The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

participate in fisheries decision-making processes. 
BOX 15
MANAGING BYCATCH MORE SUSTAINABLY IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
1
FAO. 2019. Sustainable Management of Bycatch in Latin America and Caribbean Trawl Fisheries (REBYC-II LAC). In: 
FAO
[online]. [Cited 2 January 2020].
www.fao.org/in-action/rebyc-2/en/ 
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PART 2 
SUSTAINABILITY IN ACTION
Guidelines and best practices
for sustainable aquaculture
Aquaculture is a millennia-old activity that has 
evolved slowly, often by building on traditional 
knowledge, advances gained through farmers’ 
curiosity, needs, positive experience and errors, 
or cooperation. As a result, it has expanded 
for centuries, integrated with its natural, 
social, economic and cultural environments. 
Major developments in aquaculture have 
benefited from scientific progress in the 
twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The result 
in terms of growth has been unprecedented, 
and aquaculture now supplies more than half 
of the world’s fish for human consumption (Cai 
and Zhou, 2019). However, there have also been 
undesirable environmental impacts at the local, 
regional and global levels. These detrimental 
effects include social conflicts between users of 
land and aquatic resources (especially water), and 
the destruction of important ecosystem services. 
Moreover, recent aquaculture undertakings have 
raised concern and societal debate, especially 
with regard to: poor site selection; habitat 
destruction (e.g. of mangroves); the use of 
harmful chemicals and veterinary drugs; the 
impact of escapees on wild stocks; inefficient or 
unsustainable production of fishmeal and fish oil; 
and social and cultural impacts on aquaculture 
workers and communities.
Although most traditional systems have been 
viable over a long period, the need to develop 
and promote sustainable aquaculture practices 
emerged in the 1990s and has since gained 
strong momentum. Several approaches have been 
implemented in this regard:
„
The first such approach has promoted 
traditional sustainable aquaculture systems by 
giving them due recognition. One example is 
the designation Globally Important Agricultural 
Heritage Systems (GIAHS), which, for example, 
has been awarded to China’s rice–fish system 
and its mulberry–dyke and fish-pond system 
(FAO, 2019g). Several other countries also 
promote their own sustainable aquaculture 
heritage in different ways.
„
Other efforts have privileged the development 
of codes of practice, codes of conduct, 
good aquaculture practices, best (or better) 
management practices, technical guidelines, 
etc., and their implementation by governments 
and stakeholders through incentives (subsidies, 
tax reductions, technical support, research 
and development, etc.) and enforcing 
regulations targeting unsustainable practices 
(strict requirements to obtain permits, 
regulations banning unsustainable practices, 
establishment and enforcement of authorized 
veterinary drugs, etc.). In 1995, FAO adopted 
the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries 
(the Code) (see the section How has the 
Code supported the adoption of sustainable 
practices?, p. 92), the reference framework for 
national, regional and international efforts to 
ensure sustainable production and harvesting 
of aquatic living resources in harmony with 
the environment (FAO, 1995). Since 1997, 
the Code has been enriched by a strategy to 
improve information on status and trends of 
aquaculture and several technical guidelines to 
promote sustainable aquaculture (FAO, 2019h).
„
The expansion of global fisheries and 
aquaculture trade, at a time of food and 
consumer protection issues and scares in 
the 1990s and 2000s, led to the emergence 
of stricter food laws and regulations, 
private standards and market-based 
requirements, initially to tackle food safety 
issues by promoting good aquaculture 
practices, and gradually encompassing 
environmental and social as well as animal 
well-being considerations.
However, these developments have often ignored 
the burden for farmers (e.g. cost of certification, 
technical capacity of the smaller stakeholders, 
or the need to comply with various competing 
standards). Moreover, they do not always 
consider the local specificities of production 
systems (Mialhe 
et al
., 2018). As a result, 
inclusive, non-sectoral, participatory and holistic 
approaches, such as the ecosystem approach 
to aquaculture, have been promoted in order 
to re-establish a satisfactory trade-off between 
the various local and global dimensions of 
aquaculture sustainability.
Per capita global fish consumption has doubled 
since the 1960s (FAO, 2018a). In a context of 
projected global demographic growth and rising 
incomes, aquaculture production will need to 
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
grow in the coming decades, while at the same 
time comply with the 2030 Agenda. This requires 
the adoption of new and more sustainable fish 
production systems.
