Policy Forum
Global Food Supply
China’s aquaculture and the world’s wild fisheries
Ling Cao1, Rosamond Naylor1,*, Duncan Leadbitter3, Marc Metian4, Max Troell4,5, Wenbo Zhang6,7
Author Affiliations
1Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94035, USA.
2Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, the Netherlands.
3University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia.
4Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
5The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden.
6University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK.
7Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, PR China.
China is the world’s largest producer, consumer, processor, and exporter of finfish and shellfish (defined here as “fish”), and its fish imports are steadily rising (1–3). China produces more than one-third of the global fish supply, largely from its ever-expanding aquaculture sector, as most of its domestic fisheries are overexploited (3–6). Aquaculture accounts for ∼72% of its reported domestic fish production, and China alone contributes >60% of global aquaculture volume and roughly half of global aquaculture value (1, 3).