THE VISION of the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA) is of an aquaculture sector that contributes significantly to a world free from hunger and to the equitable improvement of the living standards of all actors in its value chain, including the poorest, and:

˃ advances towards more productive, efficient,

resilient, climate-smart and socially and environmentally responsible agrifood systems;

˃ fulfils its potential to meet the increasing demand

for safe, healthy, accessible and affordable aquatic food and products with reduced impacts on the global environment;

˃ contributes to sustainable development and

helps to eradicate poverty, malnutrition and hunger; and

˃ matures in economically, socially and

environmentally sustainable ways. The aim of the GSA is to…

˃ provide guidance to develop and implement

public policies, strategies, plans and legal and institutional frameworks for sustainable aquaculture growth;

˃ boost aquaculture’s contribution to global food

security and nutrition, poverty eradication, societal wellbeing and economic development;

˃ improve the lives of communities who depend on

aquaculture through decent work and economic growth; and

˃ help achieve sustainable use, responsible

management, conservation and restoration of living aquatic resources, ecosystems and biodiversity, and mitigate climate change. The GSA rest on the principles of…

sustainability
environmental stewardship
rule of law
non-discrimination
equity & equality
consultation & participation
transparency & accountability
holistic & integrated approaches The GSA offer concrete recommendations on...
governance and planning
sustainable resource use, ecosystem and farm management
social responsibility, decent work and gender equality
value chains, market access and trade Their cross-cutting themes are...
funding and financing
research and innovation
communication
capacity development

The Guidelines for

Sustainable Aquaculture

at a glance

Sustainable aquaculture is critical to feed an expected global population of 9.7 billion by 2050. Global apparent per capita aquatic animal consumption has more than doubled since 1960, with aquaculture the chief contributor to meeting this demand sincethe late 1990s. In 2022 and for the first time in history, aquaculture surpassed capture fisheries in aquatic animal production, representing 50.9 percent of the world total. In 2022, 59.1 million tonnes of aquatic animals were grown on inland farms and 35.3 million tonnes came from mariculture and brackish coastal water aquaculture.

Facts

and figures

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

https://www.fao.org/in-action/gsa/en/ The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Some rights reserved. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution - 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0). In 2022, aquaculture produced 36.5 million tonnes of algae and 94.4 million tonnes of aquatic animals: 61.6 million tonnes of finfish (65.2 percent), 18.9 million tonnes of shelled molluscs (20.0 percent), 12.8 million tonnes of crustaceans (13.5 percent) and 1.2 million tonnes of other species (1.3 percent). Over 730 species of aquatic animals and plants are produced commercially thanks to aquaculture. Aquaculture can help provide children with nutritious foods through home-grown school feeding programmes that source their products locally from small-scale farmers, forging sustainable agrifood systems while nourishing the younger generations with high-quality protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. In 2022, over 22 million people were employed in the aquaculture primary sector; based on available sex-disaggregated data, about 25 percent of them were women. At present, 10 countries contribute over 89.8 percent to global aquaculture production. The number one producer is China, followed by Indonesia, India, Viet Nam, Bangladesh, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Norway, Egypt and Chile. Woman fish farmer with a bowl of harvested sea cucumbers, Philippines. © FAO/David Hogsholt © FAO, 2025 CD3985EN/1/01.