Aquatic food security: insights into challenges and solutions from an analysis of interactions between fisheries, aquaculture, food safety, human health, fish and human welfare, economy and environment

Abstract

Aquatic food security: insights into challenges and solutions from an analysis of interactions between fisheries, aquaculture, food safety, human health, fish and human welfare, economy and environment AbstractFisheries and aquaculture production, imports, exports and equitability of distribution determine the supply of aquatic food to people. Aquatic food security is achieved when a food supply is sufficient, safe, sustainable, shockproof and sound: sufficient, to meet needs and preferences of people; safe, to provide nutritional benefit while posing minimal health risks; sustainable, to provide food now and for future generations; shock-proof, to provide resilience to shocks in production systems and supply chains; and sound, to meet legal and ethical standards for welfare of animals, people and environment. Here, we present an integrated assessment of these elements of the aquatic food system in the United Kingdom, a system linked to dynamic global networks of producers, processors and markets. Our assessment addresses sufficiency of supply from aquaculture, fisheries and trade; safety of supply given biological, chemical and radiation hazards; social, economic and environmental sustainability of production systems and supply chains; system resilience to social, economic and environmental shocks; welfare of fish, people and environment; and the authenticity of food. Conventionally, these aspects of the food system are not assessed collectively, so information supporting our assessment is widely dispersed. Our assessment reveals trade-offs and challenges in the food system that are easily overlooked in sectoral analyses of fisheries, aquaculture, health, medicine, human and fish welfare, safety and environment. We highlight potential benefits of an integrated, systematic and ongoing process to assess security of the aquatic food system and to predict impacts of social, economic and environmental change on food supply and demand.Keywords Ethics, food safety, food security, food system, health, sustainability F I S H and F I S H E R I E S , 2016, 17, 893-938Received 16 Nov 2015 Accepted 21 Jan 2016 Introduction 894The aquatic food system 898Wild-capture fisheries 898Aquaculture production 899Critical elements of food security 900 Sufficient food supply 901Sufficiency of UK supply: production and consumption 901Global production and consumption 903Safe food supply 904 Biological hazards 904Pathogens of human concern 904Marine biotoxins 906 Chemical hazards 906 Contaminants and veterinary residues 906Radiation hazards 908 Sustainable food supply 908Wild-capture fisheries 909Aquaculture production 914Relative impacts of fishing and aquaculture 915Processing 915 Drivers of sustainability 916Shockproof food supply 917Risks to wild-capture production 917Risks to aquaculture production 919Risks to supply chains 920 Sound food supply 921Social welfare and ethics 922Environmental welfare and ethics 924Animal welfare and ethics 925 Food authenticity 926Conclusions 927Acknowledgements 931References 931 IntroductionFood f...

Coherent assessments of Europe’s marine fishes show regional divergence and megafauna loss

“…Although this historical exploitation has undoubtedly altered populations 4,5 and changed many seascapes 6 , marine defaunation in the region has not been as great as in terrestrial systems 7 . However, the use of ocean space and resources is increasing due to Europe's Blue Growth strategy 8 , the nutritional requirements of an expanding human population are growing 9,10 and marine ecosystems will experience unusually rapid changes in future due to climate change 11,12 . Consequently there are imminent threats both to European marine biodiversity and fish resources 13 .…”

Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Seafood Made in Europe

“…Nevertheless, the use of hormones and drugs poses an actual threat to the environment in open aquaculture systems (Jennings et al, 2016). The protection of endangered species ranks lower, followed by the pollution of the environment and minimizing the impact on wild stocks.…”

The seafood supply chain from a fraudulent perspective

“…This has been attributed to the increasing demand and recognition of seafood as a healthy alternative to red meat, the similarity and diversity of seafood species available, the stock limitations and price pressures in the food market (Martinez and Friis 2004;Jacquet and Pauly 2008;Mazzeo et al 2008;Barbuto et al 2010;Miller and Mariani 2010;Heyden et al 2010;Mohanty et al 2013;Leal et al 2015;Mueller et al 2015;Stamatis et al 2015;Jennings et al 2016). As consumer demand rises towards the estimated seven-fold increase in seafood production required to meet the predicted global population growth of over 9.8 billion by 2050 (Delgado et al 2003;United Nations 2015;Jennings et al 2016), the number of cases of food adulteration and intervention of opportunistic elements in the seafood industry increases (Mohanty et al 2013). This exploitation in the seafood supply chains is concerning as it poses economic, ethical and food safety consequences (Buck 2010;Johnson 2014).…”