26 JUNE, 2024
Who: Charles Darwin University Professor of Tropical Aquaculture Sunil Kadri.
Topics:
- Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations’ 2024 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report.
- The report highlights in 2022, aquaculture production (94.4 million tonnes) surpassed capture fisheries production (91 million tonnes). This was the first time aquaculture surpassed fisheries.
Contact details: Call +61 8 8946 6721 or email media@cdu.edu.au to arrange an interview.
Quotes attributable to Professor Sunil Kadri:
"Fisheries and aquaculture have been carried out for 1000s of years, with fisheries having dominated supply historically, as it is a form of hunting, which has grown to an industrial scale.
“However, despite the growth, fisheries have not been able to sustainably meet demand, and so aquaculture has had to grow to fill the gap. The largest and fastest growing producer of cultured fish is China, where freshwater fish dominate both growth and volume.
“Other major producers are also growing their production, and are often dominated by marine fish/crustaceans such as Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Norway, Ecuador, Indonesia and Chile.
“Australia is a minor player in global aquaculture, with most products being consumed domestically, while the major players often export most of their production.
“There are several challenges to sustaining growth: available space, especially for coastal aquaculture, where there can be often conflicts over resource use; good quality water, especially freshwater, in which to grow animals is becoming a limiting factor; importantly, climate change is exacerbating these issues, as well as the problem of diseases and fish welfare.
“Many species are grown using fishmeal (protein from specific fisheries) as an ingredient, and while supplies of these are flat, demand continues to grow, hence a lot of work has been put into substituting these ingredients with others.”
Contact details:
Raphaella Saroukos she/her
Research Communications Officer
Marketing, Media & Communications
Larrakia Country
T: +61 8 8946 6721
E: media@cdu.edu.au
W: cdu.edu.au
