Ang Shihe 3S2-01 Sean Lee 3S2-12 Tan Boon Yu 3S2-26

Protect marine life and ensure sufficient seafood, for consumption of present and future generations Encourage fish farming where farmers rear fish in tanks, ponds or enclosed areas o Under special conditions that promote growth

By 1985, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and a variety of other international aid agencies were pumping $200m/year into aquaculture projects o Costal farming requires high capital Mangrove forests in the Philippines, Thailand and Ecuador were chopped down to build shrimp ponds Carp and tilapia farms appeared on the flood plains of the Ganges, the Irrawaddy and the Mekong rivers

Significant increase in amount of fish available Price of fish has fallen, more affordable to the masses Nearly 12 per cent of the annual world harvest of fish (about 100m tons) is now generated by fish farmers From 1975 to 1985 world aquaculture output doubled

Aquaculture yields increased from around 2m metric tons in 1950 to almost 50m metric tons today o Although the global fish catch peaked in the late 1980s Easier to generate revenue: o 7lb of grain in a cow to produce 1lb of beef o Catfish require only 1.7lb of grain to produce 1lb of fish

Intensive costal shrimp farming results in mass destruction of mangrove forests and polluted water Many poor people have been killed for defending their land and mangroves from investors Since costal fish farming requires high capital, it is mostly owned by businessmen or urban investors

Fish pens can easily break and the farmed fish can break out and spread diseases to wild fish Many of these fish farms do not provide food directly to the poor, nor provide jobs for the jobless Others were simply schemes that allowed the wealthy to privatize what had previously been a public resource used by subsistence farmers and fisher-folk

Note: such examples do not apply to all scenarios o In some places the sludge below cage sites is more than 30cm thick, which stifles the growth of aquatic organisms and causes water quality to deteriorate o Intensive coastal fish farming has also been linked to 'red tides' - an explosive growth of toxic algae that can kill fish and fatally poison people who eat such contaminated seafood

So… Blue revolution – success or failure?

Success because... Increased aquaculture yields

Failure because... Resulted in more water pollution Made income disparity gap wider --> poor got poorer, rich got richer Overfishing leads to destruction of ecosystem and depletion of fish population No sustainability

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