Aquaculture

1. Aquaculture is the breeding and harvesting of plants and animals aquatic environments such as rivers, lakes, oceans and ponds. There are two main types, marine aquaculture which produces mainly oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp and salmon. It also produces lesser amounts of fish like cod and yellowtail. The other one is freshwater aquaculture, which produces certain species only native to freshwater areas, such as trout and bass. It primarily takes place in ponds.

2. Social

Pros

1) Supplies jobs for many people.

2) Supplies a reliable source of protein.

3) Supplies a global demand for seafood.

Cons

1) Unable to make fish farms in certain spots due to waters not accepting certain species.

2) Noisy area to work at, and to live by in general.

3) Threatens fishermen livelihood.

Environmental

Pros 

1) Reduces pressure on certain species of fish, helping their life cycle.

2) Puts more emphasis on protecting costal waters from pollution.

3) Many species bred on a fish farm stay on the fish farm.

Cons

1) Can cause disease and parasites to transfer from one species to another.

2) Can pollute water systems with things such as chemicals and antibiotics.

3) Can possibly compromise the aesthetic beauty of coastlines.

Economic

Pros

1) Can increase revenue at a city, state/province and national level.

2) It encourages local investment.

3) Reduces the seafood trade deficits than countries have.

Cons

1) Can be an unpredictable enterprise for small communities due to vulnerability to things like severe weather.

2) Some fish farms operate outside legal restrictions.

3) Can be as expensive to run a fish farm in a community.

3. I find that aquaculture in general is a bad thing in my view, from a environmental standpoint mainly. Fish farming is very polluting towards the environment in many spots such as in the waters and coastlines. In fact, it possibly can ruin the aesthetic beauty of coastlines. It is also very expensive to run and can be very unpredictable in its supply. Sure it will give jobs, but many companies may lose money if the weather doesn't cooperate with them. The only thing I could say that maybe ok about aquaculture would be that it protects some species like seaweed and certain fish species, but they may be interbred with other species, causing more problems. All in all, I believe that aquaculture is a bad idea and should be gotten rid of, or changed.