Bridging Demand and Supply of Seafood: Sustainable Aquaculture in a Changing World

Sunday, February 17, 2013
Room 304 (Hynes Convention Center)
Marc Metian , Stockholm Resilience Center, Stockholm, Sweden
In a world where nearly a third of the humanity is suffering from malnutrition and over 70% of our planet is covered with water, fish and aquatic products represent an essential component of the global food basket, improving peoples nutritional status, health and wellbeing. Capture fisheries is in decline, or at best kept at status quo, and aquaculture is the only solution for significantly increasing production of fish and other aquatic organisms. The rapid aquaculture expansion taking place within the last two decades has in some places been poorly regulated and resulting in negative environmental and social consequences. However, many aquaculture systems can offer more efficient ways to produce food compared to many terrestrial animal food systems. Responsible aquaculture development will not only involve efficiency and good environmental performance, but also enabling production of food being accessible and affordable for poor people.

The present paper discusses resilience of present and emerging aquaculture systems. Special focus is on the sustainability of feed usages, implications for global fisheries and overall food production. In complement the paper also explores how the supremacy of China will influence global fish resources via its aquaculture industry.