A recent study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations reveals that global fish farming surpassed wild fish harvesting in 2022, marking a notable milestone.
The data indicates that worldwide output from both aquaculture and fisheries achieved a record-breaking milestone in 2022, reaching 223.3 million metric tonnes of animals and plants. Out of the total, 185.4 million metric tonnes consisted of aquatic organisms, whereas 37.8 million metric tonnes were comprised of algae.
The wild capture of aquatic animals has decreased from 91.6 million tonnes in 2021 to 91 million tonnes in the subsequent year. On the other hand, aquaculture’s output increased to 94.4 million in 2022, compared to 91.1 million in the previous year.
According to the report, Aquaculture accounted for 51% of aquatic animal output in 2022. Among the continents, Asia represented over 90% of the worldwide aquaculture production of aquatic animals. However, approximately 90% of marine animals raised or caught are used for human food, while the remaining portion is allocated for purposes such as animal feed or fish oils.
According to experts, it is not unexpected that more fish are raised nowadays than wild-caught. During the last 30 years, wild catch from the seas has not risen much due to many factors, including, but not limited to, overfishing, climate change, and other natural restrictions.
However, seafood consumption has increased twice as rapidly as the global population’s annual growth rate since 1961. Hence, the expansion of aquaculture was highly likely to meet growing worldwide demand for seafood.
The United Nations agency anticipates that global aquaculture production will increase to 111 million tonnes by 2032. At the same time, the quantity of fish captured will increase more gradually, reaching 94 million tonnes during the same period.
According to Manuel Barange, the director of the FAO’s fisheries and aquaculture division, “Aquaculture has seen advantages due to the growing praise of the health benefits, such as Omega 3 and other micronutrients, present in food from aquatic animals, as well as its comparatively minimized environmental effect compared to food obtained from land animals.”
“The additional supply would be essential to provide an expanding global populace with enough protein and guarantee food security,” he added.
Nevertheless, the rise of aquaculture emphasizes the necessity of reshaping marine systems to reduce their environmental impact.
Many experts believe that the fast-growing aquaculture industry might be detrimental to food security in less developed countries due to the haphazard use of pesticides and antibiotics.
Furthermore, they assert that the overuse of antibiotics to treat disease in farmed fish is contributing to the rise of drug-resistant pathogens. Additionally, the waste from the aquaculture farms might pollute and harm the nearby aquatic environment.
Nevertheless, fish aquaculture companies are currently in the process of developing more sophisticated systems in order to meet the growing international demand and mitigate any adverse effects. The FAO suggests that sustainable seafood production must be transformed, adapted, and expanded to meet the increasing demand and enhance food security in order to feed the world’s expanding population.
Jaber Bin Abdul Bari
Department of Oceanography, NSTU
