ish Farming and Aquaculture photo by We Animals Media Aquaculture refers to the farming of aquatic organisms, including finfish, crustaceans, mollusks, plants, and algae for human use. It has been practiced by cultures around the globe for millennia. However, as global fish stocks decline, and the negative consequences of land-based animal agriculture become increasingly obvious, aquaculture has been touted as a sustainable solution to meet the dietary needs of a growing global population. Its proponents argue that the “blue economy” will revolutionize the global food system. Indeed, the farming of aquatic animals is the fastest-growing sector in agriculture in the United States and worldwide, with global production of aquatic species tripling over the past two decades. Amid such rapid growth, the significant animal welfare and environmental ramifications of an increasingly industrialized aquaculture sector have largely been ignored. Aquaculture in the United States and globally According to the most recent US Department of Agriculture census, the most farmed fish by weight are, in descending order, catfish, trout, and tilapia. Other commonly produced species in the United States are bass, carp, flounder, perch, red drum, sturgeon, and Atlantic and Pacific salmon (the census does not report weight for salmonid species, however). The states producing the most fish by value are Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Idaho, and California. Asia is the largest producer and consumer of farmed aquatic species globally. China—considered the birthplace of fish farming—is particularly noteworthy in the diversity of production methods and species it farms. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported as of 2020 that farmed finfish totaled 57.5 million tons—49.1 million from inland aquaculture and the remaining 8.3 million from marine aquaculture and on-shore coastal aquaculture. The number of individual fish this represents is unknown, but a recent study concluded that between 78 and 171 billion farmed fish were killed in 2019. The majority of these (70–72%) have no protection under national animal welfare laws, and less than 1% have fish-specific legal protection at slaughter.