* By Aquaculture Magazine Editorial Team
This commentary reviews total aquatic food supply from aquaculture and capture fisheries from 2010 to 2020 at global, regional, and national levels within main producing countries.If aquatic food supplies from aquaculture and inland/marine capture fisheries are to make an increasing global contribution to healthy diets, then the increased production and market availability of these products needs to be promoted by governments and actively encouraged and stimulated, particularly within the African continent.
Introduction
Aquatic foods represent a much needed healthy food source in the global fight against malnutrition and achieving food security. Aquatic animal foods including fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and other invertebrate animals destined for direct human consumption are referred to in this commentary as Fish and Seafood.
Despite the numerous nutritional merits of increased aquatic food consumption compared with terrestrial meat and processed meat-based fast-food products (Tacon and Metian, 2013; FAO & WHO, 2019; Ahern et al., 2021; Golden et al., 2021; Von Braun et al., 2021; Bavinck et al., 2023; Naylor et al., 2023; Tacon et al., 2023), there is also growing concern about the long-term sustainability (or not) of aquatic food supplies to meet current and future needs (Clonan et al., 2012; Thurstan and Roberts, 2014; Kobayashi et al., 2015; Roheim et al., 2018; Costello et al., 2020; Farmery et al., 2022).
This commentary discusses trends in aquatic food supply over the past decade from 2010 to 2020 at global, regional, and national levels within main-producing countries, and the potential to sustain the aquatic food supply with respect to human population growth.
Fish and Seafood Supply and Human Population Growth
Although total global fish and seafood food supply has increased over the past decade from 18.59 kg/capita in 2010 to 20.49 kg/capita in 2020 (compound annual growth rate – CAGR of 0.98%/year), fish supply has not kept up with human population growth over the same period (CAGR 0.98% and 1.21%, respectively; Table 1, FAO, 2023a). A similar situation existed with total terrestrial meat food supply, which only increased from 41.52 kg/capita to 42.76 kg/capita from 2010 to 2020 (CAGR 0.27%; Table 1).
Notwithstanding these global trends, Asia was the only region where the growth in aquatic fish and seafood supply exceeded population growth (1.70%/year and 0.98%/ year, respectively (Table 1). Moreover, although aquatic fish and seafood supply increased in Central America, South America, and North America (by 0.91%/ year, 0.65%/year and 0.48%/ year, respectively), annual growth in supply was below population growth within these regions (1.32%/year, 0.93%/year, and 0.63%/year, respectively; Table 1).
Of particular concern was the decrease in fish and seafood supply within the African region, decreasing from 10.40 kg/capita to 9.58 kg/capita, whilst population growth increased by 3.12%/year over the same period. A similar trend was also observed in Oceania and Europe, where fish and seafood supply decreased by −1.30%/year in Oceania (population growth 1.52%/year) and −0.18%/year in Europe (population growth 0.09%/ year; Table 1, FAO, 2023a).
Role of Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture in Aquatic Food Supply
In marked contrast to the Asian region, where the bulk of fish and seafood supply is primarily sourced from increased aquaculture production (the Asian region producing 91.6% of total global aquaculture production in 2021, and production increased at a CAGR of 5.31%/year since 2000, compared with a CAGR of 0.32% for capture fisheries in the region: Table 2; FAO, 2023b); this was not the case for other regions where marine capture fisheries still dominate fish and seafood supply (Figure 1).
Trophic Level Implications
Although freshwater fish species (usually feeding low on the aquatic food chain) contributed to over half of total fish supply globally and within the Asian region in 2020 (54.3% and 63.8%, respectively), this was not the case in other regions (Figure 2).
Marine pelagic and demersal fish species (usually feeding higher on the aquatic food chain) dominated fish supply in those regions where capture fisheries still overshadow aquaculture production, including Central America 59.6% total food fish supply, Africa 61.2%, South America 62.8%, Europe 76.1%, and Oceania 81.8% (Table 2, Figure 1).
It is important to note that cultured aquatic plants or seaweeds contributed an additional 2.9 kg/capita globally and 4.86 kg/capita to total fish and seafood food supply in the Asian region in 2020 (live weight basis); total aquatic food supply including aquatic plants being 20.49 + 2.9 (23.39 kg/capita: globally) and 24.66 + 4.86 (29.52 kg/capita: Asia; Figure 2, Table 1, FAO, 2023a).
