Farmed fish account for more than half of all fish meals worldwide, and have done so since 2013 [1]. In 1974, the aquaculture share of fish consumption was only seven percent [2]. In 2020, when a total of 177.8 million tonnes of aquatic animals were killed, aquaculture accounted for 87.5 million tonnes and wild-caught 90.3 million tonnes, of which 20.4 million tonnes were used as feed for animal fattening, mainly in aquaculture [1].

The decrease in aquaculture growth for six selected species, each averaged over the five years before and after the year with the highest growth (peak). [3]

Fish farming reaches its limits

The enormous growth of aquaculture since the 1950s led to the assumption that aquaculture would continue to grow and would be able to cover the increasing fish consumption per person in the future, despite stagnating catch yield since the 1990s.