A new report from Planet Tracker finds the aquaculture industry in its
current form will fail to satisfy growing global seafood demand, leaving a
supply gap as large as 50 million tons by 2050.
According to Avoiding Aquafailure,
even in the most optimistic scenario of improving current aquaculture practices,
a supply gap would still exist.
While farming
seafood
or growing fish in
labs
could contribute up to 5 million additional tons of seafood by 2050, embracing
regenerative approaches to aquaculture — which include, for example, the
production of seafood species such as many bivalves (e.g. oysters, mussels and
clams) and seaweed
species
that provide ecosystem benefits such as water filtration or carbon
sequestration
— could produce an additional 45 million tons of seafood and meet growing
demand, Planet Tracker finds.
As with any monoculturally grown commodities, the current approach to fish
farming concentrated on a few, popular species leads to a variety of
biodiversity risks — with impacts from nutrient pollution to native species
displacement — resulting in harm to marine ecosystems and financial losses to
the industry, currently valued at roughly US$290
billion.
The research finds an increasingly concentrated industry with the top ten
seafood-producing counties accounting for 89 percent of the total — and over 75
percent of listed aquaculture companies farming salmon, shrimp or catfish.
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“On land, the conversion of natural habitat into monoculture is widely
recognized as a key driver of biodiversity loss; but less acknowledged are the
similar patterns affecting marine life due to monoculture fish farming,” says
François Mosnier, Head of
Planet Tracker’s Oceans Program. “Unsustainable seafood production will not feed
the world by 2050; but the good news is that an aquaculture industry that is
resilient, productive and environmentally sustainable can be built.
“Planet Tracker found it will take at least US$55 billion in capital
expenditure to finance this transition, which most aquaculture companies cannot
afford. That’s why we’re calling on investors and lenders to assist with
diversifying the aquaculture industry and closing the supply gap.”
The report calls on investors and lenders to finance this regenerative
transition by:
-
Being aware of the increasing risks to production in a business-as-usual
scenario due to concentration, coastal
conflict,
production at intensities above sustainable limits and upcoming regulatory
pressures.
-
Demanding better disclosure, transparency and traceability
procedures
from companies to assist in better quantification and mitigation of these
risks.
-
Supporting the mitigation of these risks through diversification of
species and geographic distribution — especially if the species involved
foster ecosystem restoration, and provided that expansion in new areas does
not increase the company’s impact on biodiversity investments.
-
Supporting the mitigation of these risks through technology which
enables offshore,
RAS and
cultivated
seafood
— but only if it is environmentally sound to do so
-
Supporting regenerative aquaculture investments — for instance, by
offering cheaper capital for sustainable expansion, including via
sustainability-linked bonds.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published May 11, 2023 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST