Emerging opportunities to increase mariculture production and increasing recognition of the potentially lower environmental impacts of mariculture compared with land-based animal products suggest that mariculture holds significant promise for providing sustainable and nutritious food sources to help meet growing protein demand.
However, to realize this potential, policymakers, investors and regulators need accurate and reliable information on the location of mariculture and the amount and type of species being produced. Without this information, it is impossible to understand the impacts of mariculture on the environment (e.g., water pollution, land-use change, disease outbreaks, escapes) and people (e.g., nutrition, economics, competition with other sectors and resources) or to invest in and plan for the sustainable growth of the sector. Yet, unlike other major food production systems – like marine industrial fisheries, crops, and livestock – we do not have a detailed understanding of the spatial footprint of mariculture globally…
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