To date, various policies and technologies 
have been implemented in several 
countries in support of sustainable and 
resilient aquaculture. These include 
technology-intensive innovations such as 
aquaponics or integrated aquaculture, and 
raceways-in-ponds technologies, but also 
innovative governance, policies for decent 
work, gender equity, certification and 
many other commendable practices (
Box 16
). 
The Sub-Committee on Aquaculture (of COFI) 
called for the identification of such initiatives 
and their documentation and compilation 
into guidelines. The aim is to help countries 
improve implementation of the Code, while 
engaging and enabling their aquaculture sector 
to effectively participate in the implementation 
of the 2030 Agenda (FAO Committee on 
Fisheries, 2018; FAO, 2019i).
The Sustainable Aquaculture Guidelines (SAG), 
which target primarily policymakers, will be 
developed by making use of, and sharing the 
Fish tanks for catfish culture integrated with horticulture 
has proved a productive combination in countries such 
as Ghana and Nigeria, where fish feed and fingerlings 
are locally available. After some experimental attempts, 
it was concluded that youth groups of 10–15 persons 
could easily manage clusters of 10 tanks. The youth 
groups, who later formed cooperatives, started their 
aquaculture production with 500 juvenile catfish in 
each tank. FAO has implemented projects in close 
collaboration with young people in Ghana, and with 
internally displaced persons in combination with host 
communities in Nigeria, due to an unstable situation in 
the Lake Chad region.
The projects have provided the beneficiaries with 
fish and water tanks, fingerlings and fish feed. The fish 
tanks are filled with about 3 000 litres of groundwater 
and 500 specimens, making the fish density high, and 
thus the fish consequently produce much waste. The 
polluted water is drained and replaced whenever the 
water becomes, as a rule of thumb, “smelly”, and is 
then used to irrigate tomato plants, maize and other 
crops with nutrient-rich water. At harvest time, both the 
fish and various crops are harvested.
Fish growth performance in both countries has been 
impressive, with an average feed conversion ratio of 
1.1 kg of feed for 1 kg of fish. This is a remarkable 
result for novice fish farmers; with increased 
experience, the ratio may even improve further.
By design, the projects have been implemented in 
remote areas to assist vulnerable communities. 
Therefore, available economic data indicate that profits 
are being made, but that there will be room for 
improvement if the supply of fish feed and fingerlings is 
more centrally organized. This also holds for the 
marketing of the products. For that purpose, the 
projects have developed training programmes to show 
where operational costs can be reduced. The projects 
provided the inputs for the first production cycle, but it 
was made clear to the participants that they would 
have to purchase subsequent batches of fingerlings and 
feed themselves. At harvest time, the entire production 
from one tank generally has to be sold straight away. 
In order to reduce possible post-harvest losses, the 
projects supplied FTT fish smoking kilns (FAO-Thiaroye 
Technique). These kilns can significantly reduce toxic 
substances (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in the 
smoke inhaled by the fish processors – almost all of 
whom are women – inhale, and also help prevent such 
substances from entering the fish flesh. The processed 
fish has an increased shelf life and is of excellent 
quality, meaning it could readily sell on regional and 
international markets.
The aquaculture–horticulture approach piloted in 
Ghana and Nigeria has increased the self-reliance and 
self-confidence of project beneficiaries, who produce 
their own food and earn income. The food and 
nutrition security in their communities has improved 
considerably. Rural distress migration among young 
people and the number of them joining of militant 
groups have both fallen significantly.
BOX 16
FAO’S AQUACULTURE–HORTICULTURE APPROACH IN REMOTE AREAS IN WEST AFRICA
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lessons learned from, various case studies 
selected in different regions. In parallel, existing 
guidelines will be reviewed during regional 
consultations in order to identify the gaps to be 
filled, and the updates needed, as well as the 
specific constraints, needs and expectations of 
Members. The SAG will consist of three main 
components (
Figure 45
):
1. Possible pathways towards successful 
implementation of sustainable aquaculture 
in different regional contexts, based on case 
studies of accomplishments in similar settings 
or regions.
2. A series of practical thematic modules that 
will represent the core of the SAG. They will 
describe the rationale and attributes for 
approaches and practices on specific topics, 
the existing guidelines and practices, and 
the key recommendations for successful 
implementation and capacity development, 
based on the achievements and difficulties 
highlighted by case studies. They will be 
comprehensive and practical. They will cover 
both the aquaculture farms and their wider 
environments (i.e. at the sector, value chain, 
landscape, territory, country or region levels). 
