The Paradox of Saving Fish by Eating them: Food Crime at the Intersection of Green Criminology and Political Ecology

Abstract Aquaculture is framed as a key contributor to global food security and sustainable food production. Yet, in its industrial form, it involves several harmful practices that negatively impact food security, marine ecosystems, farmed animals, and targeted wild species. Drawing on data from interviews and document analysis, this paper examines the strategies and discourses intensive aquaculture employs regarding the production and protection of Atlantic salmon and European eels. The study uncovers how aquaculture not only exploits the perceived divide between wild and farmed fish, but also manipulates sustainability narratives to maintain business as usual. While aquaculture is often presented as a solution to wildlife decline, this decline is simultaneously used to justify and consolidate intensive farming practices. Corporate actors play a key role in this process by shaping narratives that create an impression of sustainability, leading consumers to believe they are making environmentally responsible choices. By strategically presenting aquaculture as an eco-friendly alternative, they downplay and obscure its ecological harms and divert attention from its socio-economic negative impacts. Building on green criminology and political ecology, this paper critically examines the contradictory sustainability claims of aquaculture, revealing how it perpetuates environmental damage while maintaining an illusion of “sustainability”.