Question

You are asked to write an essay on aquaculture, using this passage as a source.

Which paragraph best supports the claim that aquaculture has a long history?


paragraph 2


paragraph 7


paragraph 3


paragraph 4

Reading Passage
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Aquaculture: Hatching a Solution to World Hunger?

by Anna Thomas

1 If you enjoy eating baked fish, shrimp gumbo, crab cakes, or boiled lobster, you're in luck. Nutritionists say that seafood is healthier to eat than other kinds of animal protein. It is low in fat and cholesterol, and high in the omega-3 oils that promote both heart health and brain development. Current United States Department of Agriculture guidelines suggest that Americans eat two to three seafood meals a week (Food and Nutrition Service). Unfortunately, most Americans do not consume that amount of fish.

2 However, even if Americans were willing to eat more fish, would the world's seas be able to provide it? Many places in the world are already fished to their limits, and many native fish populations are dwindling to record lows. In order to meet even current global consumption rates, experts at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimate that the world will need another forty million tons of seafood per year by 2030 (NOAA Fisheries, ques. 4). Where will all this fish come from? Many people think that the answer is aquaculture.

A photo shows an indoor fish farm with many large round tanks

On this fish farm, fish are raised in a tightly controlled environment.

What Is Aquaculture?

3 Aquaculture is the science and practice of growing fish for food; in other words, aquaculture is fish farming. Like plant farmers, fish farmers oversee the natural life cycle of what they farm. Fish farmers “plant” (or hatch) their “crops” (fish) in “fields” (places called hatcheries). Farmers feed the tiny fish and protect them from predators. In aquaculture, as in agriculture, food is produced in a controlled environment rather than gathered from the wild.

4 Aquaculture is not experimental, and it is not new (Rabanal). As early as 2000 B.C.E. the Chinese raised a species of fish called carp. Around the same time, Egyptians cultured tilapia, a species still grown in many countries. Both the Mayans and the Romans cultured fish in ponds and canals. It wasn't until 1850, however, that fish were farmed in the United States. These early farmed fish were only for the purpose of stocking lakes for recreation. It wasn't until the twentieth century that Americans began to farm fish for food (Rabanal).

5 Farming fish is much more efficient than farming beef or pork. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “Aquaculture is one of the most resource-efficient ways to produce protein.” Take a look at these facts (NOAA Fisheries, ques. 3).

It takes 8.7 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of beef.

It takes 5.9 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of pork.

It takes 1.9 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of chicken.

It takes 1.2 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of salmon.

The Demand for Fish

6 According to the NOAA, global aquaculture currently supplies about fifty percent of all seafood produced for human consumption (NOAA Fisheries, ques. 4). This number is growing, and it will continue to increase.

7 United States aquaculture meets only five to seven percent of the domestic demand for seafood (NOAA Fisheries, ques. 13). Most farmed fish is from Asia. As this chart clearly shows, China is far in the lead in aquaculture. In fact, all top five aquaculture producing countries are in Asia. While aquaculture lags overall in the United States, fish farms can now be found in all fifty states. States with the largest production of marine aquaculture are Maine, Washington, Virginia, Louisiana, and Hawaii. The largest freshwater producers are Missi

Answer 1

Paragraph 4

Paragraph 4 explicitly describes aquaculture practices dating back to 2000 B.C.E. (Chinese carp, Egyptian tilapia, Mayan and Roman ponds), showing that fish farming has been practiced for thousands of years.