Open consultation on the scope of the report “Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for food security and nutrition”

In 2014, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and the CFS High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) recognized the great significance of fish and other aquatic foods in the global and regional diets, particularly in certain regions and countries. The 2014 HLPE-FSN report Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for food security and nutrition noted that in some countries both dependence on fish and vulnerability to climate change impacts were especially acute.

Among the highlights of the 2014 HLPE-FSN report were: (i) the critical contribution of fish to global diets and micronutrient intake (e.g., fish providing for more than 20 percent of animal protein for 3 billion people), (ii) the growing pressures on aquatic ecosystems, overfishing, climate impacts, and governance gaps, (iii) the important but often overlooked role of small-scale fisheries and women across value chains, and (iv) opportunities and risks associated with aquaculture expansion and intensification.

The 2014 HLPE-FSN report concluded that “fish deserve a central position in food security and nutrition strategies.” The resulting CFS policy recommendations highlighted the need to make aquatic foods an integral element of inter-sectoral national food security and nutritional policies as well as to include them in national nutritional programmes and interventions aimed at tackling micronutrient deficiencies, especially among children and women.

The past decade has seen increased complexity in the impact and interactions of diverse trends in global seafood system, such as intensifying climate impacts, increasing geopolitical instability affecting seafood trade, major scientific advances in aquatic foods, growing concern over aquatic resource degradation, and heightened recognition of nutrition as a core outcome of food systems, together with enduring challenges of human and labour rights violations, such as modern slaverys (Namakura et al., 2018).

Against this backdrop, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has requested in its Multi-Year Programme of Work 2024-2027 that the HLPE-FSN prepare an updated report for 2027. In line with current CFS priorities and the right to food, this update will build on the 2014 analysis and recommendations and will adopt a stronger focus on nutrition, a food systems analysis, and greater attention to issues such as equity, resilience, climate change, and the transformation of aquatic food value chains, with the aim to inform policy recommendations complementary to the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries, endorsed by the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in 2014 and published in 2015.

The updated version of the report could serve as a roadmap to identify sources of data and models that are needed to fully evaluate the potential for aquatic foods to contribute to food security and nutrition in the context of climate change, and to foster food system transformation pathways that include aquatic foods. The HLPE-FSN can consider how the recommendations proposed in 2014 could today be implemented in ways that take into account advancement in technology and knowledge, and make relevant recommendations for future policies and programmes.

This e-consultation invites the global community to help shape the scope, key questions, and analytical boundaries of this upcoming report by the HLPE-FSN.

2. Proposed objectives of the 2027 HLPE-FSN report

The report is expected to:

1. Assess the current and future contributions of fisheries and aquaculture to food security and nutrition - particularly for the most food-insecure - situating aquatic foods within integrated food and related systems, including the often-overlooked post-harvest segments of the supply chain - processing, distribution, marketing, and consumer-facing policies such as school meals - that determine who ultimately benefits from aquatic foods.
2. Analyse updated global evidence on sustainability challenges and opportunities across capture fisheries and aquaculture, including ecological, social, economic and governance dimensions, adopting a more granular understanding of different types of aquaculture, such as carnivorous vs. vegetarian fish, small-scale vs corporate, location (land vs water) to assess specific impacts on wildlife, fish stock, revenue and nutritional impact.
3. Deepen the nutrition analysis, highlighting the specific and differentiated roles of aquatic foods in healthy and affordable diets, nutrient security, and public health.
4. Provide guidance for policies and interventions to enhance the resilience, equity, and sustainability of aquatic food systems in line with the realization of the right to food.
5. Identify knowledge gaps and propose areas for further research and data needs such as nutritional quality data and species-level nutrient profiling; sustainable feed innovations; disease surveillance and antimicrobial resistance; ecosystem impacts and climate resilience; food safety and traceability.

3. Main developments in fisheries and aquaculture since 2014 

Key trends to be considered in the updated report include:

