Food and agriculture titans are looking more and more to add aquaculture to their operations as global demand for fish increases and fish farming overtakes wild ocean fishing as the preferred way to put fillets on the table.

But as online news site Quartz reports, more fish farms mean more demand for wild fish like sardines and anchovies to turn into fish meal.

Agriculture heavyweight Cargill has bid $1.5 billion to purchase a Norwegian salmon feed supplier.

The number of wild-caught fish has leveled off over the last few decades due to concerns about overfishing and more strict management of fisheries.

But intensive harvesting of little fish like anchovies can ravage ocean ecosystems.

The Food and Agriculture Organization predicts that the world will produce more fish from farming than in the wild by 2023.

Read More:

• The New Frontier For Big Agriculture Is Aquaculture (Quartz)
• Cargill Buys Salmon Feed Maker EWOS For $1.5 Billion (Bloomberg)