337623
Fisheries and Food Security in China
Monday, November 2, 2015
: 2:50 p.m. - 3:10 p.m.
Ling Cao, PhD,
Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
China’s impact on marine ecosystems and global seafood supplies is unrivaled given its dominant role in fish production, consumption, processing and trade. Its aquaculture sector, by far the world’s largest, is growing in response to rising domestic and international seafood demand. Whether China’s aquaculture sector can relieve pressure on wild fisheries depends critically on its use and sourcing of fish inputs in aquafeeds. We used primary data from field surveys, and information from international and Chinese sources, to quantify China’s use of feed inputs from targeted and non-targeted fisheries. The latter includes over 70 species of trash fish (fish that are typically unfit for human consumption). We also calculated the potential substitution of fish processing wastes in aquafeeds and show that, if food safety and supply chain constraints can be overcome, extensive use of fish processing wastes in feeds could help China meet one-half or more of its current fishmeal demand, thus greatly reducing pressure on domestic and international fisheries.
Learning Areas:
Public health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Describe the complicated nature of China’s expanding aquaculture sector and its multifaceted use of fish inputs in feeds.
Discuss how the management of China’s capture fisheries and aquaculture sector is likely to augment or deplete global fish resources in the near future.
Assess the main challenges associated with the extensive use of fish processing by-products in aquafeeds in China.
Keyword(s): Food Safety, Food Security
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have focused on interdisciplinary research at the interface between seafood production, food security, and marine conservation. I am a research fellow in the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
