This presentation builds on countries’ recent experiences to review the role of aquaculture in countries’ socio-economic growth and development, and discusses how institutional arrangements can lead to aquaculture’s enhanced net benefits to society. Aquaculture growth has recently been slowing down, and the sector is facing various resource, environmental, economic, knowledge and institutional constraints. Population growth, economic expansion and increasing preference for healthy food are expected to sustain the demand for aquaculture products.

This presentation reviews the role of emerging technologies in aquaculture. In genetics and breeding, the pace of advancement and innovation has been increasing exponentially. Improvements in aquatic animal health are coming from new technologies and improved management strategies. Nutritional research has focused on shifting from formulations based on ingredients to strategies based on nutrient availabilities and requirements. Production systems technology advancements are also contributing to sustainable industry expansion.

Risk and uncertainty associated with returns from investment in aquaculture to be an important constraint on aquaculture investment. Attention is given in this paper to identifying the factors that contribute to risk and uncertainty in aquaculture and methods of specifying the risk and uncertainty involved. It is found that there is limited practical scope for the extension of insurance markets in aquaculture, and most farmers will have to rely on other means to manage risk.

If the aquaculture sector is to maintain its current average growth rate of 8 to 10 percent per year to 2025, the supply of nutrient and feed inputs will have to grow at a similar rate. Feed-fed aquaculture production is largely dependent upon capture fisheries for dietary protein and lipid. Sustainability of the aquaculture sector is likely to be linked with the supply of animal and plant proteins, oils and carbohydrate sources for aquafeeds.

It is an undisputable fact that modern farming of carnivorous fish and shrimp uses more fish as feed than is produced as finfish or shrimps; that is, the ratio between fish used and fish obtained is higher than one. The author shows that industrial fishing for forage species brings about a net contribution of foodfish supplies, without causing a systematic collapse of the exploited forage species.

Aquaculture is today considered the only viable option for meeting the increasing future demand for fish and seafood products. There are concerns that unconstrained sectoral expansion and intensification, coupled with its ecological and social impacts, globalisation and fluctuation of markets and resources, climate change may have undesirable impacts on the resilience of social-ecological systems. Aquaculture makes demands on, but also can provide a range of ecosystem services.

The aquaculture industry globally is characterised by an endemic cyclicity that goes beyond good or bad management and affects good companies and bad. This presentation aims to address the boom and bust phenomenon in the industry by examining some of the solutions that can help smooth out its cyclicity. The role of information gathering, management and analysis for decision making is discussed. The presentation includes a brief review of the global market for aquaculture products.

Certification schemes for both wild and farmed products are gaining market share in many developed country markets. In a not too distant future, aquaculture’s share of total supply for human consumption will rise to somewhere between 60 and 70 percent. This will have a profound impact on the sector’s ability to shape world markets but it will also challenge the sector’s ability to respond successfully to evolving consumer needs.

Aquaculture is likely to benefit greatly from the application of appropriate genetic and reproduction biotechnologies to increase food production, but the application of established genetic improvement methods in aquaculture is much less than in agriculture. The world’s wealth of aquatic biodiversity at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels provides great potential for the aquaculture sector to enhance its contribution to food security and meet future challenges in feeding a growing human population.

As standards, certification schemes and claims proliferate, their value is being questioned. Producers and producing countries in particular question whether these private standards and certification schemes duplicate or complement government work, especially in relation to food safety and animal health. The expert panel will review current practices and future trends in market-based quality standards and certification schemes in aquaculture, including international initiatives to promote transparent market standards for improved safety, quality and sustainability in aquaculture.