Aquatic genetic resources news | FAO updates on biodiversity
25 March 2025
People began domesticating terrestrial plants and animals around 10 000 years ago. This means that nearly all the crops and livestock we depend on for our food today are genetically improved, because farmers have been making choices and breeding them selectively for thousands of years.
While aquaculture has also been practiced for millennia, the industry as we know it has only been around for about a century, which is when most aquatic species were domesticated. This means they are still rich in genetic diversity, which is the cornerstone of selective breeding or the process of breeding organisms for specific traits, like resistance to disease or non-optimum culture temperatures.
However, the sector lags far behind terrestrial farming in terms of genetic improvement. The technology and the know-how already exist and have proven their potential to generate prosperous livelihoods, but they are not used widely enough.
1 October 2024
The Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Aquatic Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITWG-AqGR) gathered for its Fifth Session at FAO Headquarters from 18-20 September.
A total of 45 participants from 34 countries reviewed progress made since the Fourth Session and made recommendations to shape FAO's work going forward in support of Members' efforts to conserve, sustainably manage and develop their aquatic genetic resources for aquaculture.
Aquatic genetic resources (AqGR) include DNA, genes, chromosomes, tissues, gametes, embryos and other early life history stages as well as individuals, farmed types, stocks, and communities of organisms of actual or potential value for food and agriculture – from seaweed to crustaceans, from molluscs to fish, covering around 700 species in total.
18 September 2024
On land as in water, there can be no food security without biodiversity: it allows plants and animals to reproduce and grow, adapt to natural and human-induced impacts, resist diseases and parasites, and continue to evolve.
Aquatic biodiversity is the basis on which aquaculture can exist and grow sustainably. It determines the adaptability and resilience of species to changing environments and is the foundation for the genetic improvement of farmed species. The effective management of aquatic genetic resources is therefore vital to secure future supplies of aquatic food in a sustainable way.
One key enabler to make this happen is AquaGRIS, a public online database of farmed aquatic species and their wild relatives. While similar online inventories exist for livestock and terrestrial plants, none had yet been developed for aquaculture.