By the end of the century, billions of extra people are expected to populate the globe, and scientists believe expanding marine aquaculture will be a vital step in feeding them.
A new study was published in the journal Nature and is co-authored by Reniel Cabral, a senior lecturer at JCU. He said the ocean will be challenged by the expected increase in seafood demand.
The human population is expected to increase by three billion by the end of the century, with a rise in affluence and demand for meat. Dr. Cabral said that climate change will challenge the ability of the ocean to provide food.
He said that fixing overfishing and changing wild fisheries management to account for climate change will be necessary, but not sufficient to feed the extra people.
But cultivating finfish and shellfish may be the answer to this looming food security challenge. According to our study, if we reform fisheries and expand sustainable mariculture, current per capita seafood production can be maintained or increased up to the end of the century, except under the most severe climate change scenario.
He said that it was still important to highlight the importance of reform.
Mariculture species still depend on wild capture for their feed. Ensuring that wild fisheries are healthy will allow for the expansion of mariculture and will minimize the gap that would have to be filled in seafood production.
He said that tropical countries will be negatively impacted by ocean warming and acidification.
Dr. Cabral said that support for mariculture in these countries would mean addressing several of the challenges from governance, ensuring equitable access, conflicting ocean uses, and infrastructure challenges such as developing fish cages that can survive typhoons.
Christopher Free, a researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara and the lead author of the study, said that it is essential to aggressively cut down greenhouse gas emissions so that they can be reduced.
The scientists said that proper planning and siting can help minimize the environmental threats from mariculture.
"The small space requirement for mariculture (<1%>
Dr. Cabral said that for mariculture to benefit people and contribute to sustainable development goals, it must benefit developing countries.
JCU is strategically located in the tropics and at the forefront of innovation in aquaculture, so it will play a key role.
More information: Christopher M. Free et al, Expanding ocean food production under climate change, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04674-5 Journal information: Nature Citation: The future of food from the warming sea (2022, April 28) retrieved 28 April 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-04-future-food-sea.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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