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Consequently, the effects of increased food demands at global scales will vary among countries and among people within those countries, contingent on their dependence on, and access to, aquatic food. Motivations for fishing and aquaculture may range from meeting immediate subsistence needs to generating substantial income for multinational companies trading in export markets. Aquatic food may play a pivotal role in daily nutrition, or provide variety and a few essential nutrients in an already healthy and ample diet. Globally, regionally, nationally and locally, the societal importance of aquatic food varies widely and methods of food production are diverse. Food demand is expected to rise even faster than population growth, owing to the emergence of a larger proportion of ‘middle-class’ people who have greater spending power and typically consume more animal protein than people with lower incomes (Kharas 2010). Median projections suggest global population growth of 2.4 billion, to over 9.7 billion, by 2050 (United Nations 2015). Global demands for food from aquatic environments are expected to increase in future decades, because these foods will help to meet the needs and preferences of a growing human population. Socially and economically sustainable production is needed to ensure that the communities, industries and supply chains that generate food continue to function and provide socially and ethically acceptable working conditions for the people involved. Environmentally sustainable production is needed to maintain the productivity and diversity of the food resource and the ecosystems that support it and to ensure that the impacts of food production do not compromise other ecosystem services. Production has to be sufficient, safe and nutritious to meet immediate needs and preferences, but it also has to be environmentally, socially and economically sustainable to provide for the long term. Maintaining the long-term production and supply of such food, from both wild-capture fisheries and aquaculture, is a significant and ongoing challenge for society. We highlight potential benefits of an integrated, systematic and ongoing process to assess security of the aquatic food system and to predict impacts of social, economic and environmental change on food supply and demand.įood from aquatic environments makes an important contribution to human nutrition and health and is also sought and enjoyed by people for cultural and gastronomic reasons. Our assessment reveals trade-offs and challenges in the food system that are easily overlooked in sectoral analyses of fisheries, aquaculture, health, medicine, human and fish welfare, safety and environment. Conventionally, these aspects of the food system are not assessed collectively, so information supporting our assessment is widely dispersed.
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Our assessment addresses sufficiency of supply from aquaculture, fisheries and trade safety of supply given biological, chemical and radiation hazards social, economic and environmental sustainability of production systems and supply chains system resilience to social, economic and environmental shocks welfare of fish, people and environment and the authenticity of food. Here, we present an integrated assessment of these elements of the aquatic food system in the United Kingdom, a system linked to dynamic global networks of producers, processors and markets. Aquatic food security is achieved when a food supply is sufficient, safe, sustainable, shockproof and sound: sufficient, to meet needs and preferences of people safe, to provide nutritional benefit while posing minimal health risks sustainable, to provide food now and for future generations shock-proof, to provide resilience to shocks in production systems and supply chains and sound, to meet legal and ethical standards for welfare of animals, people and environment. Fisheries and aquaculture production, imports, exports and equitability of distribution determine the supply of aquatic food to people.