This biennial FAO fisheries and aquaculture publication, the latest edition of which was published on 29 June, underpins considerable aquatic food production activity and policy around the world.
This year’s report is titled “Towards Blue Transformation”, and provides a vision for sustainably transforming aquatic food systems. Members of the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients - a sector-wide, multi-stakeholder initiative working to drive environmental and social improvements in key fisheries globally - say that they agree with the core objectives: sustainable aquaculture expansion and intensification, effective management of all fisheries and upgraded value chains.
The report calls for multi-stakeholder initiatives and cooperation at all levels, between local authorities and stakeholders, international organisations and the industry. The Global Roundtable was designed to foster and support such collaborative action. Important small pelagic fish stocks are shared across multiple countries and regions, and the sustainability of fisheries depends ultimately on international and regional cooperation.
The Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients is committed to supporting aquatic foods production activities already managed at sustainable levels - and recognised as such by credible certification programmes - and to working with stakeholders to support improvements. Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) have the potential to create an enabling environment in which regulators feel confident to act. The Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients is engaged in enabling collaborative Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) that can reduce by-catch, improve management, optimise nutrition and livelihoods.
“Effective management of all fisheries is a non-negotiable objective of Blue Transformation. Where effective management exists, fishery resources have been rebuilt and are increasingly sustainable” the report reads, adding: “Actions to achieve this objective include building global capacity to regularly collect, analyse and evaluate data that support decision-making and consider trade-offs, particularly in regions with limited data and poor capacity”.
Furthermore, the FAO report highlights that life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have provided valuable indications regarding aquafeeds’ environmental impacts. The Global Roundtable is actively exploring the LCA of marine ingredients and contributing to the Global Feed LCA Institute (GFLI) public database so the sustained growth of the aquaculture sector, which FAO calls for, is supported by scientific and comparable data across all feed sectors.
Global Roundtable Members are: The Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP), Global Seafood Alliance (GSA), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), BioMar, Cargill, Skretting, OLVEA, Nestle, MarinTrust, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) and IFFO The Marine Ingredients Organisation.
