20 SEPTEMBER 2014 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector in the world. This paper will focus on the attendant social responsibility of doing it correctly. If done right, aquaculture stands to be a crucial tool to feed our growing population. Over the last two decades, the aquaculture sector has reacted positively to growing societal pressures. This paper will address how research and development have fueled significant improvements in environmental efficiencies as well as the creation of a plethora of environmental/ social standards that can demonstrate a farm’s environmental performance independently. Both of these characteristics support aquaculture to lead as an example of how centerplate protein can and should be farmed responsibly in the future. With global population expected to grow from 7 billion to 9.3 billion by 2050 and an additional 3 billion, more-affluent, middle class consumers by 2030; food production will need to double to meet surging demand. It is estimated that more food must be produced in the next 36 years than has been produced in the preceding 8,000 years. Our challenge will be how to do this while managing the environmental footprint in a world that is already facing constraints on the supply of natural resources and ecosystem services. The 2012 Living Planet Report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF 2012) states that, if business continues as usual, we will require two planet Earths of resources to meet future demand. Currently, 38 percent of the Earth’s land area is dedicated to food production. After discounting land dedicated to cities, deserts, mountains, lakes, rivers and parks, this leaves only 24 percent of the Earth’s land area for further development of food Setting the Bar for Food Production: Is Aquaculture the Model for How Protein Should Be Farmed? Jose R. Villalon production. Our situation is that land is highly constrained but vast areas of open water are underutilized. Aquaculture could become more efficient and use open waters to make a meaningful contribution to meeting the surging demand for food, if done responsibly. Press headlines around the world have repeatedly referred to the effects of climate change on the food supply, exacerbating the underlying tensions that have led to the ongoing Middle East instability and which sparked the crisis in Syria. Lagi et al. (2011) directly correlated spikes in the international food index price with social conflicts during the last two decades. Of all fresh water used by humans, the share of agriculture is 70 percent. Fresh water is a critically constrained resource. Over 1 billion people worldwide lack access to fresh water. This sets the stage for widespread water restriction, reduced agricultural and energy production and political bickering in 2014 and beyond. Food and water security will resoundingly become national security issues for many countries around the world, including industrialized nations. Why Fish and Why Aquaculture? Fish convert a greater proportion of the food they eat into body mass than terrestrial livestock and therefore the environmental demands per unit biomass or protein produced are lower. The production of 1 kg of finfish protein requires 13.5 kg of grain compared to 38 kg for pork protein and 61.1 kg of grain for beef protein. However, although farmed fish may convert food more efficiently than terrestrial livestock, we remain dependent on global management of common natural resources, such as the FIGURE 1. Global food price index and correlated social conflict manifested through food riots and social conflict. Numbers in parenthesis correspond to number of deaths associated with specific incidences (Lagi et al. 2011). FIGURE 2. Global annual production output for different center-plate protein food sectors (Rabobank from FAO and USDA 2012).
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