One Health in Aquaculture

By 2050, the majority of aquatic dietary protein will be produced by the aquaculture sector. A set of 15 metrics are presented here to guide the industry sustainably through the rapid growth and development it is experiencing.

Aquaculture must develop within planetary boundaries. Experience from agriculture, such as in managing monocultures and using genetically modified crops, can inform sustainable solutions for aquaculture.

Bivalve shellfish represent a nutritious and low-impact food source that is underutilized. New innovations in production in this sector could fulfil the protein needs of nearly one billion people in the most vulnerable global regions.

Mariculture has attracted much attention as a potential new source of food. Yet, the trophic efficiency of marine ecosystems is already high, making further improvements hard to achieve. Increasing marine food production may be possible by fishing at lower trophic levels, but the risks of such a practice must be considered.

There is an urgent need to ensure that marine ecosystems are able to support biodiversity and the services they sustain in the face of rapid global change. Here, the authors argue that a holistic approach of integrated ocean management can ensure a sustainable and resilient ocean economy.

Marine aquaculture is widely proposed as compatible with ocean sustainability, biodiversity conservation, and human nutrition goals. In this Perspective, Belton and colleagues dispute the empirical validity of such claims and contend that the potential of marine aquaculture has been much exaggerated.

Aquaculture is set to undergo robust growth in the years ahead. We must look beyond the economic gains and strategize aquatic food systems to improve food and nutrition security and livelihoods for all, says the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate, Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted.

Aquaculture sector expansion requires limiting the chemical and pathogen hazards that can disrupt seafood supply. A schema is presented here for mitigating these risks and informing policy.

Aquaculture production systems in Bangladesh were configured to optimize the supply of micronutrients while minimizing environmental impacts. Increased production of small indigenous species enabled nutrient densities of farmed fish to match those of wild-caught fish, and systems that co-produce fish and rice had the lowest environmental burdens.

Novel aquaculture feeds are rapidly developing, but their contributions to sustainable industry growth are unknown. Cottrell et al. model feed efficiency and fatty acid profiles, showing that replacing forage fish with novel feed ingredients could strengthen aquaculture’s role in global food security.

Omega-3 fatty acids are important for the human diet and for some aqua and animal feeds. This study reports a supply gap, and using quantitative systems analysis identifies targets for increasing efficiency in the global omega-3 cycle.

Substitution of food produce from declining wild fisheries with farmed species may exacerbate prevalent micronutrient deficiencies in regions such as the urban Peruvian Amazon, as well as negatively impact agricultural land use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Predators, including prawns, can suppress schistosomiasis by eating snail hosts. This modelling study finds that two prawn species in sub-Saharan Africa can reduce snail hosts and help control schistosomiasis at densities that maximize profits of associated aquaculture—a potential win–win.

Global environmental changes threaten many food-producing sectors, including aquaculture. Here the authors show that countries most vulnerable to climate change will probably face the highest antimicrobial resistance in aquaculture-related bacteria, and that infected aquatic animals have higher mortality at warmer temperatures.

Marine aquaculture is a rapidly growing global source of food, but is likely to be affected by climate change. Here, the effect of warming oceans on the production potential of 180 cultured finfish and bivalve species is mapped over the next century.

Projected sea-level rise and increased flooding threaten coastal agriculture. Gradual increases in soil salinity, but not inundation alone, are shown to correspond to increasing diversification into aquaculture and higher levels of internal migration.

Aquaculture is surpassing wild-caught seafood, but we feed aquaculture with wild forage fish for key nutrients. This study finds removing such forage fish from diets of livestock and non-carnivorous aquaculture species and moderating its use in China will help sustain forage fish populations in the future.