Fishy appetites

In the past 30 years the global appetite for fish has doubled. From 45 million metric tons in 1973, total fish consumption jumped to more than 91 million tons in 1997. Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food production sectors in the world. It has grown at an average annual rate of 8.4% since 1970 and total production reached 65.8 million tonnes in 2008.

There is a general consensus among published studies that the growth of global aquaculture production will continue along a trajectory similar to that of the recent past for at least the next five years. This results in an “uncertainty envelope” for production in 2020 estimated at between 65 and 85 million tonnes. Estimates that extend to 2030 have a wider margin of error, yielding a conservative range of 79 to 110 million tonnes.

source: Blue Frontiers, Managing the environmental costs of aquaculture, Policy Brief