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BIDDEFORD, Maine

Costa-Pierce Talks on Ocean Food Systems at Harvard

Doherty Professor and Director of the UNE Marine Science Center Barry Costa-Pierce gave an invited talk on ocean foods at the a symposium on “Just Food?” on March 28, 2015 held at the Harvard Law School and attended by more than 400 scientists, policy-makers, and students.

Costa-Pierce stated that “seafood systems in the USA are our most insane foods” and “America imports nearly every seafood we eat and export nearly everything we produce.” Costa-Pierce emphasized that with an expected 12 billion people to come, it is imperative that we learn how to farm the seas sustainably as 70% of the Earth is ocean and the oceans currently provide only 1-2% of human foods. 

He stated that the blue revolution —aquaculture — is really an evolution. Farmed salmon has dominated the discussion with little talk of the farming of shellfish, seaweeds, or less energy intensive fish species happening along the world’s coasts suitable for coastal fishing communities. Seaweed and shellfish aquaculture have a growing social acceptability with the public and scientists but oftentimes consumers don’t recognize their oysters or clams as “farmed." In general, even for farmed salmon, there is a growing global scientific consensus that marine aquaculture food systems are much more productive, efficient and environmentally friendly — even restorative of the ocean ecosystems — in comparisons with terrestrial protein farming systems.

He explained that in the near future even these most controversial ocean farming systems are evolving so quickly that future farmed salmon may not be dependent on ocean fishing or for soybeans from industrial agriculture for salmon feeds but salmon to be fed by omega-rich feeds from yeasts that digest wood chips from trees, as recent research has shown. 

Costa-Pierce stated that Americans import seafoods from everywhere in the world that create “seafood deserts” and protein malnutrition in some of the world’s poorest nations; “America has a moral and ethical responsibility to catch and grow its own seafood”. 

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.