COORDINATED EFFORT NEEDED TO MEET GLOBAL AQUACULTURE DEMAND

The creation of a global
partnership to help ensure that
the world's fish supplies can
keep pace with booming
demand has received a green
light from FAO's Sub-Committee
on Aquaculture.
Over 50 countries endorsed the
Global Aquaculture Advancement
Partnership (GAAP) programme,
which will bring together
governments, UN agencies, non-
governmental organizations and
the private sector to find
sustainable solutions to meeting
the need for fish products.
Aquaculture already supplies
nearly 50 percent - or nearly 63
million tonnes - of fish consumed
globally, and with production
from wild fish stocks levelling off,
it will fall to fish farmers to
supply the estimated 50 million
additional tonnes required to
feed the rising world population
by 2030.
But while aquaculture is one of
the fastest expanding food
sectors in the world with a
current growth rate of around
6.1 percent a year, recent trends
predict a gradual decline which
might see the sector fall short of
bridging the gap between
projected supply and demand.
"This is an alarming situation and
urgent concerted efforts to build
a strong private-public
partnership are imperative to
maintain the current rate of
growth of aquaculture over the
coming years," said Árni M.
Mathiesen, FAO Assistant
Director-General for Fisheries and
Aquaculture.
The partnership will be tasked
with overcoming obstacles to the
expansion of the sector, which
include the increasing scarcity of
land and water for the
development of inland fisheries
and the need to step up
aquaculture activities in the
world's seas and oceans.
This in turn will require strict
governance to safeguard aquatic
animal health and conserve
biodiversity.
"GAAP will also help tap the huge
potential of aquaculture to help
reduce poverty, unemployment
and socio-economic inequalities
through proper planning and
development," Mathiesen said,
recalling that around 80 percent
of fish farmers are small-scale.
Some 55 million people are
directly employed by the fisheries
and aquaculture sector, of whom
85 percent live in Asia.