At the farm level, the thematic modules 
will focus on: the impact of fish farming 
(zoning, site selection, area management, 
environmental impact assessment, risk 
assessment and mitigation measures); 
farm operation and business management 
(biosecurity and aquatic health management 
engineering or rehabilitation, food safety 
and quality management, animal well-being, 
decent and safe work); and special aquaculture 
operations (aquaculture-based fisheries, 
capture-based aquaculture, offshore and high 
seas aquaculture, etc.). Beyond the farmgate, 
they will focus on: market access; governance; 
gender; sector and value chain performance; 
specific capacity of the State in monitoring 
the sustainable development of the sector; 
integration; synergies and trade-offs between 
aquaculture, surrounding ecosystems and 
other stakeholders (small-scale fisheries, 
tourism, and shipping); data and statistics; 
communication and knowledge exchange; and 
resource sharing.
FIGURE 45
THE PROCESS OF THE SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE GUIDELINES AND THE CONTENT FOR 
THEIR DEVELOPMENT
Pathways
Thematic modules
Case studies
INPUTS
SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE GUIDELINES
Existing guidelines
Case studies
SOURCE: FAO.
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
3. A series of case studies describing the process, 
the accomplishment and the constraints, to 
illustrate the possible pathways and thematic 
fact sheets.
The methodology for development of the SAG 
was discussed at an expert consultation held in 
Rome in June 2019 and presented at the tenth 
session of the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture 
in August 2019. The Sub-Committee on 
Aquaculture welcomed the work proposed and 
expressed its full support, requesting Members 
to contribute their experiences. For this, a 
regional consultation took place in Bamako, Mali, 
in December 2019, and further consultations 
will be organized in Asia and Latin America 
in 2020. The Sub-Committee on Aquaculture 
also underlined the need to develop guidelines 
covering all aspects of aquaculture and applicable 
to large-, medium- and small-scale farms. 
It further recommended that the SAG be a 
dynamic document, regularly revised. 
n
REPORTING ON 
FISHERIES AND 
AQUACULTURE 
SUSTAINABILITY
Fisheries, aquaculture and the 2030 Agenda 
for Sustainable Development 
2030 Agenda
Sustainable development presents an 
international challenge that will require 
consistent, coherent and effective cooperation 
among countries and institutions. To this end, 
the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable 
Development (2030 Agenda) was adopted in 2015. 
The 2030 Agenda builds on the foundations of 
the Millennium Development Goals and provides 
a comprehensive set of objectives by which 
businesses, governments and individuals may 
focus their efforts for the betterment of society. 
The objectives are built on 17 wide-ranging 
SDGs, which, among other objectives, aim to 
end all forms of poverty, reduce inequality and 
tackle climate change. Inclusive development 
is at the heart of all policies. The targets are 
highly interlinked, such that progress in one 
area will aid the achievement of other objectives 
and bring benefits for society as a whole. 
Having a quantifiable and agreed-upon set of 
targets allows individual countries, subnational 
entities and other bodies to formulate policy and 
assistance in a focused, coordinated and effective 
manner. As part of this process, gender and 
social equality should be addressed, while also 
providing opportunities to improve the standard 
of nutrition and secure sustainable livelihoods for 
those most in need.
Sustainable Development Goals
In the context of fisheries and aquaculture, the 
SDGs promote environmentally and socially 
sustainable production systems. In principle, this 
promotes a fair and just way of meeting the needs 
of today without compromising the ability of 
future generations to do the same. Fisheries and 
aquaculture are central to the achievement 
of food security, and economic, social and 
environmental goals. Sustainable Development 
Goal 14 (Conserve and sustainably use 
the oceans, seas and marine resources for 
sustainable development) has clear and important 
implications for fisheries and aquaculture; by 
extension, achievement of its objective will 
bring progress across other SDG objectives. 
Enhanced fisheries management, policy, practices 
and technology are pivotal in providing quality 
food to ever-more people while ensuring 
that practices are ethical and sustainable. 
The challenges are many, especially improving 
data collection, protecting threatened species, 
preventing IUU fishing, sustaining MPAs and 
ensuring social sustainability in the value chain. 
