Seafood Farming (i.e., Aquaculture)

Some Facts about Aquaculture:  

• Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants.
• Aquaculture accounts for 1/2 the fish consumed on the planet and It is set to overtake capture fisheries as a source of food fish.
• The report found that global production of fish from aquaculture grew more than 60 percent between 2000 and 2008, from 32.4 million tons to 52.5 million tons. It also forecasts that by 2012 more than 50 percent of the world's food fish consumption will come from aquaculture. (Since this report, the FAO has released a second report that projects that the increase in global seafood production is expected to come mainly from aquaculture production, which is projected to grow 33 percent to 79 million metric tons by 2021- which is a slower rate of growth than previous years).
• Aquaculture continues to be the fastest growing animal food-producing sector and to outpace population growth, with per capita supply from aquaculture increasing from 0.7 kg in 1970 to 7.8 kg in 2006, an average annual growth rate of 6.9 percent. (Since the FAO's 2006 report, The decline in aquacultures growth is attributed mainly to water constraints, limited availability of optimal production locations and the rising costs of fishmeal and fish oil. But aquaculture will remain one of the fastest-growing animal food-producing sectors....farmed fish will soon account for half of total seafood consumption. Aquaculture represented 47 percent of global food fish production in 2010, compared with just 9 percent in 1980)
• From a production of less than 1 million tonnes per year in the early 1950s, production in 2006 was reported to be 51.7 million tonnes with a value of USD $78.8 billion, representing an annual growth rate of nearly 7 percent. (Since the FAO released their aquaculture report in 2006, the total farmgate value of food fish production from aquaculture has risen to an estimated at USD 119.4 billion in 2010) 
• In 2006, more than 110 million tonnes (77 percent) of world fish production was used for direct human consumption. Almost all of the remaining 33 million tonnes was destined for non-food products, in particular the manufacture of fishmeal and fish oil. (The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2012 also revealed that global seafood production for human consumption hit a record 128.3 million metric tons, or an average of 18.4 kilograms per person, in 2010. That's up from 123.6 million metric tons in 2009, 119.7 million metric tons in 2008 and 117.3 million metric tons in 2007). 
• Accounting for more than 10 million tonnes in 2006, inland fisheries contributed 11 percent of global capture fisheries production
• World aquaculture is heavily dominated by the Asia–Pacific region, which accounts for 89 percent of production in terms of quantity and 77 percent in terms of value, with China alone contributing 62.3 percent- Of the 15 leading aquaculture-producing countries, 11 are in the Asia-Pacific region (Asia accounted for two-thirds of total seafood consumption, at 85.4 million metric tons, or 20.7 kilograms per capita.)
• Few countries lead the production of some major species, such as China with carps; China, Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia and India with shrimps and prawns; and Norway and Chile with salmon
• In the last three decades, employment in the primary fisheries and aquaculture sector has grown faster than the world’s population and employment in traditional agriculture.
• An overall review of the state of marine fishery resources confirms that the proportions of overexploited, depleted and recovering stocks have remained relatively stable in the last 10–15 years, after the noticeable increasing trends observed in the 1970s and 1980s with the expansion of fishing effort.
• Looking ahead, global seafood production for human consumption is estimated to total 130.8 million metric tons in 2011...Global seafood production for all purposes, including human consumption, totaled 148.5 million metric tons in 2010, up from 145.3 million metric tons in 2009, reports the FAO. Wild fisheries accounted for 88.6 million metric tons, while aquaculture represented 59.9 million metric tons.
  

Processing 

• Over half of seafood products originate in developing countries. The top seafood exporters to the U.S. are China, Thailand, Canada, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ecuador.
• Apart from the primary production sector, fisheries and aquaculture provide  numerous jobs in ancillary activities such as processing, packaging, marketing and  distribution, manufacturing of fish-processing equipment, net and gear making,  ice production and supply, boat construction and maintenance, research and administration. All of this employment, together with dependants, is estimated to support the livelihoods of 660-820 million people, or about 10-12 percent of the world's population
  
• Fifty-four percent (77 million tonnes) of the world’s fish production underwent some form of processing.
• Seventy-four percent (57 million tonnes) of this processed fish was used for manufacturing products for direct human consumption in frozen, cured and prepared or preserved form, and the rest for non-food uses.
• Freezing is the main method of processing fish for food use, accounting for 50 percent of total processed fish for human consumption in 2006, followed by prepared and preserved (29 percent) and cured fish (21 percent) (In 2010, 20.2 million tonnes was destined to non-food purposes, of which 75 percent (15 million tonnes) was reduced to fishmeal and fish oil; the remaining 5.1 million
  tonnes was largely utilized as fish for ornamental purposes, for culture (fingerlings, fry, etc.), for bait, for pharmaceutical uses as well as for direct feeding in aquaculture,
  for livestock and for fur animals. Of the fish destined for direct human consumption, the most important product form was live, fresh or chilled fish, with a share of 46.9 percent
  in 2010, followed by frozen fish (29.3 percent), prepared or preserved fish (14.0 percent) and cured fish (9.8 percent). Freezing represents the main method of processing fish for
  human consumption, and it accounted for 55.2 percent of total processed fish for human consumption and 25.3 percent of total fish production in 2010.
• Since 2002, China has been by far the leading fish exporter, contributing almost 12 percent of 2010 world exports of fish and fishery products, or about US$13.3 billion, and increasing further to US$17.1 billion in 2011. A growing share of fishery exports consists of reprocessed imported raw material. Thailand has established itself as a processing centre of excellence largely dependent on imported raw material, while Viet Nam has a growing domestic resource base and imports only limited, albeit growing, volumes of raw material.