June 12, 2018 โ WASHINGTON โ Leading aquaculture experts discuss what sustainability looks like in farmed fishing and how we achieve it in the latest episode of Saving Seafoodโs video series, Aquaculture Today.
โOne thing thatโs true is the aquaculture industry is here to stay, has a very bright and important future for food security on the planet,โ says Corey Peet, Managing Director of the Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative. โBut that has to be grounded in an objective view of how do we develop it sustainably.โ
According to the Sustainable Fisheries Partnershipโs 2017 overview of reduction fisheries โ fisheries used for the production of fishmeal and fish oil โ just over 83 percent of global catch from reduction fisheries comes from stocks that are reasonably well managed or better. Only an estimated 17 percent of reduction catch comes from poorly managed fisheries.
โ20 years ago we were obsessed by this issue of fishmeal sustainability and inputs,โ says Dan Lee, Standards Coordinator for the Global Aquaculture Allianceโs Best Aquaculture Practices Program. โWeโve pretty much solved that and itโs been through economic forces largely.โ
According to Manuel Barange, Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the goal of sustainability should not be maintaining the status quo, but ensuring that aquaculture will be able to feed the worldโs growing population while protecting marine ecosystems.
โSustainability means to understand the needs of the people for this generation and in future generations, and therefore how to protect the marine environment and the freshwater environment so that they keep producing,โ says Mr. Barange.
Experts also stressed the importance of more data to help fisheries managers make informed decisions about aquaculture, as well as the need for continued industry involvement.
โFishery management is better the more data we can get, the more accurate modeling that we can get,โ says Neil Auchterlonie, Technical Director at IFFO.
โDoing good science, having good industry participation, and recognizing that when there are challenging issues, that collaboration within the industry is probably one of the best ways to solve them,โ says Tim Fitzgerald, Director of the Environmental Defense Fundโs Impact Division.
The video is the fourth and final in a series, Aquaculture Today, in which Saving Seafood interviews leading aquaculture experts about advances in farmed fishing and what the industry will look like in the future. Previous episodes of Aquaculture Today covered its role in feeding the world, its efficiency, and the nutritional benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.
Interviews for Aquaculture Today were conducted by Saving Seafood at the 2017 SeaWeb Seafood Summit in Seattle, Washington.