• Significant expansion and diversification of aquaculture, now the fastest-growing food production sector and surpassing capture-fisheries in global supply and representing 59 percent of global fisheries and aquaculture production in 2022 (FAO, 2024). Yet this rapid growth raises sustainability concerns, from rising feed demand that pressures ecosystems to intensive systems that increase pollution, disease risks, and antibiotic use (Tigchelaar et al., 2022).
• Increased climate impacts, including warming waters, species redistribution, ocean acidification, and more frequent extreme events impacting coastal and inland systems.
• Increased incomes and shifting dietary patterns have translated in increased demand for diverse aquatic foods. Consumption of aquatic foods has grown steadily: per-capita apparent consumption doubled compared to the 1960s (from ~ 9.1 kg in 1961 to 20.7 kg in 2022) (FAO, 2024), though access and affordability depend on socio-economic status, gender, age, geography, among other factors (FAO et al., 2025).
• Greater recognition of aquatic foods’ nutritional value, especially for vulnerable populations. The UN Nutrition (2021) highlighted the role of aquatic foods in healthy diets, especially focusing on their importance in providing micronutrients (iron, zinc, calcium, iodine, vitamins A, B12, and D) and essential fatty acids, and their lower environmental cost compared to most terrestrial animal-sourced foods. This includes fish often destined for fishmeal production, which could provide essential nutritional values if consumed directly as food (Cashion et al., 2017).
• Geopolitical disruptions, and market volatility and high prices, linked to US Dollar appreciation, inflation and high food and energy prices, prioritization of export markets and trade-offs between use of fish for food and feed, are reshaping global seafood trade (FAO et al., 2025).
• Increased market concentration across the ocean economy and aquaculture, with a small number of large transnational companies accounting for a substantial share of revenues and production, shaping industry practices and influencing governance processes (Pandey et al., 2023; Virdin et al , 2021).
• Advances in technology, including artificial intelligence, digital monitoring, blockchain technology, biotechnology, feed innovation, and alternative aquatic proteins and alternatives to antibiotics (Cromwell et al., 2025; Naz et al., 2025), as well as nutritional circularity in aquaculture, present major opportunities but also the challenge of ensuring that these benefits reach the most vulnerable and food-insecure populations.
• Sustainability remains a major concern, as many stocks are not biologically sustainable. According to the FAO (2025) only 64.5 % of marine fishery stocks are classified as biologically sustainable, meaning 35.5 % are overfished or unsustainably exploited (FAO, 2025). Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, degradation of critical habitats, antimicrobial resistance, agricultural and industrial nutrient runoff and concomitant algal blooms and dead zones (Wurtsbaugh et al. 2019), and pollution from plastics and chemicals exacerbate sustainability issues (FAO, 2016; Tigchelaar et al, 2022), while microplastics have specific impacts on fish and human health (Smith et al, 2018).
• Social justice and labour concerns, including persistent gender inequities and unsafe working conditions, as well as violations of core labour and human rights such as forced labour and human trafficking, identified in 2014 but still inadequately addressed (ILO, 2024). The tension between sustaining local welfare and generating commercial wealth in aquatic food systems is a profound social justice challenge, as export-oriented industrial operations can erode the livelihoods, nutrition, and rights of small-scale communities (Blue Food Assessment, 2021; Hicks et al. 2022).
• Governance of fisheries, water, and oceans continues to sideline management systems, knowledges, and rights of Indigenous Peoples and traditional small-scale fishers, instead of securing sustainable small-scale fisheries for Indigenous Peoples and other marginalized communities (Feiring, 2023). 

The 2024 FAO State of Fisheries and Aquaculture emphasizes a “Blue Transformation:” shifting toward more sustainable, resilient, and equitable fisheries and aquaculture systems worldwide. The voluntary guidelines “recognize the traditional and local knowledge of small-scale fishers and fish workers, including indigenous peoples. They call on states and other actors to acknowledge and build on this knowledge to restore, conserve, protect and co-manage local aquatic and coastal ecosystems” (FAO, 2015; SSF Summit FAO 2024).

E-consultation

As part of the report development process, the HLPE-FSN invites members and participants of CFS as well as the broader public to provide inputs, suggestions, and comments through an e-consultation on the scope of the report.

E-consultations are a key part of the inclusive and knowledge-based dialogue between the HLPE-FSN Steering Committee, the drafting team, and the scientific and knowledge-holding community at large.

Questions to guide the e-consultation

1 What are some of the additional themes and emerging trends that should be analyzed in the updated HLPE-FSN report?

2. What technical or data innovations, and their policy implications, should be taken into account?

3. What specific challenges and opportunities should be highlighted for 

• small-scale fisheries
• different aquaculture systems
• inland fisheries
• women and youth
• Indigenous Peoples
• communities and individuals marginalized by markets and policies
• low-income consumers
• Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

4. Which case studies, regional perspectives, or examples of good practice should be included?

5. Are there other references, data, publications, or other kinds of knowledge, which should be included in the report?

6. How to address trade-offs between production growth, environmental integrity, and social equity in aquatic food systems?

7. Please insert below any additional comment.

Share your views by using the form👇

The results of this consultation will be used by the HLPE-FSN to elaborate further the report (more details on the different steps of the process, are available here).

⏰ This consultation is open until 13 February 2026 (deadline extended).

