
the women who caught
shrimp, and when a virus
appeared they left,
leaving behind empty
concrete tanks."
The destruction of
mangroves is also a
problem in Mexico, which
in 2007 produced 261,000
tonnes of farmed
seafood, with shrimp in
first place.
The shrimp industry is
responsible for a large
part of the
disappearance of these
important ecosystems,
according to the
Mangrove Ecology Group.
In 2007, according to an
official inventory,
there was a 27 percent
decline of mangrove
forests since 2000 along
Mexico's Pacific, Gulf
and Caribbean
coastlines.
(*This story was
originally published by
Latin American
newspapers that are part
of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is
a specialised news
service produced by IPS
with the backing of the
United Nations
Development Programme,
United Nations
Environment Programme
and the World Bank.) |
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