Commercial fishing is defined as the harvesting of wild fish and other seafood for commercial profit, and provides a large quantity of food to many people around the world. In comparison to commercial fishing, aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms and populating them in controlled environments. The aquaculture industry in the United States is primarily dominated by freshwater catfish farming producing more than 1 billion dollars. Although aquaculture seems beneficial, it has many negative impacts on the environment that are threatening the marine ecosystem.

Marine aquaculture is the farming of seafood species that are indigenous to the ocean. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “U.S. marine aquaculture primarily produces oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, and salmon as well as lesser amounts of cod, moi, yellowtail, barramundi, seabass, and seabream.” Although marine aquaculture can take place in the ocean, using cages on the seafloor or in suspended water columns, most of the aquaculture systems in the U.S. are man made on land, using a recirculating system that reduces and recycles water. But like other forms of farming, aquaculture can lead to negative effects on the environment. The impacts vary upon the type of organism being farmed/raised and the type of system being used. The core effects can be split into 5 different categories: 1.) biological pollution, 2.) chemical pollution,