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Is fish a fish - adding fish to the global food sustainability transformation

Authors:
Max Troell
Max Troell
Friederike Ziegler at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
Friederike Ziegler
Patrik John Gustav Henriksson at Leiden University/Stockholm Resilience Centre
Patrik John Gustav Henriksson
  • Leiden University/Stockholm Resilience Centre
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eLETTER
PERSPECTIVEFOOD
Plating up solutions
Tara Garnett
Email: taragarnett@fcrn.org.uk
Science! 16 Sep 2016:
Vol. 353, Issue 6305, pp. 1202-1204
DOI: 10.1126/science.aah4765
Is fish a fish - adding fish to the global
food sustainability transformation
Max Troell1,2, Friederike Ziegler3, Patrik Henriksson2,1
1Beijer Institute; 2Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University; 3SP Technical
Research Institute of Sweden.
Email: max@beijer.kva.se
Science! 16 Sep 2016: eLetter
The Perspective on food sustainability (T. Garnett, 16 September, 353/6305) gives
valuable insights related to links between dietary choices, environmental impacts and
health. Substituting meat with fish could, as stated, only result in a transfer of impacts. If,
however, fish is caught sustainably, respecting biological limits and using smart fishing
methods, capture fisheries can produce low-impact food without requiring land, pesticides,
fertilizers or irrigation (1). This is unique and fishery is the only large-scale food production
system based on a wild resource. While many wild fish stocks are fully or over-exploited,
global landings could potentially increase by up to 20% if stocks were properly managed
(2).
Half of the seafood eaten globally is farmed, which is more similar to land–based meat
production. Feed production represents a large part of the environmental impacts of both
livestock and farmed fish. Fish, however, invest more of its metabolic energy into growth
than chicken, pigs or cows; as they don’t waste energy on keeping temperature
homeostasis, nor on combating gravity. Fish, both from fisheries and aquaculture, have
eLETTER
therefore repeatedly been shown to outcompete livestock in terms of environmental
impacts (3, 4).
However, fish represents a highly diverse commodity with vastly different environmental
profiles (5,6). It is therefore crucial to push consumption towards the most low-impact
products and production methods. Fish also provides health benefits and remain an
essential source of protein and micronutrients, especially in developing countries (7, 8).
Replacing meat by sustainably sourced seafood products could accelerate the needed
transformation of the food system. Such a strategy does not argue against the needed
general reduction of overconsumption of animal protein, but plating up more seafood at the
expense of meat is an important solution needed to achieve global food security.
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Tilman and Clark 2014. Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health.
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Troell et al. 2014. Does aquaculture add resilience to the global food system? PNAS, 111,
13257–13263.
Cao et al. 2015. China's aquaculture and the world's wild fisheries. Science. 347 (6218):
133-135.
Béné et al. 2016. Contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to food security and poverty
reduction: assessing the current evidence. World Development, 79: 177-196.
Beveridge et al. 2013. Meeting the food and nutrition needs of the poor: the role of fish and
the opportunities and challenges emerging from the rise of aquaculture. Journal of Fish
Biology, 83(4): 1067-1084.
... The next section discusses some of the concerns underpinning negative images about aquacultures' interactions with wild fisheries and its dependence on fish for feeds (Jennings et al., 2016;Naylor et al., 2000;Troell et al., 2016) which influence governments' appetite to grow the sector. ...
... Aquaculture and fisheries are generally managed separately (Geffen et al., 2015) yet overlap in supply chain needs (e.g., food health and safety, logistics, processing and trade, among others), thus integrating both sectors in policy would support better alignment of resource management to enable countries to improve progress towards the SDGs. Rethinking development of policy to better integrate the aquaculture and fisheries sectors is timely as governments build national and global food security resilience options to achieve SDG 2 (Jennings et al., 2016;Stead, 2018;Troell et al., 2016) and the other interlinked 16 SDGs. Future research is needed on aquaculture value chains to understand how different participants, production units, regulation, innovation and cost benefits can be better coordinated by governments to respond to regional preferences (Bush et al., 2019). ...
... Governments reliant on vulnerable fisheries to feed its people and provide jobs, are exploring how sustainable aquaculture can help meet the shortfall in food and income generation. While the role of aquaculture in satisfying the global demand for fish is well recognised, there are also some concerns over the potential negative consequences of aquaculture growth for marine fish stocks(Golden et al., 2016;Kristofersson & Anderson, 2006;Naylor et al., 2000;Troell et al., 2016). Aquaculture and other animal food production systems depend on fishmeal as food and primary source of protein, lipids, minerals and vitamins. ...
Using systems thinking and open innovation to strengthen aquaculture policy for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
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In a world of 9 billion people and a widening income gap between the rich and poor, it is time to rethink how aquaculture can strengthen its contribution to the second UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of zero hunger in our generation. The disparity in the level of sustainable aquaculture development at present, between and within countries, especially regarding human access to farmed aquatic food remains highly variable across the globe. This paper offers a fresh look at the opportunities from using systems thinking and new open innovation measuring tools to grow sustainable aquaculture. Political will in many nations is the main constraint to aquaculture in realising its potential as an: accessible source of micronutrients and nutritious protein; aid to meeting conservation goals; economic prosperity generator where benefits extend to locals and provider of indirect social benefits such as access to education and well‐being, among others. Resources to enable strong partnerships (SDG 17) between academia, civic society, government and industry should be prioritised by governments to build a sustainable aquatic food system, accessible to all, forever.
