Seafood sourced from fish farming and aquaculture:
"Aquaculture, defined as the cultivation, production or marketing of any fish, aquatic invertebrate or aquatic plant that is spawned, produced or marketed as a cultivated crop in state waters. It is often difficult to determine the impact of aquaculture on the environment, as the observed consequences are in many cases the cumulative effect of several factors that disturb its natural state. Available data seem to indicate that the pollutive effects of aquaculture are comparatively small and highly localized. The effects of discharge of aquaculture effluents in receiving waters are mainly the increase of suspended solids and nutrients and the fall in dissolved oxygen content. Reduced concentrations of dissolved oxygen may contribute to increased concentrations of ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate in the water column. Algal blooms, especially of toxic species produced by high levels of nutrients, can cause environmental hazards including fish kills. These blooms also diminish the aesthetically pleasing attributes associated with living near fresh water." - Environmental Protection Agency
As catches of wild fish have declined and demand for seafood has increased, fish farming has grown rapidly. Today, almost 20% of our seafood comes from farms. While farmed fish and shellfish can supplement the catch of wild fish, they can’t replace the variety and abundance of wild fish. Most seafood farms depend on healthy wild populations to supply eggs or young fish that the farmers raise for market. Many fish farms also depend on wild fish, like anchovies, which are ground into feed for the farmed fish. Fish farms can provide food for the future, but only if wild fish stay abundant. The seas are combed for small fish to make into feed for shrimp and salmon. Farming meat-eating fish is an inefficient way to produce food. To feed them, we "catch fish to make fish," combing the ocean for small fish to process into shrimp and salmon feed. It takes two to four pound of wild fish to produce one pound of farmed fish. Those small fish are also part of ocean food chains—eaten by other fish, including tuna and wild salmon. If we remove them to feed our fish farms, the wild fish may go hungry. Plant-eating fish, like these tilapia, show the most promise as a low-cost source of protein for people.
The best way to raise fish may be inland, far from coastal waters where wild fish feed and breed. Tilapia, a plant-eating fish, are easy to raise, and they produce protein for people without using wild fish as feed. Catfish and trout are raised inland in the United States. When you eat seafood, choose species farmed with care. - Monterey Bay Aquarium
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Five Things You Can Do to Help Conserve Ocean Life:
Ask questions when you buy seafood.
Ask your retailer where their seafood comes from and if it was caught (or farmed) in a manner that protects the ocean environment. Ocean conservation groups are developing labels to mark seafood that meets conservation standards. The Marine Stewardship Council's label helps consumers tell which fish products are "marine-friendly." Ask for these products—your store will respond to consumer desires.

Speak up in restaurants.
Most fish imported into the US goes to our restaurants. They serve what customers demand. Before you order, ask where the fish came from, and whether it was caught (or farmed) in a way that protects the ocean environment. If the restaurant staff doesn't have the answer now, your question may prompt them to find out more about the seafood they sell.

Learn all you can.
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization reports each year on the health of many ocean seafood species, and conservation groups can help you find background on the health of fisheries. Seek out information from these and other sources, and use it to make your own decisions about what seafood to buy and eat.

Join an ocean conservation group.
Organizations like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the World Wildlife Fund, the Audubon Society's "Living Oceans" program, the Center for Marine Conservation, Environmental Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council work to preserve healthy oceans for future generations. By joining one or more of these groups, you'll support their efforts to protect ocean wildlife.

Contact your lawmakers.
Elected officials make the laws that affect fish and fishing. Let them know that you care about the fate of ocean wildlife, and that you want our laws to support sustainable fisheries. Lawmakers pay the most attention to letters from individual voters. - Monterey Bay Aquarium

Fish Habitat Loss:
Most of the world’s people live close to the coast—and so do most of the fish we eat. We pollute the water with sewage and other wastes; cover wetlands with buildings and roads; replace coastal habitats with crops and fish farms. "90% of the world’s fish production is dependent on coastal areas at some point in its life cycle. Land-based activities contribute about 80% of marine pollution. Over half of the world’s coastal ecosystems face moderate to high potential risk of degradation as a result of inappropriate
development".- United Nations
New Hope and other communities located on the banks of the Delaware River play a role in what gets discharged into the ocean by the Delaware river. What we pave, put on lawns, the amount of development and the efficiency of our sewage systems has a direct impact on our regions coastal fisheries.