Selected National Fish and Seafood Production Food Supply Trends
Table 3 shows per capita fish and seafood supply within the top 20 aquaculture producers in 2020 and graphically in Figure 3 (including supply trends 2010 to 2020 for China, Indonesia, India, Viet Nam, Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan, and the USA).
Based on the data shown, the following positive and negative trends were evident:
» Per capita fish and seafood supply was highest in South Korea 55.27 kg, Malaysia 54.70 kg, Norway 50.18 kg, Japan 46.2 kg, Myanmar 45.02 kg, Indonesia 44.44 kg, China 39.91 kg, and Viet Nam 39.56 kg;
» Growth in per capita annual supply of fish and seafood was greatest for Indonesia 4.7%/year, followed by Iran 3.8%, India 3.6%, Bangladesh 2.9%, Egypt 2.5%, and China 2.2%;
» Growth in per capita supply was higher than population growth in China 0.5%/year, Indonesia 1.2%, India 1.1%, Viet Nam 1.0%, Bangladesh 1.1%, Egypt 2.1%, Thailand 0.4%, and South Korea DPR 0.5%;
» Growth in per capita supply was lower than population growth in Ecuador 1.6%, Philippines 1.5%/ year, Turkey 1.5%, Chile 1.1%, Norway 1.0%, Brazil 0.8%, Myanmar 0.7%, South Korea 0.3%, and Japan 0.2%;
» Despite growth of the aquaculture sector in most Asian countries, Europe (Norway, Turkey) and the Americas (Ecuador, Brazil), annual per capita fish and seafood supply decreased in Turkey −2.1%, Philippines −1.4%, Japan −1.3%, Malaysia −1.1%, Norway −0.8%, Brazil −0.6%, Ecuador −0.4%, and the South Korea −0.2% between 2010 and 2020;
» Highest total per capita supply of finfish (includes freshwater fish, demersal fish, pelagic fish, and other marine fish) in 2020: Malaysia 46.1 kg/capita, Myanmar 44.93 kg/capita, Indonesia 39.32 kg/capita, Norway 39.23 kg/capita, and Viet Nam 28.39 kg/capita;
» Highest total per capita supply of crustaceans in 2020: Norway 10.05 kg, USA 8.18 kg, Japan 6.14 kg, China 5.95 kg, and Viet Nam 5.26 kg;
» Highest total per capita supply of cephalopods in 2020: South Korea 6.74 kg, Thailand 3.27 kg, Viet Nam 3.21 kg, and Japan 3.15 kg;
» Highest total per capita supply of shelled mollusks in 2020: China 9.97 kg, South Korea 9.55 kg, Japan 5.67 kg, and the USA 3.70 kg;
» Highest total per capita supply of aquatic plants in 2020: South Korea 34.22 kg, China 14 kg, and Japan 0.93 kg;
» Freshwater fish species constituted 83.9% and 78.3% of total aquaculture fish and seafood supply in Bangladesh and India in 2020, respectively (Figure 3).
Concluding Remarks and Future Outlook
If aquatic fish and seafood food supplies from aquaculture and capture fisheries are to make an increasing global contribution to healthy diets (FAO & WHO, 2019; Ahern et al., 2021; Naylor et al., 2021; Costa-Pierce et al., 2022; Peng et al., 2023; Tacon et al., 2020), then the increased sustainable production (in the case of aquaculture) and consumption of aquatic food products, needs to be stimulated and encouraged.
In the case of the African continent, the increased production and consumption of nonfed species such as farmed mollusks and aquatic plants should also be promoted and encouraged actively. These species supplied less than 1% of the total aquatic food supply in 2020, with production not being dependent upon the external provision of compound feed inputs (Chopin and Tacon, 2020; Peng et al., 2024).
Clearly, increased sustainable aquaculture production and enhanced sustainably managed capture fisheries production should be promoted by governments and actively promoted to provide a healthy and sustainable food source for the global population to help combat malnutrition and address food security – a growing issue and concern with increasing climate-related impacts on food supply chains.
This is a summarized version developed by the editorial team of Aquaculture Magazine based on the review article titled “CRITICAL NEED TO INCREASE AQUATIC FOOD PRODUCTION AND FOOD SUPPLY FROM AQUACULTURE AND CAPTURE FISHERIES: TRENDS AND” developed by: TACON, A. – Aquahana LLC , Kailua, HI, USA; and SHUMWAY, S. – University of Connecticut, USA. The original article was published, including tables and figures, on MARCH, 2024, through REVIEWS IN FISHERIES SCIENCE & AQUACULTURE. The full version can be accessed online through this DOI: 10.1080/23308249.2024.2324321
