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 expand by over 2 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. Accordingly, the industry is rising to the challenge – in the decade 2005-2014, farmed seafood production grew at a healthy 5.8% annually, which was more than four times the annual world population growth between 2010 and 2014.

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.

Fish farm
Fish farm in Nigeria
Shrimp farm in Ecuador
Shrimp farm in Ecuador

FAQs

Why choose farmed over wild fish?
Are farmed fish and shrimp healthy to eat?
Do salmon and trout feeds contain colouring?
What ingredients are in Skretting feed?
Are the raw materials that Skretting uses in its feeds responsibly sourced?
Do feeds contain chemicals or preservatives dangerous to human health?
Are the animal by-products used in aquaculture feeds dangerous to human health?
Do feeds contain growth hormones or antibiotics?
What are fish meal and fish oil, and why are they used in aquaculture feeds?
Is low fish meal/fish oil content in feeds harmful to fish and shrimp?
Does Skretting use novel ingredients in its feeds?
What is ethoxyquin and is it safe?
Are circular economy principles applied to aquaculture feeds?
Is aquaculture sustainable?
Is aquaculture controlled?
Why is aquaculture important?
Why do aquaculture species grow quickly?
Are farms healthy environments for producing fish and shrimp?
How much wild fish is needed to feed farmed fish?
Are Skretting feeds sustainable?
Is it safe to eat farmed fish and shrimp?
How is Skretting contributing to feeding a growing global population?
Is one feed sufficient for all aquaculture species?
How much feed is needed to grow a farmed fish?
Can efficient feed management help improve the sustainability of aquaculture?