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... The group approach of the food systems provides valuable information in relation to the ties between dietary habits and environmental and health impacts. In this sense, for instance, the replacement of meat of a land source with aquaculture fish would merely imply a transfer of impact (Troell, Ziegler, & Henriksson, 2016). ...
... Nonetheless, food of a marine origin in general, and fish in particular, represent a very diverse product, with very different environmental profiles (Cao et al., 2015;Troell et al., 2014). It is therefore essential to encourage consumption of products with low-impact production methods (Troell et al., 2016). ...
... The substitution of meat with sea products of a sustainable origin could accelerate the necessary transformation of the food system. Such strategy is not contrary to the necessary general reduction of the excessive consumption of proteins of animal origin, but introducing more food of a marine origin at the expense of meat is an important solution that is necessary to achieve world food security (Troell et al., 2016). ...
Potential of science to address the hunger issue: Ecology, biotechnology, cattle breeding and the large pantry of the sea
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  • Apr 2018
The knowledge about the real possibilities that current science gives us is basic to support everything that is not negative either for men or for our environment. In this way, it is an advantage to win this battle against hunger with rational use of science advantages. In this paper, we start from the basis that the solution to the problems of hunger requires the multidisciplinary action of sciences and knowledge. We provide a reflection on the possibilities to be considered from disciplines such as ecology, biotechnology, veterinary and aquaculture. The need for ecological studies where the role of human beings as part of ecosystems is considered. In addition, advances in molecular biology and precision agriculture are analyzed, evaluating their advantages and associated problems, as well as understanding the role of veterinary science and animal genetic improvement in the problem of hunger. Finally, the bases the sustainable use of sea products and expectations generated by marine crops are presented.
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Global fishery prospects under contrasting management regimes
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Significance What would extensive fishery reform look like? In addition, what would be the benefits and trade-offs of implementing alternative approaches to fisheries management on a worldwide scale? To find out, we assembled the largest-of-its-kind database and coupled it to state-of-the-art bioeconomic models for more than 4,500 fisheries around the world. We find that, in nearly every country of the world, fishery recovery would simultaneously drive increases in food provision, fishery profits, and fish biomass in the sea. Our results suggest that a suite of approaches providing individual or communal access rights to fishery resources can align incentives across profit, food, and conservation so that few trade-offs will have to be made across these objectives in selecting effective policy interventions.
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Contribution of Fisheries and Aquaculture to Food Security and Poverty Reduction: Assessing the Current Evidence
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  • WORLD DEV
Following a precise evaluation protocol that was applied to a pool of 202 articles published between 2003 and 2014, this paper evaluates the existing evidence of how and to what extent capture fisheries and aquaculture contribute to improving nutrition, food security, and economic growth in developing and emergent countries. In doing so we evaluate the quality and scientific rigor of that evidence, identify the key conclusions that emerge from the literature, and assess whether these conclusions are consistent across the sources. The results of the assessment show that while some specific topics are consistently and rigorously documented, thus substantiating some of the claims found in the literature, other areas of research still lack the level of disaggregated data or an appropriate methodology to reach consistency and robust conclusions. More specifically, the analysis reveals that while fish contributes undeniably to nutrition and food security, the links between fisheries/aquaculture and poverty alleviation are complex and still unclear. In particular national and household level studies on fisheries’ contributions to poverty alleviation lack good conceptual models and produce inconsistent results. For aquaculture, national and household studies tend to focus on export value chains and use diverse approaches. They suggest some degree of poverty alleviation and possibly other positive outcomes for adopters, but these outcomes also depend on the small-scale farming contexts and on whether adoption was emergent or due to development assistance interventions. Impacts of fish trade on food security and poverty alleviation are ambiguous and confounded by a focus on international trade and a lack of consistent methods. The influences of major drivers (decentralization, climate change, demographic transition) are still insufficiently documented and therefore poorly understood. Finally the evaluation reveals that evidence-based research and policy narratives are often disconnected, with some of the strongest and long-lasting policy narratives lacking any strong and rigorous evidence-based validation. Building on these different results, this paper identifies six key gaps facing policy-makers, development practitioners, and researchers.
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Freshwater savings from marine protein consumption
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Energy Intensity of Agriculture and Food Systems
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The relationships between energy use in food systems, food system productivity, and energy resource constraints are complex. Moreover, ongoing changes in food production and consumption norms concurrent with urbanization, globalization, and demographic changes underscore the importance of energy use in food systems as a food security concern. Here, we review the current state of knowledge with respect to the energy intensity of agriculture and food systems. We highlight key drivers and trends in food system energy use along with opportunities for and constraints on improved efficiencies. In particular, we point toward a current dearth of research with respect to the energy performance of food systems in developing countries and provide a cautionary note vis-à-vis increasing food system energy dependencies in the light of energy price volatility and concerns as to long-term fossil energy availabilities.
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