Sustainable Aquaculture 101
Aquaculture refers to the controlled cultivation of aquatic organisms. It is an alternative to commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish. Aquaculture primarily refers to land-based or terrestrial production systems that source products from freshwater and inland capture fisheries. Aquaculture is a $243.5 billion industry that is growing faster than any other food production system. Global aquaculture production nearly tripled between 1987 and 1997, and again between 1997 and 2017. The demand for just fish is expected to double by 2050.
The main species groups that contributed to the top 75% of aquaculture production in 2017 included seaweeds, carps, and bivalves. Freshwater fish account for 75% of global aquaculture volume due to their favorable conversion from live to edible weight.
Sustainable vs Unsustainable Aquaculture
Aquacultural systems must address a range of challenges to become more sustainable:
Increased incidents of disease across fish stock;
Incidents of escape of genetically modified fish species into surrounding ecosystems;
Lower quality products;
High feed to conversion ratios;
Water and soil pollution; etc.
Taking these challenges into consideration, sustainable aquaculture can be defined by an evolving range of characteristics related to its impact on specific species, locations, societal norms, and best practices. Certification programs have defined key characteristics of sustainable aquaculture:
Environment practices
Community practices
Sustainable business and farm management practices
Types of Aquaculture
There are several criteria for differentiating between different types of aquaculture.
Aquatic Environment
Freshwater/Estuarine
Estuarine/Brackish
Marine aquaculture (or ‘mariculture’)
Culture Systems
Closed systems, including Recirculation Aquaculture Systems and indoor aquaculture systems.
Semi-closed systems, including ponds.
Open systems, such as cages or open-water mollusks farms.
Cellular Aquaculture: The Newest Frontier in Cell-Cultured Meat
Cellular Aquaculture, or cultivated seafood, is an emergent process for sourcing seafood that will provide real seafood products produced in a lab from marine animal cells. Cultivated seafood processes and products have the potential to eliminate the negative environmental and health effects of traditional seafood sources, and startups working in this field have raised nearly $100 million dollars in just the past four years.
Of the new blue economy seafood sectors, cultivated seafood has the greatest potential to alter the composition of the seafood industry. Cultivated seafood is akin to the state of the solar industry 20 years ago; no one expected costs to come down as rapidly as they did nor the high speed of innovation.
Plant-Based Seafood Alternatives
Several companies are producing plant-based alternatives to traditional seafood products or new stand-alone products. Large multinationals such as Tyson and Nestle are entering the space, investing in alternative protein research and plant-based products.
Regulatory Considerations
As with other types of cell-cultured/cultivated meat, cultivated seafood products must be approved by national regulators before going to market, though seafood products may face fewer hurdles and accelerated review timelines.
In many places, cultivated meat (including seafood) will be approved product by product. In Europe, cultivated meat will be regulated under an existing regulatory framework. Singapore formalized its regulatory process in 2020. The U.S., Israel, and Japan are also likely to present regulatory breakthroughs soon. India and Brazil are monitoring global progress.[16]
Recent Developments & Key Players
Two promising forms of sustainable aquaculture produce sea vegetables and shellfish, which can purify ocean water, mitigate local ocean acidification, and provide materials as varied as biofuels, industrial chemicals, and reef-building materials. As the benefits have become clearer, entrepreneurs around the world are showing interest. Many US state and local governments, as well as NGOs, are bullish about future prospects.
Oceans 2050 Seaweed Project
Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust and Ocean Visions Inc.
Bezos Earth Fund and WWF
Only One's Green Seas Journey
Key Policy Trends/Challenges
Aspirations to improve the environmental and social performance of aquaculture practices have led to new public and private regulations, codes and standards, but the uneven implementation of government regulation has led to regional disparities in production, growth and system design. Governments have facilitated aquaculture in many Asian countries, whereas in the European Union and USA, governments have constrained growth. In Norway, strict environmental regulation is supporting planned aquaculture growth. Uneven regulation has led to disparities in investment and trade.
In response to public over- and under-regulation, private governance arrangements have emerged. Farm-level certification is setting new norms, but producer compliance remains low.
