Should the Development of Herbicide-tolerant Plants be a Focus of Sustainable Agriculture Research?

Public sector funding could help the development of weed control alternatives that, unlike herbicide-tolerant plants, the industry has not found potentially profitable

Nature's subsidies to shrimp and salmon farming

Although many fisheries stocks have declined precipitously throughout the world, fish farming--and especially shrimp and salmon farming--has boomed. The increasingly large scale of these enterprises is now having unforeseen ecological consequences on ocean resources through habitat destruction, effluent discharge, exotic species introductions, and heightened fish catch for feed use. Ending unsustainable production practices will require reorienting regulatory policies and fiscal incentives in shrimp- and salmon-producing counties, and enhancing restrictions on environmentally unsound practices

Effect of aquaculture on world fish supplies

Global production of farmed fish and shellfish has more than doubled in the past 15 years. Many people believe that such growth relieves pressure on ocean fisheries, but the opposite is true for some types of aquaculture. Farming carnivorous species requires large inputs of wild fish for feed. Some aquaculture systems also reduce wild fish supplies through habitat modification, wild seedstock collection and other ecological impacts. On balance, global aquaculture production still adds to world fish supplies; however, if the growing aquaculture industry is to sustain its contribution to world fish supplies, it must reduce wild fish inputs in feed and adopt more ecologically sound management practices.We thank M. Williams, W. Falcon, V. Spruill, M. Drew, N. Wada, R. Kautsky, K. Jauncey, C. Tirado, R. Hoguet, R. Tatum and R. Mitchell for comments and assistance, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for funding