While aquaculture is looked at by some as a saviour for rural areas of the province, others aren’t as welcoming. some are calling it the messy case of over-fishing. Industry insiders claim increased fishing activities — including netting juvenile fish — across the country is making things difficult. Numerous check dams across rivers prevent fresh water from flowing into the sea, keeping the salinity level high and making it unsuitable for fish to breed.
Commercial fishermen often lose their jobs when there is farming of the species that they normally catch in the wild. Farming fish can make fish prices go down because farms produce a lot of fish, all the time, consistently flooding the market. Also, companies can charge less for farmed fish, which are produced more cheaply, given expenses of pursuing wild fish like oil, gas and crew time. However, often lower prices and more fish do not mean good quality, or healthy seafood.
Additionally, industry has failed to demonstrate that ocean fish farming is environmentally sustainable, technically possible or financially viable on a commercial scale. Most existing farms require large amounts of funding from the government and/or others to continue operations.In several places farmers and skilled workers have abandoned aquaculture farms and processing units to migrate to the booming construction industry in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and West Bengal. Shrinking mangroves and polluted fish breeding waters are adding to their woes.
