An estimated 80% of the water used in the U.S. supports crop and livestock production. Resource managers are increasingly concerned about the excessive amount of water required to satisfy our nation’s appetite for beef. Using conservative estimates, it takes 441 gallons of water to produce one pound of conventionally raised beef.
For a diet that is friendly to our hearts and the planet, we are often encouraged to swap beef protein for fish protein. Farmed, freshwater fish also require a lot of water, but marine fishes require almost none.
If humans were to get most of their animal protein from marine fishes, farmed in aquaculture so as not to deplete native stock, we could reduce the huge allocation of water that goes towards beef production. Our consumption of marine fish already saves about 5% of the available freshwater on land, which might otherwise go to the production of animals.
Mike Pace is an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia.
“Well, if you think about the water footprint required to make a cow – which is hundreds (and sometimes more than that) liters of water per gram of animal, marine fish is essentially zero – there is essentially no water input in making marine fish.”
Farming marine fishes is not without environmental impacts. Often, they require antibiotics to remain healthy in crowded conditions. When genetically modified fish escape, they can breed with native fishes in nearby waters. And, in many cases farmed fish are fed less desirable fishes caught at sea.
Nevertheless, in terms of a source of protein for humans, marine fishes save a lot of water on land.
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Photo, taken September 21, 2006, courtesy of Kurman Communications, Inc. via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.