June 6, 2014 — To keep up with the world's growing population and its appetite for seafood, we can't just rely on wild fish. Already, we're getting more of it from aquaculture.
We Americans love our fried shrimp, our sushi and our fish sticks. And a lot of other people around the world count on fish as a critical part of their diet, too. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, fish now accounts for almost 17 percent of the world's intake of protein — in some coastal and island countries it's as high as 70 percent.
To keep up with the world's growing population and its appetite for seafood, we can't just rely on wild fish. Already, we're getting more of it from aquaculture.
And that farmed fish production will have to more than double by 2050 to meet demand, according to a report by the World Resources Institute. The potential environmental implications of that are pretty daunting.
"The world's oceans and rivers and lakes are fished to their limit," says Richard Waite, a researcher with WRI. So the aquaculture industry has to step up, he says. "But if [aquaculture] were to more than double, and we don't improve the sector's efficiency, its environmental impact will double as well."
But if it's done right, aquaculture can grow without taking a major toll on the environment, the WRI researchers say.