Seafood from Aquaculture and Fisheries, from Near and Afar
Frank Asche
Abstract
Global seafood production and markets have changed fundamentally since the 1970s. The main catalyst for this change is that landings from fisheries flattened out as most fish stocks were fully exploited if not overfished. However, despite strong demand this has not led to steep price increases typically associated with scarcity. Seafood has never been more available largely because of rapid growth of aquaculture production and globalized markets that can move seafood from locations where natural endowments are suitable for production to the large population centers that constitute the main markets. Moreover, as aquaculture is farming, the industry in not resource constrained in a similar fashion as fisheries, and as most aquaculture production is relatively crude, there is also a tremendous scope for further productivity growth as more knowledge is transferred from the agro-sciences. One can accordingly expect global seafood production to continue to grow rapidly.