China’s growing appetite for seafood isn’t affecting a national trend of declining acreage being dedicated to aquaculture and mariculture.
China’s overall seafood producing space totaled 8.34 million hectares in 2016, down 1.40 percent year-on-year. Of that total, 2.16 million hectares are being used to raise seawater species – a decline of 6.52 percent year-on-year. At the same time, freshwater aquaculture grew 0.53 percent to 6.17 million hectares in total acreage.
The aquaculture industry has been under pressure in China due to numerous factors, including pollution, rising rural land prices, and stricter environmental zoning rules.
Mariculture, in contrast to aquaculture, has grown in the past decade; total acreage being used for aquaculture and mariculture stood at 6.57 million and 1.3 million hectares, respectively, in 2008, nearly 10 years ago.
