Abstract
“Sustainable” is among the most sought after of all seafood product adjectives. Ironically it is also one of the most poorly defined and understood. The Global Aquaculture Performance Index (GAPI) is the first tool to assess environmental performance of global marine aquaculture production, permitting direct comparison of disparate species, production methods and jurisdictions. Clear patterns emerge from this analysis; significant variation of environmental performance is driven by the species being farmed, significant room for improvement exists across the entire sector, the worst performing players are also the fastest growing, particularly within Asia, and perhaps most importantly, this work highlights the potential trap awaiting policy makers who focus too narrowly on farm production efficiency alone as a solution to diminishing seafood availability.
Highlights
With over 87% of global capture fisheries currently fully- or over-exploited [1] aquaculture is looked upon with increasing urgency to fill the growing global demand for seafood
Ten issue areas were consistently addressed across initiatives. These 10 markers of environmental performance (Table 1) were deemed the minimum necessary suite of indicators required for comprehensive assessment of global marine aquaculture and are the product of a de facto peer review by the sustainable seafood community
We found data deficiencies to be challenging in the traceability of feedstocks, feed formulation, and the cumulative ecosystem effects of both chemical use and escapes
Summary
With over 87% of global capture fisheries currently fully- or over-exploited [1] aquaculture is looked upon with increasing urgency to fill the growing global demand for seafood. Sustainability 2013, 5 decades the growth of aquaculture production has exceeded all other agricultural sectors worldwide (8.8% annual compounded growth since 1980) [1] Such rapid growth does not come without challenges and production related environmental impacts are diverse and well documented [2,3,4]. Quantifying environmental performance of aquaculture production has historically proven difficult, reflecting scarcity of data, inconsistent reporting, incomplete science, and a wide range of potential environmental impacts across a global distribution of production. As significant as these challenges may be, they are insufficient to excuse inaction. Prerequisite to addressing the challenge is creation of a baseline ―state of the industry‖ performance snapshot designed for clear policy relevance
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