The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations latest report, “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020”, also referred to as “SOFIA 2020”, projected that global seafood consumption will reach a level of 21.5 kilograms per capita in 2030. “Thereby maintain a year-on-year growth trend that has already spanned 60 years, with increased fisheries and aquaculture production and growing market demand fuelling the rise,” the FAO said.
At the same time, since 1961, the agency said the average annual rise in global food fish consumption of 3.1 percent has outpaced the population growth of 1.6 percent, and exceeded the consumption escalation of all other animal protein foods (like beef, poultry, and milk), which increased by 2.1 percent per annum.
SOFIA further highlighted that in 2017, fish consumption accounted for 17 percent of the world population’s intake of animal proteins, and 7 percent of all proteins consumed. As such, the FAO calculates that fish provided more than 3.3 billion people with 20 percent of their average per-capita intake of animal proteins, and in some cases – such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Gambia, Ghana, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and several small island developing states – it contributed 50 percent or more.
Despite persistent differences in the levels of fish consumption between regions and individual states, the report identified some defining trends between developed and developing nations. It found that in developed countries, apparent fish consumption increased from 17.4 kilograms per capita in 1961 to peak at 26.4 kilograms per capita in 2007, and gradually declined thereafter to reach 24.4 kilograms in 2017.
In low-income food-deficit countries, fish consumption increased from 4 kilograms in 1961 to 9.3 kilograms in 2017, a stable annual rate of about 1.5 percent.
Fast-forward to 2030 and the FAO’s 2030 projection for the seafood landscape in a decade’s time, it forecasted that world fish consumption will be 18 percent or 28 million metric tons (MT) more than in 2018, although it noted that the annual growth rate of this consumption will be slower over the coming 10 years at 1.4 percent, compared with 2.6 percent for the period 2007 to 2018.2
According to the report, the slowdown will mainly be due to reduced production growth, higher prices, and a deceleration in population growth. SOFIA further anticipated total food fish consumption is expected to increase in all regions and subregions by 2030 in comparison with 2018, with higher growth rates projected in Latin America (33 percent), Africa (27 percent), Oceania (22 percent), and Asia (19 percent).
However, the world per capita consumption of fish painted a slightly different picture. Through 2030, this will increase in all regions except Africa, which will experience a decline of 3 percent. The highest growth rates are projected for Asia (9 percent), Europe (7 percent), and Latin America and Oceania (6 percent each).
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque