Aquaculture – the farming of fish and aquatic plants – has become the world’s fastest-growing food production sector, even as the amount of wild fish caught in our seas and freshwaters declines. From fish foods and pharmaceuticals to management of entire aquatic ecosystems, aquaculture is truly changing the face of the waters.

Increased growth, however, brings increased risk, and aquaculture now lies at a crossroads. One direction points toward the giant strides in productivity, industry concentration, and product diversification. Another direction points toward the dangers of environmental degradation and the marginalization of small fish farmers. Yet another direction invites aquaculture to champion the poor and provide vital environmental services to stressed aquatic environments.

Changing the Face of the Waters: The Promise and Challenge of Sustainable Aquaculture offers a cutting-edge analysis of the critical challenges facing aquaculture, balancing aquaculture’s role in economic growth with the need for sound management of natural resources. The book also provides guidance on sustainable aquaculture by evaluating alternative development pathways, placing particular emphasis on the application of lessons from Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Aimed at policy makers, planners, and scientists, this book provides a comprehensive frame of reference for orienting ideas and initiatives in this dynamic industry.

Preface:

This study provides strategic orientations and recommendations for Bank client countries and suggests approaches for the Bank’s role in a rapidly changing industry with high economic potential. It identifies priorities and options for policy adjustments, catalytic investments, and entry points for the Bank and other investors to foster environmentally friendly, wealth-creating, and sustainable aquaculture.

The audience to which this study is addressed includes client countries’ policy and decision makers in aquaculture, fisheries, and natural resource management, as well as individuals addressing poverty issues, agriculture development, and environmental protection. The target audience also includes food industry and food trade professionals, the scientific community, development partners, and persons engaged in human capacity development for aquaculture.

Aquaculture can be defined as the farming and husbandry of aquatic organisms, such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and seaweed, and the production of freshwater and marine pearls and a variety of other aquatic species, such as crocodiles, frogs, sponges, and sea cucumbers. (The word “fish,” unless otherwise stated, is used throughout the report in the generic sense to cover all aquatic animal production, including fish, crustaceans, and mollusks.) The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines aquaculture as follows:

The farming of aquatic organisms in inland and coastal areas, involving intervention in the rearing process to enhance production and the individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated.

The definition distinguishes aquaculture from capture fisheries; in fact, the growth potential of aquaculture lies primarily in its fundamental differences from capture fisheries: with aquaculture, far greater control can be exerted over inputs and production.

In 2001, aquaculture was recognized as a separate economic activity under the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities. The collection of statistical data on aquaculture, separate from fisheries data, is a recent endeavor in many countries. In this study, we refer to aquaculture as a sector.

The study reviewed current trends in aquaculture and aquaculture projects and programs supported by the Bank and its client countries and other international financial institutions (IFIs) and donors to assess their roles and impacts. Aquaculture codes, guidelines, legislation, and recommended practices were examined, as were the roles of the public and private sectors and the nature of the institutional frameworks for development and management of aquaculture. Two background studies explored Asian experiences in the use of aquaculture for poverty alleviation and in the transfer of technology and human capacity building. Two additional background studies on aquaculture in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Brazil were complemented by literature surveys and discussions. The study drew on previous work and work in progress by FAO, the WorldFish Center (WFC), the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), and the Norwegian salmon industry.

The review of status and trends drew on draft global and regional reviews prepared by FAO as a result of a mandate by the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) and its Sub-Committee on Aquaculture: to “provide a prospective analysis of future challenges in global aquaculture as a basis for a discussion of the longer term direction of the Sub-Committee’s work” (para 73) and “work on environmental risk assessment, including species introductions and undertaking a thematic evaluation of social and economic impact of aquaculture” (para 74) (COFI 2005). The study benefited from a range of studies prepared by WFC and from the collaboration among the World Bank and other institutions, including FAO and NACA.

The identification, planning, design, and implementation of some 67 World Bank projects were reviewed, including 30 projects financed by the Bank’s concessional (IDA) or public-sector-lending (IBRD) institutions, and 8 projects with an aquaculture component financed by the Bank’s private-sector-lending institution (IFC) (see annex 3). The study also examined project evaluations and experiences of other IFIs, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), bilateral and multilateral development assistance projects (for example, FAO and the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP]), and private and public sector investments.

Details of the development agency aquaculture portfolios examined are provided in annex 3. Aquaculture components are frequently embedded in projects and programs with a broader scope, for example, coastal management or rural development. The study extracted those lessons of particular relevance to aquaculture that are often lost in evaluations that focus on overall project impact or larger non-aquaculture components.

The analyses used the Project Completion Reports, Implementation Completion Reports, and similar evaluations of the IFIs. Interviews were held with a number of project leaders, task managers, division chiefs, and sector managers within the World Bank Group and IADB. The review also drew on aquaculture evaluations undertaken by ADB, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and FAO.

The study draws on parallels in other sectors, such as science and technology, livestock, and agriculture, while forging links to generic policy and planning exercises such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and Country Assistance Strategies (CASs). In the case of Latin America, the study focuses on Brazil as illustrative of many of the issues facing aquaculture on the continent.

Although Chile is Latin America’s most important producer because of the unique character of Chilean aquaculture (colder waters and species; for example, salmon, trout, and scallops), this study does not specifically examine aquaculture in Chile.

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© 2007 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development /The World Bank

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

More than half a decade ahead of these projections, aquaculture production has already reached 45 million tons,providing more than 40 percent of the global food fish supply. As production from capture fisheries stagnates, aquaculture is changing the face of our waters.

FOCUS OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are to inform and provide guidance on sustainable aquaculture to decision makers in the international development community and in client countries of international finance institutions. The study focuses on several critical issues and challenges:

■ Harnessing the contribution of aquaculture to economic development, including poverty alleviation and wealth creation, to employment and to food security and trade, particularly for least developed countries (LDCs)

■ Building environmentally sustainable aquaculture, including the role of aquaculture in the broader suite of environmental management measures

■ Creating the enabling conditions for sustainable aquaculture, including the governance, policy, and regulatory frameworks, and identifying the roles of the public and private sectors

■ Developing and transferring human and institutional capacity in governance, technologies, and business models with special reference to the application of lessons from Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America ...

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was prepared under the leadership of Kevin Cleaver, director of the Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) Department of the World Bank, and Sushma Ganguly, sector manager of ARD. The task team included Ziad Shehadeh (consultant), Cornelis de Haan (ARD), Eriko Hoshino (ARD), Ronald Zweig (East Asia Region of the World Bank), and Patrice Talla (Legal Vice Presidency of the World Bank). Kieran Kelleher (ARD) was lead author and task manager.

The team extends its thanks to Mafuzuddin Ahmed (Institute for Fisheries Management and Coastal Community Development), Pedro Bueno (Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific, NACA), Edward Chobanian (consultant), Antonio Diegues (Universidade de São Paulo), and Simon Heck (World- Fish Center) for their valuable input through commissioned studies. Particular thanks is owed to the staff members of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Fisheries Department, Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service (FIRI), for their invaluable collaboration and support, and to Trygve Gjedrem (Akvaforsk Genetics Center AS), Otto Gregussen (Embassy of Norway), Michael Phillips (NACA), Barry Costa-Pierce (University of Rhode Island), Robert Robelus (Africa Region of World Bank), Oliver Ryan (International Finance Corporation), and John Moehl (FAO) for their constructive comments, suggestions, and assistance.

The task team thanks the ARD Management Committee and members of the Fisheries Focal Point for their support and guidance, and Melissa Williams, Marisa Baldwin, Joyce Sabaya, Felicitas Doroteo-Gomez, and Eric Schlesinger of ARD, as well as Daud Khan of FAO, for assistance with logistics and production of the study.

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