Globally, wild-catch fisheries are reaching their limits, making aquaculture essential for meeting seafood demand. Aquaculture now supplies over half of the world’s seafood, though its growth and impact vary significantly across regions. For example, Sri Lanka, where annual per capita seafood consumption is 30kg, produces only 3% of its aquatic food through aquaculture, significantly lagging behind other South Asian countries. Although Sri Lanka’s aquaculture output reached 42,000 metric tons in 2020, the industry’s growth has been slower compared to the rest of the region.
Partnered with Sri Lankan government agencies and universities, we undertook an expert consultative process with public and private partners to develop an evidenced-based consensus for country-wide marine aquaculture planning. Further, we undertook essential pilot studies that were concentrated on generating genetic resources as well as biosecurity, and disease management strategies for key aquaculture species, including edible oysters (Magallana bilineata), Asian sea bass (Lates calcarifer), and seaweed (Kappaphycus alvarezii).
Despite large productive areas and promising native species, Sri Lankan aquaculture has been underdeveloped due to a 30-year civil war and lack of knowledge. Key challenges hindering expansion include inconsistent seed supply, regulatory complexity, gaps in value chains, and insufficient infrastructure and technical training. Despite recent advancements in species like Asian sea bass, prawns, and seaweeds, disease outbreaks, habitat degradation, and water quality issues remain. Edible oyster and seaweed farming represent value chains with the potential to empower women in rural communities, offering sustainable livelihoods and promoting economic inclusion. Currently occurring in small, isolated pockets, these practices could be expanded to have a more widespread impact across Sri Lanka. Further, the project generated baseline genetic resources for M. bilineata to help re-establish oyster aquaculture. These genetic insights will underpin biosecurity and translocation guidelines, supporting sustainable breeding and aquaculture practices. Additionally, we identified disease threats to developing oyster aquaculture and expanding the existing seaweed aquaculture industry. Seaweed farming was found to be impacted by ‘ice-ice’ disease and like other industries, low genetic diversity was observed in the cultivars of Kappaphycus alvarezii farmed in Sri Lanka. The project emphasizes the need to develop reliable juvenile supplies for smallholder farms, establish biosecurity policies, and address market access challenges, particularly for oyster exports.