If you wish to submit additional documentation to support your contribution, you can write to the HLPE-FSN Secretariat, at cfs-hlpe(at)fao.org, copying silvia.meiattini(at)fao.org.

We thank in advance all the contributors for reading, commenting and providing inputs. Comments can be submitted in English, French and Spanish.

The HLPE-FSN looks forward to a rich and fruitful consultation!

Contributions

Proceedings of the contributions received will be made publicly available on this consultation webpage.

Call for experts 

In parallel, the HLPE-FSN has opened a call for experts to join the drafting team that will prepare the report, under the guidance of the HLPE-FSN Steering Committee.

References

Blue Food Assessment. 2021. Building blue food futures for people and the planet – The report of the Blue Food Assessment. September 2021. https://doi.org/10.25740/rd224xj7484

Cashion, T., Le Manach, F., Zeller, D. & Pauly, D. 2017. Most fish destined for fishmeal production are food-grade fish. Fish and Fisheries, 18: 837–844. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12209

CFS. 2023. CFS Multi-Year Programme of Work (MYPoW) 2024–2027. Rome, Committee on World Food Security / Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Cromwell, J., Turkson, C., Dora, M. & Yamoah, F.A. 2025. Digital technologies for traceability and transparency in the global fish supply chains: A systematic review and future directions. Marine Policy, 178: 106700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2025.106700

FAO. 2015. Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication. Rome. https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/i4356en

FAO. 2016. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016 – Contributing to food security and nutrition for all. Rome. https://www.fao.org/3/i5555e/i5555e.pdf

FAO. 2024. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024 – Blue transformation in action. Rome. https://www.fao.org/3/cc7900en/cc7900en.pdf

FAO. 2025. Review of the State of World Marine Fishery Resources – 2025. Rome, FAO. https://www.fao.org/about/fao-unoc-series/2025/fao-global-marine-fish-stock-assessment/en

FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO. 2025. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 – Addressing high food price inflation for food security and nutrition. Rome. https://www.fao.org/3/cd6008en/cd6008en.pdf

Feiring, B. 2023. Indigenous Peoples’ customary fishing rights: Key issues and input from the Expert Meeting on Indigenous Peoples and Fisheries. Copenhagen, The Danish Institute for Human Rights. ISBN 978-87-7570-189-6.

Hicks, C. et al. 2022. Rights and representation support justice across aquatic food systems. Nature Food, 3(10). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00618-4

HLPE. 2014. Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for food security and nutrition. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security. Rome, FAO. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/350d9c16-fce5-4f85-9324-a41939bb3b89/content

ILO. 2024. Forced labour in commercial fishing. Geneva, International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/publications/forced-labour-commercial-fishing

Nakamura, K., Kawanishi, C., et al. 2018. Seeing slavery in seafood supply chains. Science Advances, 4: e1701833. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1701833

Naz, S., Iqbal, S., Ishaque, U. & Mustafa Chatha, A.M. 2025. Innovative technology and emerging trends in sustainable aquaculture: A road to increase output and environmental resilience. Aquaculture International, 33: 634. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-025-02277-1

Pandey, R., Asche, F., Misund, B., Nygaard, R., Adewumi, O.M., Straume, H-M. & Zhang, D. 2023. Production growth, company size and concentration: The case of salmon. Aquaculture, 577: 739972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2023.739972

Smith, M., Love, D.C., Rochman, C.M. & Neff, R.A. 2018. Microplastics in seafood and the implications for human health. Current Environmental Health Reports, 5(3): 375–386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-018-0206-z

Tigchelaar, M., Leape, J., Micheli, F., Allison, E., Basurto, X., Bennett, A., Bush, S., Cao, L., Cheung, W., Crona, B., DeClerck, F., Fanzo, J., Gelcich, S., Gephart, J., Golden, C., Halpern, B., Hicks, C., Jonell, M., Kishore, A., Koehn, J.Z., Little, D., Naylor, R., Phillips, M., Selig, E., Short, R., Sumaila, U.R., Thilsted, S., Troell, M. & Wabnitz, C. 2022. The vital roles of blue foods in the global food system. Global Food Security, 33: 100637. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2022.100637

UN Nutrition. 2021. The role of aquatic foods in sustainable healthy diets – Discussion paper. Rome. https://www.unnutrition.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-UN-Nutrition-Aquatic-foods-Paper_EN_.pdf

Virdin, J. et al. 2021. The Ocean 100: Transnational corporations in the ocean economy. Science Advances, 7: eabc8041. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc8041

Wurtsbaugh, W.A., Paerl, H.W. & Dodds, W.K. 2019. Nutrients, eutrophication and harmful algal blooms along the freshwater to marine continuum. WIREs Water, 6: e1373. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1373