Recent literature on marine fish farming brands it as potentially compatible with sustainable resource use, conservation, and human nutrition goals, and aligns with the emerging policy discourse of ‘blue growth’. We advance a two-pronged critique. First, contemporary narratives tend to overstate marine finfish aquaculture’s potential to deliver food security and environmental sustainability. Second, they often align with efforts to enclose maritime space that could facilitate its allocation to extractive industries and conservation interests and exclude fishers. Policies and investments that seek to increase the availability and accessibility of affordable and sustainable farmed aquatic foods should focus on freshwater aquaculture. Marine aquaculture is widely proposed as compatible with ocean sustainability, biodiversity conservation, and human nutrition goals. In this Perspective, Belton and colleagues dispute the empirical validity of such claims and contend that the potential of marine aquaculture has been much exaggerated.

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Farming fish in the sea will not nourish the world

Seaweed aquaculture accounts for 51.3% of global mariculture production and grows at 6.2% yr−1 (2000–2018). It delivers a broad range of ecosystem services, providing a source of food and natural products across a range of industries. It also offers a versatile, nature-based solution for climate change mitigation and adaptation and for counteracting eutrophication and biodiversity crisis. Here we offer the perspective that scaling up seaweed aquaculture as an emission capture and utilization technology, one supporting a circular bioeconomy, is an imperative to accommodate more than 9 billion people in 2050 while advancing across many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Agriculture’s ability to feed the world is limited by land and freshwater. This Perspective argues that scaling up seaweed aquaculture is needed to accommodate the 9+ billion people expected by 2050 and to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

A seaweed aquaculture imperative to meet global sustainability targets

26 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables.-- This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Brown, A.R., Lilley, M., Shutler, J., Lowe, C., Artioli, Y., Torres, R., Berdalet, E. and Tyler, C.R. (2020), Assessing risks and mitigating impacts of harmful algal blooms on mariculture and marine fisheries. Rev Aquacult, 12: 1663-1688. doi:10.1111/raq.12403, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/raq.12403. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions

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Assessing risks and mitigating impacts of harmful algal blooms on mariculture and marine fisheries

Earthworm as an alternative protein source in poultry and fish farming: Current applications and future perspectives.

Marine aquaculture is the most promising industry for ensuring future provision of
seafood. Yet, the worldwide growth and expansion of this industry have been slower than expected, calling for the identification of environmentally suitable sites while accounting for all factors that could constrain or benefit its establishment. Here, we determine the main obstacles and risks hindering the growth and expansion of marine aquaculture, as well as the needs and recommendations to overcome such constraints. Our analysis is based on results obtained from a consultation process held in 16 study sites located around the world with the participation of 614 stakeholders representing the research community, aquaculture industry, government, conservation groups, and education and fishermen associations. A high level of commonality exists in the main issues hindering aquaculture growth and expansion in coastal, off-the-coast and offshore aquaculture with most being attributed to interactions with other maritime activities, including conflicts with other users and administrative procedures,
including licensing. Critical needs for improved management and expansion
of the aquaculture industry are related to planning andmanagement of developments and technological advances, with economic and market needs featuring to a lesser extent. Key procedures recommended to assist further aquaculture growth are th standardisation and simplification of regulatory frameworks, improvement of governance, and the adoption of participatory processes to facilitate meaningful and productive stakeholder engagement. We strongly recommend stakeholder participation to enhance insights on the full environmental and human dimensions of marine management and for implementation of ecosystem-based marine spatial planning.

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Global stakeholder vision for ecosystem‐based marine aquaculture expansion from coastal to offshore areas

To meet the Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi Target 11 on marine biodiversity protection and Aichi Target 6 on sustainable fisheries by 2020, as well as the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 on food security and SDG 14 on oceans by 2030, there is an urgent need to rethink how best to reconcile nature conservation and sustainable development.
This paper argues for effective governance to support processes that apply principles of sustainable development and an ecosystem approach to decide about economic activities at sea such as aquaculture. It describes opportunities, benefits and synergies between aquaculture and MPAs as a basis for wider debate. The scope is not a comprehensive analysis of aquaculture and MPAs, but rather to present examples of positive interactions between aquaculture activities and MPAs. The unintended negative consequences are also discussed to present balanced arguments.
This work draws from four workshops held in 2015 and 2016 and used to collect information from about 100 experts representing various sectors and perspectives.
It is recognized that aquaculture is an important activity in terms of sustainable development. It can play a role in providing food security, poverty alleviation and economic resilience, in particular for MPA local communities, and contribute to wild stock enhancement, as an alternative to overfishing and for providing services to the ecosystem.
This study showed that there is a need from both aquaculture and MPA sides for clarity of objectives and willingness for open and extensive dialogue. The paper concludes by describing a number of tools and methods for supporting greater synergies between aquaculture and MPAs.
The results from this work have already helped to build a common understanding between conservation and aquaculture and initiate a rapprochement for increasing synergies.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/aqc.2821

Miriam Callier

Papers

Aquaculture and marine protected areas: Potential opportunities and synergies