Download WOR 2 PDF - World Ocean Review

84> chapter 04important regions are China (58.4 per cent of global production),Indonesia (20.6 per cent) and the Philippines(9.5 per cent). Most of the algae produced worldwide isused in the cosmetics, chemical and food industries. Onlya small proportion is used for human consumption, as abase for soups. The tropical algae Eucheuma and Kappaphycus,harvested throughout the Indo-Pacific regionbetween the island of Zanzibar and the Philippines, arealso of significance. They offer many fishermen an additionalincome and are utilized in the chemical, health andbiological industries as a bacterial growth medium.The strengths and weaknesses of aquacultureAquaculture has come in for some hefty criticism in recentyears. For various reasons it still attracts controversy.Food, faecal and metabolic wastes from intensive fishfarms can lead to the eutrophication (over-fertilization)of water in rivers and coastal bays. There have also beencomplaints that fish farmed under intensive conditions formaximum yields are more susceptible to disease thantheir relatives in the wild. Tremendous amounts of antibioticsand other medications are used to fight disease,particularly in relation to shrimp on farms in South EastAsia – with unforeseeable consequences for surroundingecosystems and consumer health. In some cases thesepoints are valid, but they should not detract from the factthat aquaculture can be a very efficient and sustainablemethod of supplying humans with animal proteins – andcounteracting over-fishing.The farming of the classic common carp or mirror carpprovides a positive example of environmentally-soundaquaculture. Carp are bottom feeders, generally eatingsmall aquatic animals, plants, dead plant matter and waste4.6 > In Belize, inCentral America, theconstruction of hugeaquaculture facilitieshas involved thedestruction of largetracts of land andmangroves. Theeffluent is dischargedto the sea withoutany prior treatment.Such operations havebrought the sectorinto disrepute.