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Oct 21, 2016

Aquaculture industry casts wider net in food and consumer markets

Water covers more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, but the oceans’ capacity for meeting the growing consumer demand for seafood is limited—the seas are simply overfished. Some new business opportunities are emerging to produce more fish amid dwindling fish resources. Global seafood consumption reached 143 million metric tons in 2009, an increase of more than 20 million tons over a decade, according to the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization. The organization has concluded that the global fishing industry has likely tapped out as much wild catch as it can get from the oceans. Given projections for growth in population and seafood consumption, the FAO calculates that the world must produce an additional 40 million tons of fish annually to meet demand by 2030. “Even in well-managed fisheries, there’s no more to be had,” said Ronald Stotish, CEO of biotechnology startup AquaBounty. “We can stay where we are but we’re not likely to improve the wild stocks.” Read the article.