Watch out! It’s a fish-eat-fish world!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with The Loh Down on Science.
How do you farm fish? Turns out, you STILL need to catch fish — to feed the ones you’re farming! Almost thirty million tons of wild herring, sardines and anchovies are caught each year just to feed our fish farms.
Richard Cottrell from University of Tasmania and his international team wondered — can we make fish farming more sustainable? They analyzed over two hundred and fifty scientific studies to figure out if we can replace wild caught fish.
Results? Fish food made of algae, bugs, and oils can substitute for wild caught fish for many species! Yum!
Fish like carp and tilapia enjoyed this new faux-fish fine cuisine. Salmon, on the other hand, didn’t bite. They still need to eat other fish to stay healthy!
The researchers hope their study will encourage use of new fish meals where possible. This could help keep our supply of fish steady.
So, Vegas seafood buffet fans, rejoice! And bring on the tartar sauce.