Living Blue Planet Report

Chapter 2: Our ocean under pressure page 29

Key

Aquaculture

“With the world’s population predicted to increase to 9 billion

people by 2050 – particularly in areas that have high rates of food

insecurity – aquaculture, if responsibly developed and practised,

can make a significant contribution to global food security and

economic growth.”

Árni M. Mathiesen, Assistant Director-General of FAO Fisheries

and Aquaculture Department

Over the past three decades, global aquaculture has grown on

average at 8.6 per cent each year. Fish farming has enabled seafood

consumption to continue to increase even as marine fisheries

production has flat-lined. It now supplies 58 per cent of the fish we

eat, has kept the overall price of fish down, and made protein and

improved nutrition more accessible to communities around the

world. Around 90 per cent of the world’s 18.9 million fish farmers

are small-scale producers from developing countries (FAO, 2014a;

FAO, 2014b).

But farming fish is not always a sustainable alternative.

In many countries, aquaculture production has depleted key

ecosystems like mangroves, polluted aquatic environments

and potentially reduced climate change resilience for coastal

communities. Poor management, a lack of capacity and access to

technical knowledge, or irresponsible practices have also led to

large-scale disease outbreaks, such as early mortality syndrome

for shrimp in Asia (FAO, 2013).

0

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2012

Production (Million tonnes)

Year

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

Figure 21: The

continued increase in

seafood production

in the last 30 years is

almost entirely due to

aquaculture

(FAO, 2014b).

Aquaculture

production

Capture production