Christopher Golden and colleagues argue that farmed fish contribute little to global food security because they are “mostly exported to the wealthy countries of Europe and North America” (Nature 534, 317–320; 2016). In fact, more than 90% of farmed fish produced in China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Egypt, the Philippines and Myanmar — some of the world's largest aquaculture-producing developing countries — remains in domestic markets (see go.nature.com/2dqwwh).

Aquaculture products are more accessible to the poor in many developing nations than ever before (K. A. Toufique and B. Belton World Dev. 64, 609–620; 2014). And the aquaculture boom of the past two decades has stabilized world fish prices (S. Tveterås et al. PLoS ONE 7, e36731; 2012).

The realities of the supply and demand of aquaculture products mean that these now complement capture fisheries for global food and nutrition security.Footnote 1