A Global Blue Revolution: Aquaculture Growth Across Regions, Species, and Countries

Abstract

Discussions about global aquaculture production and prospects for future growth largely focus on Asia, where most global production takes place. Countries in Asia accounted for about 89% of global production in 2016. Exclusive attention to Asian aquaculture, however, overlooks the fact that “the blue revolution” is occurring in most parts of the world. This paper examines patterns in the development of aquaculture production by analyzing growth rates across the globe at the regional, species and country levels. The results show that production in some non-Asian countries is growing more rapidly than the major Asian producers. Moreover, most developed countries have played a limited role in the blue revolution despite being leading producers as late as the 1970s.

Keywords:

• Fish farming
• fisheries
• food production
• food security
• seafood

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the editor, Sandra Shumway, and a reviewer for helpful comments.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank the Research Council of Norway (CT#267572 and CT#101486) and USDA NIFA Hatch project #1015617 and USDA INFEWS Grant #2018-67003-27408 for financial support.