New innovations can steer fish farms towards more sustainable disease prevention

As the fastest-growing food sector today, aquaculture has become a huge industry, with production accounting for over 50% of total global aquaculture and fisheries output. But as farmers densely pack offshore pens, ponds and tanks to meet the demand for aquatic food, contact between the fish increases, leading to increased disease transmission. Some deem these practices unsustainable and suggest they have a wider impact of spreading disease to already-vulnerable fisheries and negatively impacting the environment.