Why is aquaculture important?
According to WWF, 85% of the world’s marine stocks are either fully exploited or overfished. Our planet’s population is forecast to reach 10 billion people by 2050, and with this growth will come a much greater demand for food, including seafood. Because there is negligible scope for capture fisheries to increase their harvests, aquaculture needs to bridge the gap between the long-term supply and demand, while doing all it can to also reduce the pressure on wild-capture fisheries.
There are many reasons to be optimistic about aquaculture’s increasingly important role in the global food supply. 'The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture' reports, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) state that any future growth in fish production and consumption will mainly come from aquaculture.
Without question, aquaculture is best positioned to address the considerable imbalance that exists between the amount of water available to us as a planet and its contribution to the human diet: currently, oceans provide just 2% of the food that we eat despite occupying 70% of the Earth’s surface.
Aquaculture is also one of the world's most efficient and sustainable methods to produce high-quality protein. The industry has low carbon footprint and feed conversion ratio (FCR) as well as high protein and energy retention. Skretting provides innovative and sustainable nutritional solutions that best support the performance of farmed fish and shrimp.
Frequent questions on sustainability
Why is aquaculture important?
According to WWF, 85% of the world’s marine stocks are either fully exploited or overfished. Our planet’s population is forecast to reach 10 billion people by 2050, and with this growth will come a much greater demand for food, including seafood.
Are circular economy principles applied to aquaculture feeds?
Yes. Aquaculture feeds can use suitable by-products and side streams from seafood, agriculture and other food-production systems.
Is aquaculture sustainable?
Yes, when done properly. As a global society, we are around 7.5 billion people heading towards 10 billion by 2050. Not only does this present the problem of an additional 2 billion mouths to feed, human diets are also increasingly shifting in line with growing prosperity.
Are our feeds sustainable?
Skretting works to improve the environmental and social performance of its feeds through responsible sourcing requirements, supplier assessment, feed formulation, quality and safety controls, traceability, due diligence, the use of by-products, and continued research and innovation.
How is aquaculture regulated?
Aquaculture is regulated through requirements that can cover farm approval, animal health and welfare, environmental impacts, feed, food safety, traceability and the use of veterinary medicines. The applicable rules and level of oversight vary by country, species and production system.