Fish farming ‘can feed most of world’ - UN
AQUACULTURE has the potential to feed almost two thirds of the world’s population, according to a new report from the United Nations.
The report, from the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, says it is possible to produce at least six times more seafood than we are getting today.
Because of pressure on global wild fish stocks, most of that increase will have to come from aquaculture.
But land based fish farming will put too much pressure on freshwater and land resources, said ‘The Future of Food from the Sea’ report.
‘Unlike land based food production, the suitable area for cultivating food from the sea is not limited by scarce land and water resources.
‘Looking to the ocean as a source of protein produced using low carbon methodologies will be critical for food security, nutrition and economic stability, especially in coastal countries where hunger and malnutrition are a challenge,’ said the committee, which included 14 heads of government - among them, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who wants to move all salmon farming in British Columbia on to land within five years.
The UN panel was chaired by Erna Solberg, prime minister of Norway, the world’s largest salmon farming country.
The findings were presented at a UN conference in Rome last month and the report is the first of 16 expert surveys submitted before the UN maritime conference in June next year.
The researchers behind the report believe that aquaculture can grow sharply if the industry uses insects and vegetables instead of wild fish as food for farmed fish.
Among other things, the report highlights salmon breeders who have increasingly replaced wild fish with soy in the salmon feed.
The FAO director general, Qu Dongyu, said of the findings: ‘We need more political will and more resources to make this happen.
‘Let us not leave any region of the ocean behind in our sustainability quest. If we focus our science, our innovation spirit, our technologies, we will secure and protect one of the oldest and most undervalued food industries. We need to aim big and do concrete things.’
Norway’s seafood minister, Harald T. Nesvik, who was at the report launch, said it stressed that any growth in aquaculture should have the least possible impact on the environment, so it was important that future research and development should concentrate on that.