News and trends in aquaculture-World Nutrition Forum

 

 

Aquaculture production has doubled over the past decade but the industry must continually adopt new practices to the enterprise an environmentally sustainable one.

 

These practices include environment friendly and fish meal free diets, techniques to reduce waste loading into the surrounding environment and devising innovative strategies for maintaining bio security and food safety

 

China has been responsible for approximately 80 percent of the increase in aquaculture. A quarters of global aquaculture was used for animal feed.

 

Fish constitute 16 percent of all animal protein consumed. Global demand for fish and fisheries products is projected to increase by almost 50 million tonnes in the next fifteen years (from 133 million tonnes in 2001 to 183 million tonnes in 2015).

 

Aquaculture has been the fastest growing food production sector for over three decades has seen a growth rate of close to 8.9 percent since the late 1980's. while output from capture fisheries has increased only 1.2 percent

 

In comparison, livestock meat production has only been growing at around 3 percent per year over the same period.

 

The most distinctive character of aquaculture that differentiates itself from other food production sectors is that close to 92 percent of total production came from Asia.

 

In Europe, the single most important species is the Atlantic salmon with a production of about 730,323 tonnes per year.

 

Although, Europe contributes to less than 5 percent of the world production, the continent is the world leader in several aquaculture species, particularly Atlantic salmon, sea bream, sea bass and many shellfishes.

 

The European Union (EU) is now the second largest seafood market in the world after Japan. Seafood imported to the EU is about 40 percent of the total international fish trade. Currently, the EU imports US$ 25 billion of seafood and exports US$ 15 billion.

 

Statistics released by the FAO indicated that eight of the top ten aquaculture producing countries are in Asia except for Chile and Peru. China remains by far the largest producer, with a fish production of 44.3 million tonnes in 2002.

 

The country contributed to 70.2 percent of global aquaculture production in quantity and 50 percent in value. India is ranked second, followed by Indonesia. Therefore, Asian fishery exports will continue to expand.

 

An overview of production with regards to species such as catfish, carp, salmon, tilapia and shrimp, listing production regions, tonnage and percentage of total production that each country produces for that species.

 

The outlook for aquaculture in the areas of genetic improvement, citing breeding programmes and trends is discussed. Issues like feed and fishmeal, including its impact on the environment are also covered.

 

Other highlighted concerns of aquaculture such as those of diseases, sustainability and how high oil prices affect the industry are also touched on. 

 

For more of the article, please click here.

Article made possible through the contribution of Biomin's World Nutrition Forum.