Aquaculture: The missing contributor in the food security agenda

Aquaculture's rapidly increasing contribution to global aquatic food supply is masked by rhetoric on sustainability and international trade. We examine the association of country-level aquaculture production and per capita consumption of aquatic food in 163 countries. We find a positive association between aquaculture production and aquatic food consumption at the national scale where a 1% increase in domestic aquaculture production is associated with a 0.9% increase per capita consumption. The results corroborate previous case studies showing consumption of aquatic food has increased among the poor as domestic aquaculture has expanded. The findings provide important insight to the role of aquaculture in global food security and highlight the significance of advancing aquaculture development in regions with high rates of malnutrition and food insecurity.