Recent literature on marine fish farming brands it as potentially compatible with sustainable resource use, conservation, and human nutrition goals, and aligns with the emerging policy discourse of ‘blue growth’. We advance a two-pronged critique. First, contemporary narratives tend to overstate marine finfish aquaculture’s potential to deliver food security and environmental sustainability. Second, they often align with efforts to enclose maritime space that could facilitate its allocation to extractive industries and conservation interests and exclude fishers. Policies and investments that seek to increase the availability and accessibility of affordable and sustainable farmed aquatic foods should focus on freshwater aquaculture.
This paper re-evaluates the contributions to global food supplies of 'aquatic animalsource food' from aquaculture and capture fisheries, and 'terrestrial animal-source food' from livestock farming. Three common misunderstandings in the scientific and policy literature are addressed: (1) aquaculture was the fastest growing food production sector over the past three decades, (2) aquaculture has surpassed capture fisheries as the main source of fish for human consumption, and (3) production of aquatic animal-source foods has outstripped that of terrestrial animal-source food. These misunderstandings result partly from misuse of statistics: although possessing a relatively high annual growth rate in percentage terms, production of aquatic animal-source food increased from a much lower basal production level than the production of terrestrial animalsource food. Misunderstanding also arose partly from differences in the ways that aquatic and terrestrial animal-source food production are reported in global statistics. These differences systematically biased the reported gross weight of aquatic animalsource food produced globally upwards relative to that of terrestrial animal-source food. Comparing edible portions of aquatic and terrestrial animal-sources foods revealed the following three main points: first, although having a high annual growth rate in percentage terms, growth in the production of edible aquatic food has lagged far behind that of terrestrial meat by volume; second, capture fisheries still produce more edible aquatic food than aquaculture, and third, global production of beef exceeds that of farmed aquatic meat. Poultry is the largest animal-source food producing sector and is growing faster than aquaculture by volume.
Small-scale fisheries and aquaculture (SSFA) provide livelihoods for over 100 million people and sustenance for ~1 billion people, particularly in the Global South. Aquatic foods are distributed through diverse supply chains, with the potential to be highly adaptable to stresses and shocks, but face a growing range of threats and adaptive challenges. Contemporary governance assumes homogeneity in SSFA despite the diverse nature of this sector. Here we use SSFA actor profiles to capture the key dimensions and dynamism of SSFA diversity, reviewing contemporary threats and exploring opportunities for the SSFA sector. The heuristic framework can inform adaptive governance actions supporting the diversity and vital roles of SSFA in food systems, and in the health and livelihoods of nutritionally vulnerable people-supporting their viability through appropriate policies whilst fostering equitable and sustainable food systems.
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