Aquaculture: Why Should Texans Care?

Deep in the heart of Texas, seafood production isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when we consider our current food system. The vast reddish fields of sorghum or occasional herd of cows you pass on the open road were probably your first thought, but that’s perfectly understandable considering that here in the United States we import 80% of our seafood. If it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind, so you may be wondering: what exactly is Aquaculture and why should I care?

By definition it is the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, aquatic plants, and shellfish. First fertilized eggs, larvae, and fingerlings are produced in a hatchery, which are then sent to a nursery until they reach a juvenile size and are lastly sent to a grow-out operation until the juveniles reach a marketable size. The growing process can be intensive, in which you supply feed and care, or semi-intensive where you let the organisms grow on their own. It all depends on what seafood you are producing. Clams, for instance, don’t require the same care as fish because they fend for themselves through filter feeding and absorption, making semi-intensive stock.

Fish tanks at Sustainable Harvesters’ aquaponic lettuce farm (Hockley, TX). Water is enriched by the fish and then sent via pipes to nourish the crop. No soil is required!

Aquaculture production has a lot of flexibility. Stock can be grown in brackish, salt, or freshwater (depending on the organism) and can be either contained in ponds, floating cages, tanks, or pens. This means that we can farm virtually anywhere be it along the coastline, in man-made inland ponds, or even indoors thus providing fresh seafood to areas that wouldn’t have access to fresh “caught” seafood. It can also be used in tandem with hydroponics in a system called aquaponics which allows you to farm both fish and produce at the same time in a symbiotic farming system.

Oysters can be farmed in natural water within protective floating cages like these. This new opportunity in Texas will bring jobs to coastal communities still recovering from Harvey.

Economically, aquaculture is an endeavor worth investing in. Roughly half the seafood eaten worldwide is produced through Aquaculture, and by 2030 is expected to supply two thirds. Business is booming in order to keep up with the world’s growing demand for sea food. Since 1990 we’ve globally seen a 122% rise in sea food consumption and a 527% rise in aquaculture production. China and various other east Asian countries lead the charge in farming seafood and, subsequently, are also some of the world’s top seafood consumers with South Korea consuming a whopping 54.97 kg per capita in 2017. Right here in Texas, we have access to coastline, barrier islands, and plenty of land to support more aquaculture. According to the Texas Association of Aquaculture, we currently  produce shrimp, redfish, tilapia, channel catfish, hybrid striped bass, and bait, stocker, and ornamental fish. Since late 2019, oyster farming was legalized but, due to the pandemic, progress to get farms and demand up and running has been slowed. Our expanded and future aquaculture endeavors in Texas could increase jobs opportunities, support communities along the coast, and reduce our dependence upon imported seafood.

Perhaps the most important reason we should take interest in expanding aquaculture is how it can help our oceans. We are still facing an overfishing and bycatch crisis, which threatens to disrupt and seriously damage our ocean ecosystems and future fishery stock. A third of all fisheries are producing outside of their biological limit, meaning we are taking fish faster than they naturally replenish. Texas has had a history of issues with its gulf red snapper population, and while they are no longer overfished they are still rebuilding. Aquaculture can help in situations like this through restoration aquaculture, which raises stock from declining/low populations and release them into the wild to diversify and increase the population size. Aquaculture also reduces bycatch, which are organisms that are unintentionally caught and are usually discarded through the process of wild catching fish, crabs, etc. which disrupts aquatic ecosystems.

Want to buy seafood sustainably farmed in Texas? Click here for the Texas Association of Aquaculture’s resources.

Blog post by: Sarah Armosky

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