Feedback, a UK and Netherlands based organisation campaigning for sustainable and ethical food, has published a report linking the Norwegian salmon farming industry to poor nutrition and livelihood outcomes in West Africa. Norway has become the world’s largest salmon farming country with a handful of companies dominating the market, including MOWI which had nearly €5 billion in turnover in 2022. 

This article explores the role of trade as a potential driver of inequitable aquatic food distribution through its analysis of global aquatic food consumption patterns, trade characteristics, and impacts from 1976 to 2019. The authors find an increase in per capita consumption of aquatic foods over this time period at the global scale, a reduction in the average consumption rate of foods higher in the aquatic food chain, and improved distribution of high value aquatic foods through structural trade patterns. The authors hope to contribute to future research on the globalisation of aquatic food systems, aquaculture and the impacts of trade on food security.

This article takes an economic approach to projecting future scenarios for the global fish market and is intended to guide policy around aquaculture regulations. It presents different scenarios for aquaculture and fisheries production projections up to 2030 and highlights the potential implications for food security. The authors identify a gap in future food security literature, both within literature focused on fish and the literature more broadly, that has lacked incorporation of the impact of supply and demand due to changes in food prices, household income, and consumer preferences.

This paper gives an overview of the prospects for algae production as a source of protein as well as other nutrients including vitamins, beta-carotene and polyunsaturated fatty acids in Europe. The authors examine algae as a source of protein, the current European protein market and challenges and opportunities for production in Europe.

This paper investigates the resilience of the UK fish farms to risk through their level of adherence to circular economic principles. The authors define circular economics as a shift from a wasteful linear system, to a regenerative closed-loop system, through reduced resource use, the elimination of waste and pollution, and a focus on repair, reuse and recycling rather than disposal. They argue that through aligning with circular economic principles, seafood companies may be able to increase their resilience to future economic and environmental risks whilst simultaneously improving their environmental impacts.

Aquaculture, the culturing of aquatic organisms, was estimated to have a total global production of 122.6 million tonnes in 2020. This makes it crucial to achieving food security but it can have negative environmental impacts and lead to habitat degradation and destruction.

This report from the UK Changing Markets Foundation investigates the impacts of krill fishing in the Antarctic. Krill - tiny crustaceans that are near the base of many marine food chains - are caught for use in omega-3 dietary supplements and as feed for aquaculture. In light of krill fish’s impacts on fragile ecosystems, the report calls for an immediate moratorium on krill fishing; for retailers to phase out the use of wild-caught fish, including krill, for aquaculture; for retailers to stop selling krill dietary supplements; and for consumers to stop using krill supplements and to demand krill-free seafood.

This paper presents two qualitative narratives for possible futures of seafood production: a transition from fisheries towards aquaculture, and the co-existence of both fisheries and aquaculture. Within each narrative, the authors examine what could happen in the presence or absence of regulation.

The paper, co-authored by TABLE member Rebecca St. Clair, reviews the literature on business models in the seafood sector (covering both fisheries and aquaculture) and draws links between the principles of circular economy and resilience through a new Circular Economy Resilience Framework for Business Models (CERF-BM). It hypothesises that seafood businesses could increase their resilience (i.e. the ability to keep functioning despite external shocks and pressures) by using circular economy principles.