As you probably know, we as a society have a huge challenge facing us in the next decades, which is how to feed adequately a growing human population that is forecasted to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050. We also know now that farming and the generation of food production should increase by 60% by 2050. This huge increase, however, if done at current farming practices, will generate a heavy environmental burden. There will be a need to increase the area of arable land also a rise in energy and freshwater used for agricultural purposes, and also a rise in greenhouse emissions. So it is now clear that the future growth of the agri-food sector needs to be achieved under a scenario where we have a lower environmental impact. We also have to deal with the increased scarcity of natural resources and we have to take into account the evolving changes in climate.

Aquaculture will surely be part of the solution for human food security, in particular in what concerns protein supply and healthy fats. Fish are among the most efficient farm animals in converting feed nutrients into edible meat. So, in a resource-constrained world in the future, aquaculture is clearly an attractive option to meet future protein needs.