FAO-led initiatives have laid the foundations 
for progress in many aspects pertinent to 
fisheries and aquaculture through, among others, 
implementation of the Code, PSMA and SSF 
Guidelines. Measurable outputs that should 
result from implementing the SDGs include 
improving livelihoods and achieving greater 
equality, while preserving natural resources, and 
directing policies, programmes, partnerships 
and investments.
The comprehensiveness of the SDGs reflects the 
extent of the challenge faced, and provides a 
road map to enable development that is socially, 
environmentally and economically sustainable 
and inclusive.
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Food security goals
The framework of SDG 2 balances food security 
concerns with sustainability considerations, 
seeking to “end hunger, achieve food 
security and improved nutrition and promote 
sustainable agriculture.” The underlying 
issues threatening food and nutrition security 
are often complex and continue to present 
challenges for development. It is estimated 
that 821 million people, 1 out of 9 people 
in the world, were undernourished in 2018. 
Having been on a declining trend for many 
years, this figure been rising since 2014. 
The need for sustainable and resilient food 
systems is increasingly apparent. The fisheries 
and aquaculture sector offers unique 
opportunities to support all four pillars of food 
security, namely: availability, access, utilization 
and stability. Efforts are under way to increase 
fish availability and consumption, and thereby 
contribute to the eradication of hunger and 
malnutrition. Fish consumption levels continue 
to rise, feeding billions of people and helping 
to ensure that diets are nutritious. Fish often 
provides a cheap and nutritious source of 
protein rich in essential amino acids and it is an 
important source of essential micronutrients, 
necessary for healthy diets. This is particularly 
true for isolated communities that rely on 
small-scale and artisanal fisheries and 
aquaculture, where fish is a central part of the 
diet. With proper management, fisheries and 
aquaculture provide a resilient, high-quality 
and sustainable component of nutrition.
Economic goals
The SDGs promote inclusive and sustainable 
economic growth that is able to guarantee 
decent employment and reduce social and 
gender inequality. The fisheries and aquaculture 
sector encompasses numerous opportunities 
to enable sustainable development and income 
enhancement, especially in the achievement of 
SDG 1 (End poverty in all its forms everywhere) 
and SDG 8 (Promote sustained, inclusive 
and sustainable economic growth, full and 
productive employment and decent work for 
all). The fisheries and aquaculture value chain 
extends from harvesting through to processing 
and marketing. The sector provides income and 
employment for an estimated 250 million people 
and, as a consequence, it is central for ensuring 
the livelihoods of a substantial proportion of the 
world’s population. This is particularly relevant 
in developing countries. In some instances, 
small-scale and subsistence fisheries may 
provide the principle source of income for entire 
communities, providing economic resilience 
where often sources of alternative employment 
are limited or non-existent.
Social sustainability goals
Social sustainability, non-discrimination, 
gender equality and shared growth are key 
focuses of the SDGs, with the objective of 
ensuring the widest distribution of benefits 
from natural resources and their use. The SDGs 
aim to nurture broad development and engender 
wider social inclusiveness and stability. 
As part of this process, efforts to empower 
organizations that support the development 
of fishing and aquaculture communities 
and fish processors are key areas of focus. 
The fostering of social sustainability in fisheries 
and aquaculture may serve as a catalyst for 
improving equality within society as a whole by 
promoting gender equality, securing workers’ 
rights, enacting social protection schemes 
and reducing social inequalities overall. 
A particular focus is the empowerment of 
women through SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality 
and empower all women and girls), especially 
in the marketing of fish and the post-harvest 
processing of fisheries products, where women 
make up the majority of the workforce. In many 
less-developed communities that depend on 
fisheries and aquaculture, improving conditions 
and equality along the value chain will have 
wide-ranging benefits for society as whole and 
help to ensure that the benefits of development 
are felt by all.
Environmental goals
The use of natural resources and the principles 
of sustainable food systems permeate all of 
the SDGs, being particularly pertinent to 
SDG 12 (Ensure sustainable consumption 
and production patterns) and SDG 13 (Take 
urgent action to combat climate change and its 
impacts). The output of fisheries and aquaculture 
produces lower greenhouse emissions for the 
equivalent nutrition than do most agricultural 
food systems. At the same time, there are 
environmental challenges relating to fisheries 
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
management, climate change and preventing 
illegal exploitation. Properly managed fisheries 
combined with aquaculture practices that foster 
the sustainable use of resources while preserving 
aquatic biodiversity are needed to ensure the 
future of the sector. The role of new technologies 
in minimizing food loss and waste across the fish 
value chain will allow for the more efficient use 
of resources, and move towards more complete 
utilization of fish, thereby reducing the need 
to extract further resources. This includes the 
transformation into valuable and nutritious goods 
of that part of the harvest that would otherwise 
be wasted. Robust fisheries management, more 
efficient transport and greater waste reclamation 
must all play a part in reducing post-harvest 
losses and limiting the environmental effects of 
the sector.
