Fisheries and aquaculture must pull together and collectively ensure blue foods are part of every conversation taking place around food security and feeding a growing world population, according to Walton Family Foundation Oceans Initiative Lead Teresa Ish.
Speaking at the recent Blue Food Innovation Summit in London, Ish said the reality is that in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) terms, SDG 14 – the goal focused on the ocean, or "Life Below Water" – is the least invested in of all the U.N. goals. As such, the two sectors should closely align their efforts to establish sustainable seafood production, as well as other endeavors like climate mitigation, and ocean management and health, she said.
“For us to be able to ensure that our sectors continue to exist sustainably, it means aquaculture and capture fisheries working together – to ensure that ocean planning happens, food production is considered, and the role of blue foods are not just conversations that are happening in this room but are in every food conversation,” Ish said. “Ocean planning won't happen without us there, and it won't happen with an eye toward food production without us being there.”
To meet the food demands of a world population that’s forecast to reach 10 billion people by 2050, it’s also critical the blue food economy grow production, she said, stressing that while aquaculture harvests now exceed those of wild-capture fisheries – and that almost all the future growth is going to have to come from the farming of aquatic species – fisheries remain essential to overall food security.
Ish said that while capture fisheries are essential to food security, they also offer a different investment environment than aquaculture which requires a different approach...
