Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture for Food Security and Nutrition

5 June 2014. A new report, Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture for Food Security and Nutrition, has provided probably “the most comprehensive recent attempt to review and synthesize the current knowledge” said Dr Christophe Béné.

Dr Béné, of the Institute of Development Studies, chaired the team of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security that produced the report.

The report recommends that fish need to be fully integrated into all aspects of food security and nutrition policies and programmes. It pays special attention to all dimensions of food security and nutrition and promotes small-scale production and local arrangements, as local markets, e.g. for procuring school meals, and other policy tools, including nutrition education and gender equality.

The official launch of the report Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for food security and nutrition, will take place Friday 13 June 2014 in FAO HQ

Download the provisional agenda here

HLPE Team for fish, food security and nutrition report. Left to right: Gro-Ingunn Hemre, Modadugu V. Gupta, Moenieba Isaacs, Chris Béné, Meryl Williams, Ningsheng Yang and Vincent Gitz (Secretary)

Download the report here

Related:

5 June 2014. Another report, Improving Productivity and Environmental Performance of Aquaculture, was released during an event at the World Resources Institute (WRI) Washington, DC headquarters.

Improving Productivity and Environmental Performance of Aquaculture is the latest installment of the 2013–2014 World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future.

The series profiles a menu of solutions to help feed more than 9 billion people by 2050 in a manner that advances economic development and reduces pressure on the environment.

The report from WRI, Worldfish, the World Bank and other partners analyses the environmental impacts of aquaculture production today and scenarios for sustainable growth in the future. It shows that aquaculture production will need to grow 113 percent by 2050 to meet growing demand for fish worldwide. Already, fish and shellfish make up one-sixth of global animal protein consumption, and that number will only grow as the world reaches 9 billion people.

The report highlights five approaches to grow aquaculture production sustainably: 

1. Invest in technological innovation and transfer, specifically breeding and hatchery technology, disease control, feeds and nutrition, and development of low-impact production systems; 
2. Use spatial planning and zoning to reduce cumulative impacts of many farms and ensure that aquaculture stays within the surrounding ecosystem’s carrying capacity; 
3. Shift incentives to reward sustainability; 
4. Leverage the latest information technology, including satellite and mapping technology, ecological modeling, open data, and connectivity so that global-level monitoring and planning systems support sustainable forms of aquaculture development; and 
5. Shift fish consumption toward fish that are low on the food chain—“low-trophic” species such as tilapia, catfish, carp, and bivalve mollusks. 
6. As the global wild fish catch has leveled off even while the world population continues to grow, it is essential to get aquaculture growth right—and ensure that fish farming contributes to a sustainable food future.

Presentation Slides

Webinar Recording

   

Note: Video recording begins with black background. Slides begin 1 minute into the recording. Recording is audio-only from 18:09 to the end. A high-quality version of WorldFish’s video presentation is below.