14 DAY TRIAL // Throughout these past few weeks, we spoke on various occasions about how, in order to avoid a potential seafood crisis, fisheries worldwide must push for sustainability.
Recent news on the topic of fish and seafood informs us that, besides making sure fish stocks and fish quotas are well balanced, people who are in the business of breeding fish in captivity should make sure the specimens they are looking after get enough exercise.
Apparently, this is because fish – especially species such as salmons, tuna and eels – would cover rather long distances on a daily basis should they be allowed to grow in their natural habitats.
Thus, their bodies are designed in such ways that they can withstand intense physical exercise.
Naturally, whenever they are not provided with the environmental conditions they need in order to behave as they would in the wild, they become lazy and this in turn often leads to their developing various health conditions.
NPR quotes Tony Farrell from the Zoology Department of the University of British Columbia, who wished to explain that, “When we put them in constrained environments and remove predators, the consequences are they become a little more like couch potatoes.”
Although whether or not the fish expected to enter the food industry is in a good physical condition might seem like a matter of least concerns, the fact remains that, according to reports filed by fishermen, as much as 20% of the captive bred salmon dies when people attempt to move it to ocean cages.
Apparently, some of these deaths need be linked to the fact that the fish were simply out of shape.
Lastly, captive bred fish that are given the opportunity to squeeze in an exercise routine in their daily schedule are argued to grow bigger and leaner, and therefore are significantly more appealing to consumers.