The potential of aquaculture to meet the challenges of food security and to generate employment and foreign exchange has been clearly demonstrated by the rapid expansion of this sector, which has grown at an APR¹ of almost 10 since 1984 compared with 3 for livestock meat and 1.6 for capture fisheries production.

In recent years, the supply of fish has continued to increase steadily and in 1995, total world production of finfish, crustaceans and molluscs from capture fisheries and aquaculture reached 112.9 million mt. The inclusion of plants in aquatic production raises the total production in 1995 by a further 7.8 million mt to 120.7 million mt, an increase of around 15.6 million mt since 1989 (Figure 1.1.1.1 ).

Figure 1.1.1.1
Much of the increase in annual global aquatic production is attributable to aquaculture. The actual share of aquaculture depends on whether aquatic plants are included or not (Figure 1.1.1.1). For cultured finfish and shellfish, the annual contribution to total finfish and shellfish production rose linearly from 11.7% in 1989 to 18.5% in 1995.

When aquatic plants from culture and wild harvest are included, the corresponding annual contribution of aquaculture to total aquatic production increased from to 14.4% in 1989 to 23.0% in 1995. For food fish, over a quarter of total world supply was derived from aquaculture.

Figure 1.1.1.3

Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food-producing sectors, providing an acceptable supplement to and substitute for wild fish and plants. By 1995, the total production of cultured finfish, shellfish and aquatic plants, which was valued at US$42.3 thousand million reached a record 27.8 million mt, an increase of around 9.6% and 5.2% over 1994 production in quantity and value, respectively ( Figure 1.1.1.3 ). In keeping with recent trends, the increase over 1994 was highest for finfish and shellfish: 13.6% and 7.4% for quantity and value, respectively. Much of the reported increase originated from the low-income food deficit countries (LIFDCs), in particular China, and reflects the continuing trend in these countries of increased use of aquatic resources to further diversify food production.

Figure 1.1.1.4

Figure 1.1.1.5

Contribution of aquaculture to total national aquatic production in principal countries

Figure 1.1.1.6A

Although the global contribution of aquaculture by quantity to total world aquatic production averaged 23% in 1995, the relative importance of aquaculture to national aquatic production varied greatly and ranged from 7% to 60% in the top 14 producing countries (Figure 1.1.1.6). In keeping with recent trends, the significance of aquaculture in terms of contribution in tonnage to national aquatic production in 1995 was greatest in China, accounting for 60.2% of total national production, nearly twice that in France, India, Republic of Korea and the Philippines (Figure 1.1.1.6A ).

Figure 1.1.1.6B

Figure 1.1.1.7

Figure 1.1.1.8

Figure 1.1.1.9

Aquaculture production and growth in the 67 reporting LIFDCs, however, is greatly skewed. Around 98.5 % of all aquatic production within LIFDCs originated from just six countries in 1995, with China accounting for around 82% of production ( Figure 1.1.1.9 ). Between 1984 and 1995 Chinese aquaculture expanded at an APR of 13.6. The APR for all the other LIFDCs countries was 5. In 1995, total aquaculture production from LIFDCs excluding China was only 4.0 million mt, an increase of 1.7 million mt since 1984 (Figure 1.1.1.8 ). While these LIFDCs show potential for expansion, their slow aquaculture growth rate is likely to be due to a combination of reasons, such as low national priority of aquaculture, limited water supply of appropriate quality, poor infrastructure, limited capacity of institutions, and technical and financial constraints.