Over half of all the fish that people eat comes from aquaculture, the farming of aquatic species. Modern aquaculture, which started with salmon farming about five decades ago, has become the fastest growing sector of food production in the world.
Improvements in management systems and aquaculture feed mean that we can now produce more food than ever before. However, with the demand for food fish rising alongside our growing global population, the future promises to bring even more changes to the industry. Here are some of the major current developments that will define the next stages of aquaculture’s legacy.
The reliance on marine-based ingredients has been problematic for the aquaculture feed industry for many years. The industry still has some ways to go in producing a fishmeal-free diet across all species, but R&D developments in this area have highlighted that fish do not require fishmeal to grow and perform optimally.
Aquaculture, in contrast with capture fisheries, has remained stable over the last few decades. The industry continues to grow and contribute to the increasing food supply for human consumption, reaching a worldwide production of 80 million metric tons in 2016. To sustain its growth, the aquaculture industry is highly dependent on commercial feed sources.