FARMING THE SEAS: THE EMMY NOMINATED SEQUAL TO EMPTY OCEANS EMPTY NETS

Will fish farming avert a global food crisis? Or speed its arrival?

FARMING THE SEAS explores whats at stake for us all as the aquaculture industry spreads across the globe. Human demand for seafood now far exceeds the oceanâs ability to keep pace. And the crisis is deepening. In the past 50 years, ninety percent of the big fish in the worlds oceans have disappeared, and experts argue that the only hope for restoring many fish populations is to stop fishing them completely.

      

 

What is to be done?

FARMING THE SEAS explores the promise and perils of aquaculture the raising of fish under controlled conditions. Today, a third of the worlds seafood is now produced by fish and shellfish farms, and aquaculture is seen as the wave of the future. Yet few consumers are aware how this rapidly growing industry may be affecting the global environment and their own health.

Aquaculture in 30 years is trying to do what agriculture did in 6,000 says Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund. Aquaculture was supposed to take the pressure off ocean fish stocks and help avert a global food shortage, but many experts now believe that some forms of fish farming” are actually creating more problems than they are solving. As the aquaculture industry spreads across the globe, a growing number of communities and fisheries experts are engaged in an intense debate over its environmental, socio-economic, health and food safety consequences.

From the indigenous tribes of British Columbia to the large-scale operations of multinational corporations, from the Mediterranean coast to Thai shrimp farms, FARMING THE SEAS travels around the world and speaks with fishermen, biologists, environmentalists and industry leaders to assemble a global perspective on the urgent and complex issues surrounding aquaculture. Along the way, the film reports on projects that are resulting in a net loss of marine resources and environmental degradation as well as others that are offering innovative solutions to a looming global crisis.

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