Sustainable Development Goal 14
Fisheries and aquaculture are integral to 
sustainable development and have a key role to 
play in achieving the objectives set out by the 
2030 Agenda. Sustainable Development Goal 14 
(Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, 
seas and marine resources for sustainable 
development) has clear implications for 
marine fisheries and aquaculture, providing 
actionable objectives that require international 
collaboration. The strong linkages that exist 
between the SDGs mean that achieving the 
targets set out in SDG 14 will have positive 
knock-on effects that are felt across society, 
and that achieving SDG 14 will be dependent 
on good progress being made towards the 
other closely related SDGs. The ten targets 
of SDG 14 are wide-ranging and diverse, 
addressing fundamental issues for healthy, 
sustainable economies. FAO is the custodian 
agency for the implementation and monitoring 
of four targets: end overfishing; curtail 
harmful subsidies; increase economic benefits 
from sustainable fisheries; and ensure access 
to resources and markets for small-scale 
fishers. The work of FAO has high relevance 
to successfully achieving SDG 14, which also 
includes targets to reduce marine pollution, 
protect aquatic ecosystems, minimize ocean 
acidification, develop scientific capacity relevant 
to fisheries, and improve the implementation of 
international law pertinent to the sustainable 
use of oceans.
Stock sustainability
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 
Indicator 14.4.1, for which FAO is the custodian 
United Nations agency, measures the proportion 
of fish stocks within biologically sustainable 
levels (see the section The status of fishery 
resources, p. 47, and 
Box 4
, p. 55). A fish stock 
whose abundance (total number or biomass 
of all the fishes that constitute a stock) is at 
or greater than the level that can produce the 
maximum sustainable yield (MSY) is classified 
as biologically sustainable. In contrast, when 
abundance falls below the MSY level, the stock is 
considered biologically unsustainable.
To calculate this proportion, it is necessary 
to establish a reference list of stocks, and to 
assess the status of each stock using agreed 
methodologies. In ideal circumstances, a stock 
assessment would be conducted to diagnose the 
current status of all stocks in the reference list. 
However, reliable stock assessment requires 
catch statistics data as well as fishing effort 
data, life-history parameters of fish stocks, and 
technical parameters of fishing vessels, which 
in many cases are not available. Moreover, stock 
assessment requires numerical modelling skills. 
As a result, today only about 25 percent of the 
global catch comes from numerically assessed 
stocks. Estimating the status of the large number 
of unassessed stocks is a highly challenging task, 
but one that is necessary in order to significantly 
increase the volume of stocks for which estimates 
of status are known. For implementation of 
SDG Indicator 14.4.1, FAO has worked to 
develop new methods that are applicable to 
data-limited and capacity-poor fisheries, while 
maintaining current methodologies for assessed 
stocks. Below is a summary of FAO’s plan for 
country-level assessment and reporting. 
Target and current status for SDG Indicator 14.4.1 
FAO has been monitoring the state of the world’s 
fishery stocks since 1974, classifying about 
445 stocks every 2–3 years. The species that have 
been assessed account for about 75 percent of 
global catch, and thus provide a comprehensive 
overview of global sustainability status. For some 
species, different types of data exist, whereas 
for others, little information apart from catch 
statistics is available. To balance the goals of 
using the best available data and assessing 
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stock status worldwide, FAO uses various 
methods ranging from recognized model-based 
assessment to surrogate measures of abundance 
supplemented by expert opinions. 
FAO’s current assessment is carried out 
based on FAO statistical areas, rather than by 
country, and classifies fish stocks into three 
categories: underfished, maximally sustainably 
fished, and overfished. Overfished stocks are 
considered biologically unsustainable, while both 
underfished and maximally sustainably fished 
stocks are considered biologically sustainable. 
The percentage of biologically sustainable stocks 
is used as SDG Indicator 14.4.1. 
FAO’s global assessment results are published 
biennially in