Monitoring the Aquaculture Sector and Meeting Global Food Security Demands

Aquaculture along Bingera Weir Road in South Bingera Locality. (Credit: srv007 via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Large-scale monitoring of the aquaculture sector can be challenging on account of the location, number, and size of production facilities. Understanding the scope and growth of the industry is of particular importance to state and international organizations as aquaculture is expected to play a critical role in future food security.

However, a majority of this documentation relies on calling and emailing operators, which can be inefficient and leave farms out of statistics. Additionally, measurements of the farms are rarely confirmed with on-site measurements, which can introduce variances in data collection.

Capabilities of the Aquaculture Sector

Though rapidly growing, aquaculture is still an emerging industry. According to the World Aquaculture Society, in 2021, total aquaculture production reached 90.9 million tonnes of aquatic animals, 35.2 million tonnes of algae, and 1900 tonnes of shells and pearls—totaling 126 million tons of live weight product with an estimated value of USD 296.5 billion.

Aquaculture operations are concentrated in Asia at 91.6% of operations and the Americas, Europe, and Africa accounting for 3.6%, 2.7%, and 1.9% of global production, respectively. The World Aquaculture Society reports an average annual growth of 6.7% over the past three decades, though growth slowed to 3.5% from 2016 to 2021 as the industry matures.

Documenting the continued growth of the industry is key to understanding existing and future food production capabilities. The prevalence of fish farms, individual sizes and targeted species are important variables for local and international organizations that focus on global food security.

Detecting Sea- and Land-Based Aquaculture Facilities Remotely

A 2024 study published in AgriEngineering utilized a novel automated technique for detecting aquaculture facilities on the water or land. The YOLOv4 (You Only Look Once) model was trained on high-resolution images from Google Maps to identify aquaculture operations in Italy, though the model could be used elsewhere.

The accuracy of the model was approximately 85%, and the tool can help identify facilities for global statistics and documentation of the industry as a whole. In addition to spotting facilities, the method could be used to measure the size of cages and raceways, improving carrying capacity and production data.

Since aquaculture will be significant to future food security, understanding the current capacity of the industry and future developments is essential for food management strategists.

Conclusion

With an expected population of 9.8 billion by 2050, according to the United Nations, current means of food production will need to change to meet demands. However, growth must be sustainable as the environmental impacts of aquaculture facilities (both new and established) cannot be ignored.

Aquaculture has the ability to produce large volumes of protein-rich food, and many organizations agree that fish farming is a key component of achieving global food security. Documenting the size and scope of the current aquaculture sector is essential to improving the industry.

Sources

1. World Aquaculture Society. (2023, May 10). A Decadal Outlook for Global Aquaculture. Www.was.org. https://www.was.org/article/A-decadal-outlook-for-global-aquaculture.aspx

2. Veroli, Maxim & Martinoli, Marco & Martini, Arianna & Napolitano, Riccardo & Pulcini, Domitilla & Tonachella, Nicolò & Capoccioni, Fabrizio. (2025). A Novel and Automated Approach to Detect Sea- and Land-Based Aquaculture Facilities. AgriEngineering. 7. 11. 10.3390/agriengineering7010011.

3. United Nations. (n.d.). World population projected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100. United Nations; United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/desa/world-population-projected-reach-98-billion-2050-and-112-billion-2100