Aquaculture Big Numbers

The “Aquaculture Big Numbers” research project seeks to: provide baseline information on the present status of the aquaculture sector from a human development perspective; identify the types and numbers of people employed by the sector; and explore the role of aquaculture in providing social and economic services at a global level, with a particular emphasis on small-scale stakeholders. The research findings presented here are based on a global synthesis of information from various sources and 9 country case studies undertaken in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The findings suggest that previous employment estimates of the global aquaculture sector based on official statistics are likely to be underestimates. Employment generated at farm level is found to be much higher than employment at other links in the value chain. The majority of fish farms are small-scale, integrated, household operations, and value chains oriented around small-scale producers are estimated to generate more employment than those from mediumand large-scale producers. Farm-level employment is found to be much higher in small-scale compared with mediumand large-scale value chains, while employment at other links along smallscale value chains is much lower than that for mediumand large-scale value chains. Employment from domestic-oriented aquaculture value chains is estimated to be much higher than employment from export-oriented value chains. Aquaculture, particularly small-scale aquaculture, is found to generate important social and economic services in the form of direct employment in production activities and indirect employment along the value chain. The findings highlight the limited nature of available “official” data. It is important therefore that more comprehensive data become available to enable successful monitoring of the sector and to inform aquaculture planning and policy in the future. Some indicators to monitor social and economic services from aquaculture at both the national/local and household levels are suggested. An important priority, particularly for developing countries, should be the inclusion of poor and small-scale stakeholders in the development of the aquaculture sector, both directly and indirectly. While the globalization of value chains and demands for certification appear to be marginalizing small-scale farmers, significant social and economic benefits could be generated by a small-scale sector that can participate effectively in certified export value chains. Thus, a key recommendation is that small-scale farmers should be involved in the development of certification procedures and standards and policies should be developed to support small-scale farmers to become certified. One approach that has had success in a number of countries is to support and promote group certification of farmers organizations or clusters of farmers. Supporting the small-scale sector to access services, technical knowledge and training to utilize better management practises is required in order to develop a sector that is productive and sustainable. FAO. 2016. Aquaculture Big Numbers, by Michael Phillips, Rohana P. Subasinghe, Nhuong Tran, Laila Kassam and Chin Yee Chan. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 601. Rome, Italy.