The production of wild and farm-raised fish, shellfish and algae reached record levels in 2020, and future increases could be vital to fighting world hunger, the Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday.
Driven by sustained growth in aquaculture, global fisheries and aquatic farming together hauled in 214 million tonnes, the UN agency said in a report.
The total first-sale value of 2020 production topped $400 million, with $265 million coming from aquaculture, a sector poised for further expansion.
These trend lines are good news for a world facing price hikes and food shortages due to the war in Ukraine, disrupted supply chains, and inflation.
“The growth of fisheries and aquaculture is vital in our efforts to end global hunger and malnutrition,” said FAO director Qu Dongyu.
But overfished oceans, climate change and pollution—if left unaddressed—could threaten that potential, the UN agency warned.
“Aquaculture growth has often occurred at the expense of the environment,” Qu noted.
Many shrimp farms in Vietnam, China and Cambodia, for example, have displaced mangrove forests that are nurseries for marine life and critical barriers against storm surges.
Climate change poses additional challenges, experts say.
“Warming waters will create environments where there’s more likelihood of bacterial disease,” said Josh Madeira, director of fisheries and aquaculture policy at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
That means a sector already highly reliant on antibiotics will likely become even more so, he told AFP.
Production of aquatic animals in 2020—totalling 178 million tonnes—was evenly divided between fisheries and aquaculture, according to the FAO report.
The remaining 36 million tonnes was algae production.
Yields of fish, shrimp and other shellfish destined for human consumption are more than 60 percent higher than during the 1990s, far outpacing population growth, according to the report, released during the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon.