2 World Seafood

Resources and Seafood

Consumption
Jolanta Zieziula and Edyta Pawlak

CONTENTS
2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................7
2.2 World Wild Living Marine Resources..............................................................7
2.3 Aquaculture .................................................................................................... 12
2.4 Seafood Consumption..................................................................................... 14
References ................................................................................................................ 17

2.1 INTRODUCTION
The world’s seafood resources are an extremely valuable heritage for human beings.
Yearbooks edited by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO 1980, 1981, 1995, 1997, 2007, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c) categorize seafood
resources into the seven species groups, namely, freshwater fish, diadromous fish,
marine fish, crustaceans, mollusks, miscellaneous aquatic animals, and aquatic
plants. All species groups are captured as wild natural resources or are products of
aquaculture production around the world. In 2005, the supply of seafood resources
from both sources exceeded 157 million tons (see Figure 2.1). Between 1970 and
2005, total production of the world’s seafood natural resources increased over 2.3
times.
Aquaculture is an increasingly important source of seafood for the world popula-
tion. In 1970, it delivered over 5% of total seafood resources production, but in 2005
it was near 40%. Almost all captured marine fish come from wild natural resources.
Currently, aquatic plants, freshwater fish, mollusks, and diadromous fish are mostly
from aquaculture production (see Figure 2.2). There are important differences not
only between seafood resources species groups captured or produced, but also
between individual stocks, geographic regions, and separate countries.

2.2 WORLD WILD LIVING MARINE RESOURCES

Captured wild living marine resources are traditionally used by people as sea-
food. Wild living marine resources fisheries have a long-lasting tradition all over
the world. Traditionally dominant subsistence fisheries were gradually replaced by

7
8 Environmental Effects on Seafood Availability, Safety, and Quality

180000
Aquaculture
160000
Capture
140000

120000
Million tons

100000

80000

60000

40000

20000

0
1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year

FIGURE 2.1 Total seafood resources captures and aquaculture production. (From FAO
Fishery Statistics 2007b. Capture Production 2005, Rome 2007, 100/1: 22, 23, 43–50. With
permission.)

commercial fisheries as the main sources of seafood production in many, mostly

developed countries. Total world catches have increased. In 1970, more than 63.8
million tons of wild living marine resources were caught, but in 2005 it was almost
1.5 times more—over 94.6 million tons.
Competing special interest groups want to share the benefits from living marine
resources. This results in confl icts inter alia between inshore and offshore vessels,
Capture Aquaculture
100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
1970 2005 1970 2005 1970 2005 1970 2005 1970 2005 1970 2005 1970 2005
Freshwater Diadromous Marine fish Crustaceans Mollusks Misc. aquatic Aquatic
fish fish animals plants

FIGURE 2.2 Share of captures and aquaculture production in the world by species groups.
(From FAO Fishery Statistics 2007b. Capture Production 2005, Rome 2007, 100/1: 22, 23,
43–50. With permission.)
World Seafood Resources and Seafood Consumption 9

between commercial and recreational fisheries, as well as between groups utiliz-

ing fisheries resources and ensuring protection of endangered species. In many
cases, the resolution of these conflicts is controversial and may result in inef-
ficiencies in fishing operations, discarding, or the loss of opportunities to harvest
part of the current potential yield (catch that will maintain the current biomass,
at least).
Nowadays, important for human being stocks of wild living marine resources are
assessed and described as over utilized, fully utilized, or under utilized. However,
the status of the abundance and utilization of many fish species or species groups in
the fishing grounds (areas) of the world is still unknown or imprecise.
Diminishing catches provide evidence of the over utilization of wild living marine
resources (see Figure 2.3). It can be observed in most fishing areas of the Atlantic
Ocean and in some parts of the Pacific Ocean. There are also fully utilized fishing
areas evidencing stagnation of catches as well as areas with growing catches. The
last ones can be seen as under utilized.
Taking into consideration species groups, marine fish account for about 74% of
total marine catches, however their role is decreasing while catches of other species
groups grow. The second most important, in volume of catches, dynamically growing
species group is freshwater fish, accounting for less than 9% of total marine catches.
However, the highest dynamic growth can be observed in crustaceans and mollusks.
Volumes of their catches are closer to freshwater fish (Figure 2.4).
There are many different, separate species in each species group of living marine
resources. The most important fish species—in terms of volume—in industrial

FIGURE 2.3 World wild living marine resources catches by major fishing areas. (From
FAO Fishery Statistics 2007b. Capture Production 2005, Rome 2007, 100/1: 22, 23, 43–50;
FAO Fishery Statistics 1980. Capture Production, Rome 1981, 50: 23. With permission.)
10 Environmental Effects on Seafood Availability, Safety, and Quality

80 000 500,00 Freshwater fish - capture

450,00 Diadromous fish - capture

70 000
400,00 Marine fish - capture
60 000
Crustaceans - capture
350,00
Capture [Million tons]

50 000 Mollusks - capture

Dynamics [%]
300,00
Misc. aquatic animals - capture
40 000 250,00
Aquatic plants - capture
200,00
30 000 Freshwater fish - dynamics
150,00
Diadromous fish - dynamics
20 000
100,00 Marine fish - dynamics
10 000
50,00 Crustaceans - dynamics

0 0,00 Mollusks - dynamics

1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005
Misc. aquatic animals - dynamics
Year
Aquatic plants - dynamics

FIGURE 2.4 World wild natural resources catches by species groups. (From FAO Fishery
Statistics 2007b. Capture Production 2005, Rome 2007, 100/1: 22, 23, 43–50. With
permission.)

catches are pelagic fish, namely, herring, sardine, and anchovy. In 2005, their total
catches in fishing area 87 only (the most important area for capturing pelagic fish)
exceeded 10 million tons. Much more valuable in terms of commercial value are
highly migratory species, such as tuna, bonito, and billfish, but their catches in fish-
ing area 71 (the most important area for capturing them) were lower by more than
four times that of the aforementioned pelagic fish species.
Traditionally, commercially important species—in terms of value—are demersal
(groundfish) fish, such as cod, pollock, hake, haddock, place, flounder, redfish, skate,
dogfish, seabass, and halibut. Catches of cod, hake, and haddock (only in fishing areas:
27, 67, and 61) exceeded 7 million tons. Other demersal fish are of minor importance
in terms of catch volume. Diadromous fish like salmon, trout, or smelt are not very
important in terms of catch volume. However, they are commercially valuable species.
Carp and other ciprinids, tilapia and other cichlids, sturgeon and paddlefish,
river eels, freshwater crustaceans, and mollusks are freshwater wild living marine
resources important for commercial fisheries. Their stagnating or diminishing
catches have caused other miscellaneous freshwater fish catches to increase.
The most important producers and suppliers of fishery products are developing
countries, i.e., China, Peru, Indonesia, and Chile. China delivers over 17 million tons
of capture production (in 2005—18% of total world captures), mostly for the internal
market (Anonymous 1 2009). Peru delivers half of China’s fisheries production, but
mostly for foreign markets. Indonesia and Chile together catch less than Peru. The
United States captures are only slightly higher than Indonesian or Chilean captures,
but among developed countries, the United States is the biggest fisheries country
in the world. Japan is also a very important developed country, but of diminishing
importance in the world fisheries (Cieślak and Jurkowska 2008).
World Seafood Resources and Seafood Consumption 11

There are countries, such as Iceland and Norway, with much lower fisheries cap-
tures than the aforementioned countries, but fisheries are crucial to their economy
(Kulikowski 2008a).
Large quantities of wild living marine resources are caught unintentionally as
by-catch and are thrown back into the sea. The single largest and most readily avail-
able resource of seafood is a by-catch of fishing fleets all over the world. A by-catch
estimated by the FAO consists of about 30% of the total world catches.
There are gaps in our understanding of the populations of living marine resources
and the ecosystems of which they are a part. The persistence of living marine
resources populations depends on the quality of their environments. There are many
causes of habitat degradation, such as massive water diversions for agriculture and
urban development. An example of the impact of environmental quality on fisher-
ies is the widespread closure of inshore shellfish beds because of contamination by
pathogens and biotoxins. The effects of environmental quality on wild living marine
resources is difficult to detect and quantify, but no doubt, they are increasingly
serious, contaminating the world’s living marine resource and, as a consequence,
causing people to fall ill from consuming seafood.
The outcome of fisheries depends critically on the forces of nature. Despite all the
technological advances, fishing is still a form of hunting, the success of which depends
on environmental conditions over which people have little or no control, be it through
abundance of living marine resources, their migrations and accessibility, or the weather.
Until now, knowledge of the economic implications of climate change on fisheries
has been limited and fragmented. Climate change is not an isolated phenomenon, but
one of increasingly evident human influence (by economic and social activities) on the
earth at a global level, which affects not only fisheries. The Global Ocean Ecosystem
Dynamics Programme was created in 1999 to help understand how global change affects
the abundance, diversity, and productivity of marine populations. For example, catches
of northwest Atlantic cod during 300 years were correlated with sea temperature, while
shorter-term variations in North Sea cod have also been related to a combination of over-
fishing and ocean warming. The decadal variability in the Japanese sardine catch has
been related to variability in the ocean and climate in the North Pacific and responded
synchronously with sardine catches off Chile and California and Pacific salmon catches.
There are suggestions that continuing warming will compress the distribution of some
fisheries stocks, squeezing them out of their traditional habitats (Hannesson et al. 2006).
A “Strategic Plan for the Conservation and Wise Use of America’s Living Marine
Resource” (Anonymous 2 1991) implied an overall strategy for the future of wild
living marine resources in the world. It calls for

1. Risk averse decisions erring on the side of conservation, not resource

depletion
2. Reduction of uncertainty by expanding the scientific information base on
which decisions are based
3. Controlled access to fisheries to reduce the tendencies toward excess fishing
capacity, economic waste, conflicts between user groups, and industry pres-
sure to make “risk-prone” decisions
4. Development of more selective fishing practices to reduce by-catch
12 Environmental Effects on Seafood Availability, Safety, and Quality

5. Implementation of a cohesive strategy, built on all applicable legislative

authorities, to protect and restore the quality of the environments support-
ing living marine resources

To be successful, there is a need for cooperation among all those who use and benefit
from the world’s wild marine resources.

2.3 AQUACULTURE
The slow growth in landings of wild fish, crustaceans, and mollusks for human con-
sumption has stimulated substantial increases in worldwide production of seafood
resources from aquaculture (see Figure 2.5). As a consequence, the increasing demand
for seafood is being met by expanded aquaculture production all over the world.
The FAO yearbooks estimate that aquaculture production currently accounts for
almost 63 million tons (in 2005). As presented in Figure 2.2, aquaculture delivers
over 90% of total world aquatic plants supplies, almost 80% of freshwater fish, over
65% of mollusks, and over 60% of diadromous fish.
The FAO yearbooks distinguish two main groups of resources in aquaculture,
namely, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, etc., consisting of 76.5% of aquaculture produc-
tion and aquatic plants, consisting of 23.5% of aquaculture production (FAO Fishery
Statistics 2000, 2007a).
The most important species of world aquaculture are freshwater fish with deliv-
eries annually of over 25,000 tons (in 2005—see Figure 2.6). The second most

FIGURE 2.5 World aquaculture production by continents. (From FAO Fishery Statistics
2000. Aquaculture Production, Rome 2000, 86/2: 45–7; FAO Fishery Statistics 2007a.
Aquaculture Production, Rome 2007, 100/2: 42–4. With permission.)
World Seafood Resources and Seafood Consumption 13

30 000 45000,00 Freshwater fish - aquaculture

Diadromous fish - aquaculture

40000,00
25 000 Marine fish - aquaculture
35000,00
Crustaceans - aquaculture
Production [Million tons]

20 000 30000,00 Mollusks - aquaculture

Dynamics [%]
25000,00 Misc. aquatic animals - aquaculture
15 000
Aquatic plants - aquaculture
20000,00
Freshwater fish - dynamics
10 000 15000,00
Diadromous fish - dynamics
10000,00 Marine fish - dynamics
5 000
5000,00 Crustaceans - dynamics

Mollusks - dynamics
0 0,00
1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005 Misc. aquatic animals - dynamics

Year Aquatic plants - dynamics

FIGURE 2.6 Aquaculture production in the world by species groups. (From FAO Fishery
Statistics 2007b. Capture Production 2005, Rome 2007, 100/1: 22, 23, 43–50. With
permission.)

important species are aquatic plants supplying almost 15,000 tons (in 2005), and the
third is mollusks with annual supplies exceeding 13,000 tons (in 2005).
The species considered are higher-value species produced as a result of profit-
based investments, rather than as cheap sources of protein. They are at different
stages of both technical and market development.
Over 90% of all aquatic organisms produced by aquaculture come from Asia.
The biggest producing country is China. Other important producers are India, the
Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, and Republic of Korea. However, the role of coun-
tries such as Norway, Vietnam, and Bangladesh cannot be ignored (see Kulikowski
2008a; Nierentz 2007). The most important species—in terms of volume—in
world aquaculture are carp and other cyprinids, brown and red seaweeds, oysters,
clams, cockles, and arkshills (FAO Fishery Statistics 1980, 1995, 2000, 2007a,
2007b, 2007c; FAO Yearbook of Fishery Statistics 1981, 1997). Crassostrea gigas,
Hypophthalmichtys malitrix, Ctenopharyngodon idellus, and Cyprinus carpio make
up more than 33% of total world aquaculture production (in 2005).
Increasing aquaculture production depends on the quality of their environ-
ments, especially clean waters with sufficient nutriments. However, increasingly
intensive aquaculture production causes habitat degradation, such as water con-
tamination by pathogens and biotoxins. The effects of worsening environmental
quality on aquaculture production as well as using antibiotics to prevent fish dis-
eases in intensive fish farming are more and more serious. They badly affect the
quality of seafood and, as a consequence, cause illnesses (like cancer) in people
consuming seafood.
14 Environmental Effects on Seafood Availability, Safety, and Quality

Organic aquaculture is perceived as a supplier of healthy, natural seafood. That

is why the development of organic (extensive) aquaculture can be observed world-
wide. Annually, a minimum of 25,000 to 35,000 tons of seafood raw material comes
from organic aquaculture (Nierentz 2007). However, there is lower market competi-
tiveness for organic aquaculture compared to non-organic aquaculture, in terms of
price. Organic seafood is more expensive, so economically less available for seafood
consumers. Apart from the lower competitiveness of organic aquaculture production
compared to non-organic aquaculture production, a lack of international standards
for high-quality aquaculture seafood is one of the reasons limiting the dynamic
growth of organic aquaculture in the world. Imposing the national standards devel-
oped by the European Union and the United States could be a temporary solution
(Nierentz 2007).
Fish farming is responsible for a small fraction of the total supply of marine fish
worldwide, but even that activity is exposed to the vagaries of the weather as in
farming on land, if not more. For example, inclement weather in Scotland in January
2005 released 600,000 farmed salmon from their cages, causing an economic and
ecological crisis in the industry (Hannesson et al. 2006).
Another example is the problems experienced by fish farming in the Baltic Sea,
where weather conditions are unfavorable in terms of temperature and storms. Stormy
weather in spring and autumn causes technical problems, and low levels of oxygen
and the high temperature of the water combined with pathogen contamination causes
biological problems in summer (Kulikowski 2008b). An alternative solution could
be inland fish farming using salt water of the Baltic Sea, enriched by oxygen and
disinfected by UV rays. However, it is an expensive solution (Kulikowski 2008b).
In conclusion, rapidly growing aquaculture production is a good indicator of the
vast potential of aquaculture development in the world. There are, however, prob-
lems to overcome, such as

1. Finding or building new estuaries suitable for aquaculture production

2. Creating favorable conditions for aquaculture species
3. Delivering healthy and economically acceptable products to consumers
4. Not worsening the conditions of the natural environment

2.4 SEAFOOD CONSUMPTION

The supply of seafood in the world is determined by the quantity of total wild
living marine resources captures and aquaculture production. The volume of
marine living resources raw material production is increasing and currently
exceeds 130 million tons (see Figure 2.7). Over 100 million tons of the world
production deliver developing countries (or areas). An overwhelming part of sea-
food raw material supplies comes from low-income, food-deficit countries. On
the contrary, developed countries (or areas) deliver only 24% of the production
(see Figure 2.8).
There is a long way between seafood resources production and seafood con-
sumption by the population around the world. The separate species of living natural
resources are caught, partly wasted but mostly traded, processed, again traded, and
World Seafood Resources and Seafood Consumption 15

