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.

This paper reviews the development of the global aquaculture sector between 1997 and 2017. It finds that while the feed efficiency of aquaculture has improved, aquaculture remains strongly dependent on marine feed ingredients. It identifies strong potential for cultured molluscs and seaweed to contribute to both nutritional security and ecosystems services.

This policy brief from UK food waste NGO Feedback recommends that policymakers reform the Scottish salmon aquaculture industry and support the expansion of unfed aquaculture, such as mussel farming.

This paper, co-authored by FCRN member David Little, sets out four scenarios for the global future of aquaculture - food sovereignty, blue internationalism, aqua-nationalism and aquatic chicken - and discusses how each scenario could affect human wellbeing and environmental health.

In this paper, FCRN member Michael MacLeod reports that global aquaculture produced around 0.49% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2017 - a similar quantity to the emissions from sheep meat production. When emissions are measured per kg of edible product, the paper finds aquaculture to have low emissions intensity relative to meat from goats, cattle, buffalo and sheep and similar emissions intensity to meat from pigs and chickens.

This article by FoodPrint discusses the tension between the purported environmental benefits of kelp farming and consumers’ lack of familiarity with kelp as a food, and describes “regenerative” kelp farming systems that also produce oysters, clams and mussels. It sets out several ways in which kelp can be used, including in foods such as pesto or lasagne, as well as other uses such as bioplastics, fertiliser, biofuel and animal feed.

In this paper, FCRN member David Willer argues that bivalve shellfish aquaculture could provide a nutritious and low-impact source of protein to nearly one billion people, particularly in the tropics.  

This report from UK food waste NGO Feedback argues that sustainability certification of wild-caught forage fish as feed for Scottish salmon aquaculture companies could in fact be driving overfishing.