March 25, 2021 — Despite aquaculture’s potential to feed a growing world population while relieving pressure on badly depleted oceans, the industry has been plagued by questions about its environmental impacts.
But over the years, the diverse industry—which ranges from massive open-ocean salmon cages to family farm freshwater tilapia ponds—has made significant strides toward sustainability, according to a new Stanford-led analysis.
The study notes, however, that in order for the global aquaculture sector to deliver on its full promise, more effective oversight measures are needed to help ensure that its environmentally sound systems are economically viable.
The findings, published March 25 in Nature, could help shape how consumers think about the seafood they buy, and inform governance strategies critical to global food and nutrition security.
“As the demand for seafood around the world continues to expand, aquaculture will keep growing,” said study lead author Rosamond Naylor, the William Wrigley Professor of Earth System Science in Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth). “If we don’t get it right, we risk the same environmental problems we’ve seen in land-based crop and livestock systems: nutrient pollution, excessive use of antibiotics and habitat change that threatens biodiversity.”