Abstract
Aquaculture has become an important source of food, providing an alternative to wild fisheries and terrestrial food. However, the environmental impacts of aquaculture can vary greatly, and it is essential to understand the relationship between the nutrition provided by aquatic species and their multiple environmental footprints for targeted dietary advice and sustainable development of aquaculture. In this study, we examined 49 aquatic species or taxa divided into eight groups, considering ten nutrients and five environmental impacts for Chinese aquaculture. The results showed that species varied widely in their nutritional values and environmental impacts, with mussel, razor clam, marine bass, flounder and snapper being the most recommended for sustainable performance (sustainability score Si > 1.60). In contrast, tilapia performed poorly (Si = 0.11) in both nutritional score and environmental impacts, thus should not be promoted in dietary advice. Results of spatial analysis showed that Qinghai (Si = 1.06) and Tibet (Si = 0.75) had the highest sustainable development level for freshwater aquaculture, while there were large differences in marine aquaculture among coastal provinces (the highest Si in Zhejiang was 1.42, and the lowest Si in Guangxi was 0.56) and the sustainable performance of all coastal provinces is reduced to varying degrees when freshwater aquaculture and marine aquaculture are considered comprehensively. Increasing the proportion of high sustainable performance species is an effective way to improve the sustainability score in most provinces, particularly coastal ones. We suggest that the proportion of species production should be adjusted, and the cultivation of species with high sustainable performance should be prioritized. This study provides an initial assessment of the sustainability of aquatic food by combining nutrition and multiple environmental impacts for Chinese aquaculture.
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