Latin: Fame, (classical) IPA (key): /ˈfa.meːs/, [ˈfämeːs̠]
English: Hunger

The idea of ​​feeding humanity in the future torments experts, companies, as well as curious and concerned minds. Thousands of studies gravitate around the growth of the global population and the undeniable realities of climate change and sustainability, undermined by the overexploitation of natural resources. Why has hunger only now become a hot topic, when developing countries have struggled for basic survival resources since time immemorial? Because the topic of hunger and the issues surrounding it have now knocked on our privileged doors – it is no longer an alien challenge, it is now a unique voice and a unique population.

Human beings have a food problem. Approximately 1.3 billion tons (one third) of all food produced is lost or wasted, costing the global economy almost $940 billion (approximately €790 billion) per year and contributing to 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. [i] There is no doubt that this is a multifactorial problem: a large number of people go hungry; large nutritional imbalances remain to this day between high- and low-income nations and regions; paradoxically, even within high-income nations, malnutrition is a worrying reality due to the consumption of highly processed foods; and the entire food value chain is failing society and harming the planet.

Why Aquaculture Fish is an Essential Global Supplier of Protein

Let me be clear: this is an article that openly advocates for the introduction of fish protein consumption through aquaculture as a strong candidate to support the development of a sustainable global menu. Currently, fish sustains more than 4.5 billion consumers with at least 15% of their average per capita intake of animal protein.

Why aquaculture? Because it has the potential to operate under sustainable practices and respond to the pressing need to provide large quantities of highly nutritious food to sustain a growing population.

To what extent can we consume indiscriminately without unbalancing Nature’s own scales? Can we commit to the point of tipping the scales back to reasonableness and following a suitable global menu? There is no doubt that a shift in the consumption paradigm is daunting and an understudied challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced these issues and exacerbated them. And there is no doubt that political, economic, and cultural obstacles have been prolific in hindering and delaying the path to achieving a sustainable global menu. Paradoxically, amidst a turbulence of contradictions on which our society is based, the nouvelle vague of healthy products, local and sustainable choices has become an almost hipster lifestyle (but only for some). Hipster or not, this is the way forward: to think beyond ourselves and beyond the immediate gratification of our excessive desires and established social lifestyles. To succeed, we need to seek new, better, and sustainable ways to force the renewal of our social matrix and our habits.

Since the Industrial Revolution, human diets have evolved towards a greater consumption of animal products. This demand is no longer a trend, but an established way of life, to the point that it is predicted to increase significantly in the coming decades, with most of this growth occurring in developing countries[ii].

Aquaculture plays a significant role in meeting the need for animal protein, growing to surpass wild fish stocks as the main source of aquatic protein in the diet by 2050[iii]. Non-aquatic animal production occupies, directly or indirectly, about 75% of all arable land and consumes about 8% of the drinking water used by humans[i],[iv]. Global production of compound feed for animal production is keeping pace with the progressive increase in the consumption of animal products, reaching approximately 1 billion metric tons in 2015, 1.5% more than in 2014. According to the FAO¹, this production needs to increase by about 70% to feed the world in 2050.

Fish farming for consumption has existed since approximately 2000 BC and, since then, has been a way to introduce animal protein and replace the consumption of animal protein from terrestrial animals. In fact, in many areas of developing regions, such as Africa, aquaculture has been a more secure source of livelihood, as the main supplier of animal protein. In regions like these, aquaculture has had a major impact on the economy of local communities, providing stable income jobs and sustaining the food needs of a growing population.

The new paradigm: feeding Global Growth While Respecting Nature

The pressure on the food sector to maximize production and reduce waste is a new paradigm that has emerged from UN estimates that the global population will reach 9 billion people by 2050. The food sector not only needs to mobilize to meet demand, but also needs to do so sustainably, in a scenario where essential resources such as land and water will become scarce and where climate change will have an increasingly significant impact. The fisheries sector is no exception. We need to further integrate aquaculture technology into this new era of greater food security and sustainability – make no mistake, the environmental challenges associated with aquaculture persist, including the destruction of marine habitats, the use of harmful chemicals and veterinary medicines, and waste production[vi]. In Europe, however, we have come a long way in rigorously regulating the use of chemicals and reducing environmental impact. “We’ve had some bad actors who did the wrong things and, frankly, broke the rules,” says Martin Excel, Managing Director of Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship. The reader may be confused at this point. After all, isn’t aquaculture one of the solutions to hunger? Yes, it is, despite the challenges. In terms of sustainability, fish is one of the most efficient converters of feed into nutritious, high-quality food, with a significantly smaller carbon footprint than other animal production systems.

Fish is essential when strategizing for a sustainable global menu.

While technology has led to advances in developing better techniques to increase fish farming⁴, saying that we have now reached a state of “blue revolution” may be an exaggeration. Nevertheless, it is interesting that every second fish we consume comes from aquaculture, contributing to the global fish supply, which has grown eightfold since 1950. The modern farmed seafood industry is relatively young and, despite its bad reputation, aquaculture has experienced enormous development, ranging from animal welfare and veterinary approaches to sustainable and intelligent infrastructure, etc. Fish farming is growing rapidly, with a positive impact on its surroundings – ecological practices, creation of local jobs, and support for the growing need for sustainable food sources. In fact, according to Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Oceans, through the development of new forms of sustainable aquaculture with appropriate species and feed, mariculture (farming organisms in marine environments), shellfish farming, and much greater attention to macroalgae (seaweed) for human and animal food, the ocean will provide us with a large part of the nutritious food we need.

Furthermore, since not only fish, but all seafood, has a relatively low carbon footprint compared to land-based agriculture, aquaculture has enormous potential to play a positive role in supporting the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 13, which covers urgent actions to combat climate change and its impacts.

Within the framework of the UN Global Compact initiative, in 2020, a roundtable of seafood industry CEOs, convened by the agency, highlighted the fundamental role that seafood can play in feeding a growing world population and recommended that aquaculture be incorporated into a sustainable food system in the future.

Aquaculture is no longer in its infancy, but is poised to become a force to be reckoned with, with enormous potential to ensure that seafood products, particularly fish, contribute more significantly to a sustainable menu. This is the era of smart investments and technological advancements. This is the age of adaptation – we, as humanity, need to adapt or else we will face an even more challenging future.

Perhaps we need to pause for a moment and revisit Darwin’s words: it is not the strongest species that survives, but the one that best adapts to change.