120

100 1991–1993
2001–2003

80
Million tons

60

40

20

0
Total Per capita

FIGURE 2.7 World seafood raw material production, total and per capita. (From FAO
Fishery Statistics 2007c. Commodities 2005, Rome 2007, 101: 211–15; FAO Fishery Statistics
1995. Commodities, Rome 1997, 81: 169–72. With permission.)

finally consumed by people. Living resources of an aquaculture production, also

take a long time to reach the consumer.
Apart from wastes at all stages between production and consumption, a part of
seafood resources supply is also destined for non-food uses, e.g., as feedstuffs for
animals. The share of non-food uses in total production is diminishing, however it
still exceeds 23% (see Figure 2.9). It is worth noting that some of the non-food uses
are animal feed uses and some are indirectly consumed by people in warm-blood
meat products.
There are important differences in the level of total seafood consumption
between developed and developing countries, and also between geographic
regions and separate countries as well as separate seafood species groups. The

Low-income Industial countries Economies

food-deficit 26,59 mi.t in transition
countries (20,2%) 4,60 mi.t
32,40 mi.t (3,4%)
(24,2%)

Low-income
food-deficit
countries
68,20 mi.t
(52,2%)

FIGURE 2.8 Share of developed and developing countries in seafood raw material sup-
plies. (From FAO Fishery Statistics 2007c. Commodities 2005, Rome 2007, 101: 211–15; FAO
Fishery Statistics 1995. Commodities, Rome 1997, 81: 169–72. With permission.)
16 Environmental Effects on Seafood Availability, Safety, and Quality

100%

80%

60%

Food supply
40%

20%
Non-food supply

0%
1991–1993 2001–2003

FIGURE 2.9 Share of food and non-food supplies in the world seafood production. (From
FAO Fishery Statistics 2007c. Commodities 2005, Rome 2007, 101: 211–15; FAO Fishery
Statistics 1995. Commodities, Rome 1997, 81: 169–72. With permission.)

most important difference, however, is the level of seafood consumption around

the world, counted per capita (see Figure 2.10). It differs even more than the level
of total consumption.
Seafood consumption will keep growing in the future. There are a number of
reasons why seafood consumption prospects are bright worldwide. They are, inter
alia, as follows:

Seafood consumption
in years 1991–1993/2001–2003
(in kilograms per capita)
North America
developing
North America 58,2/56,0 North-East Asia
developed Western Europe 5,1/5,4
21,6/22,7 others Eastern Europe ... USSR area
26,9/30,5 5,0/5,4 in Europe and Asia
12,6/16,1
European Union (15)
Central America 22,2/25,7
9,7/9,1 East and Southern
Asia
China
23,5/27,1
Northwestern Africa 12,8/26,0
6,1/7,1 Southern Asia
4,4/5,6
Western Africa Eastern Africa
10,4/11,6 5,4/3,7
Central Africa
South America 8,3/9,8 Oceania
8,3/8,7 developed
19,2/22,9
Southern Africa
5,8/5,4 Oceania
developing
25,3/21,4

FIGURE 2.10 Seafood consumption by continents (in kilograms per capita). (From FAO
Fishery Statistics 2007c. Commodities 2005, Rome 2007, 101: 211–15; FAO Fishery Statistics
1995. Commodities, Rome 1997, 81: 169–72. With permission.)
World Seafood Resources and Seafood Consumption 17

1. Seafood living resources are located around the world, making seafood
physically available to populations worldwide, especially in low-income,
food-deficit countries (unfortunately not in every country and not at the
same level)
2. Traditionally, the population of the world consumes more seafood than
meat products of warm-blood animals (Nierentz 2007)
3. Growth in real incomes of the population in many countries in the world,
developing as well as developed, increases the economic availability of
seafood
4. Promotion of seafood and the growing preference for healthy, lighter meals
in developed countries (shifting consumption patterns from warm-blooded
meat toward cold-blooded fish products)

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