Low footprint seafood

I was fortunate to work for WWF International as Global Seafood Leader during 2010-2013, stationed at the WWF Secretariat near Geneva. Promoting sustainability in aquaculture was an important goal for WWF offices around the world, and I spent quite a bit of time in Vietnam, China, and elsewhere in Asia working on sustainable aquaculture.

Working with WWF China, I learned a lot about traditional low footprint aquaculture methods that can produce fish virtually without inputs. The carp-mulberry permaculture methods described in the video posted below deserve to be well known; instead, almost nobody in the western world is aware. And carp farming in China is no boutique industry, its the world’s largest fish industry, by far. As part of this aquaculture sustainability work, I was privileged to work with award-winning Danish filmmaker Myles Thompson as he made this beautiful video (below) that brought the story to life.

Unfortunately, traditional aquaculture is fading in China as the costs of land and labor increase. Aquaculture scientists in China are worried about the loss of a valuable, inexpensive, and low footprint food supply as production conditions change.