Meat Production and Fisheries
Meat Production
Meat is a staple part of the diet of an extremely large amount of people. As we've moved more and more to industrialized agricultural practices, we have done the same for meat production as well. A common method of meat production is feedlots, or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). A CAFO is a livestock method where the animals are densely crowded together in order to raise the animals as quickly as possible in order to maximize production and profits. According to the USDA, in order to be considered a CAFO, there must be at least 1000 "animal units" (1 animal unit = 1,000 lb of live animal), and they must be confined in an area without vegetation for at least 45 days during the year. CAFOs have become increasingly common in the world, particularly in the US, in the last several decades, with the majority of beef, pork, and poultry coming from them in the US.
This method works to maximize profits, as it increases the amount of meat produced for the amount of land used. Due to the significantly increased profits, it results in lower prices for consumers, which results in more sales and encourages the practice. While this is an efficient method economically, it comes with a variety of environmental issues.
The animals produce extremely large amounts of waste, which are often stored in manure lagoons - large, open storage pits for waste. These lagoons can have very large negative effects on the environment and on public health, and greatly increase the impact of CAFOs.
One of the major ways that this can happen is through water contamination; the lagoons can flood and overflow into other water supplies and aquatic ecosystems. The excess nutrients can lead to eutrophication. Pathogens, such as E. coli, are often present in the waste and can contaminate other water, including drinking water supplies, leading to adverse affects in human and wildlife health. The animals are typically given growth hormones, in order to increase the rate at which they grow and maximize profits, which will be in their waste; as excess hormones are taken in by other animals due to water contamination, this can lead to issues with the endocrine system.
In addition to reducing the quality of water, manure lagoons can reduce the quality of the air as well. They can release particulate matter (PM), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and ammonia (NH3), all of which negatively impact health. In addition, the animals themselves, as well as the lagoons, release large amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and, in particular, methane (CH4). The large increase of these gases worsens climate change.
Due to the animals being in such close proximity, disease risk is very high due to how easily the disease can spread. In order to avoid this, large amounts of antibiotics are given to the livestock. This excessive use of antibiotics can lead to the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These can then be spread through the water, or even released into the air, furthering their spread.
Free Range Grazing
CAFOs are not the only way that livestock can be raised. One alternative is known as free range grazing, where the animals can freely roam outside and graze on grass, for at least part of the day. This method typically involves animals growing at more natural rates, and is very common in some areas of the world.
There are benefits to using free range grazing. As these animals are more spread out, antibiotics are not as essential, allowing these reducing the risk of antibiotic-resistance emerging from this farming practice. As the animals will disperse their waste naturally as they are grazing, manure lagoons are not necessary and it instead serves as a fertilizer for the pasture they are grazing in. This not only benefits the soil and plants, but it prevents the myriad of negative impacts associated with manure lagoons.
The downside of free range grazing is the sheer amount of land that it requires. Not only does a larger land use result in worse environmental impacts due to that land not being used by something else, but it also makes the meat more expensive for consumers as it is less efficient for the farmers.
One particular risk of free range grazing is the risk of overgrazing. If it is not managed carefully, there is a risk that grazing can be done excessively, depleting the ground cover and damaging the ecosystem. This can lead to increased erosion due to lack of plants holding the soil in place. In addition, livestock can compact the soil, drying it out and leading to even more erosion. If this occurs to an extreme enough extent, desertification can occur, where the land transitions into a desert, causing massive harm to the ecosystem.
What does it mean when we say that meat is "inefficient"?
Meat requires a large amount of resources when compared to agriculture. In order to get the same amount of calories from meat when compared to plants, it will take approximately 20x as much land. Likewise, water use is significantly higher to produce meat than an equal amount of plants. Most of this water goes towards growing and maintaining food for the livestock. When you consider the 10% rule, a significant amount of energy is lost when transferring from the feed to the livestock, due to the addition of another step in the food chain before reaching us. When factoring in the extreme land, water, and energy use, meat is a far less efficient food source than plant-based meals.
Diets with less meat consumption conserve water, improve topsoil, emit fewer greenhouse gases, and reduce the overuse of growth hormones and antibiotics.
Fisheries
Fisheries are areas where populations of aquatic organisms (such as fish or crustaceans) are harvested. We are currently facing the risk of "fishery collapse" due to overfishing throughout the world. As we have caught fish faster than their populations can recover, the populations have greatly decreased, leading to extreme scarcity in some species. Almost 90% of marine fish species are either fished at their maximum capacity or overfished.
One particularly damaging method that is used for catching fish is known as bottom trawling. This method involves dragging a long net along the ocean floor. It is extremely efficient in catching large numbers of fish, but also causes a lot of damage. The seabed is damaged, destroying coral reefs and stirring up ocean sediment. A large amount of the fish that are caught through this method are bycatch - unintended species that are caught and typically killed.
There are a variety of online resources and apps that can be used to identify which fish or which brands to buy that are fishing sustainably and not contributing to overfishing.
Aquaculture
Aquaculture is kind of like "fish farming" - it is the controlled cultivation and raising of aquatic species (whether they be fish, mollusks, crustaceans, seaweed, etc.) in underwater enclosures.
When done correctly, this increases food production due to its high efficiency and boosts economic growth in coastal areas, which are the most likely to be doing aquaculture. It requires a relatively small amount of space and it reduces environmental impacts of using fishing, such as risks of fishery collapse and fuel use for the boats.
As with everything, there are downsides to this technique. The fish are typically kept at a high density, which increases the incidence of disease. This can either result in disease spreading to wild species, or it can be mediated through the use of antibiotics, which can result in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The high density can also result in high amounts of waste, which can contaminate waste water and lead to eutrophication or the spread of pathogens. It is possible that organisms can escape as well, which may unintentionally result in the introduction of an invasive species that will compete with wild species.