Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Fish farms need monitoring technologies
According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), poor countries could reconcile the soaring demand for fish with the need to safeguard biodiversity and make the fishing sector sustainable by harnessing a raft of new technologies. The farming of fish and shellfish is the fastest-growing area of animal food production, accounting for almost half of the total supply of fish for food according to The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2010 report. And fish consumption is at an all-time high, said the report. But, to ensure that wild fisheries and aquaculture continue to provide income for subsistence and small-scale fisheries — and protein for billions of people — poor countries need to embrace the internet, geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, said the report. Technology has "reached the point of becoming an essential step in providing the enabling environment for the development of marine aquaculture". Full report available here.