The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was requested by its Members, through the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, to assess the status of aquatic biodiversity used in aquaculture and to develop tools and policy responses to address the principal needs and challenges for its effective management. Following the publication of The State of the World’s Aquatic Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2019, FAO developed, in active consultation with members, The Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Aquatic Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as a policy response. The Global Plan of Action is a voluntary, non-binding policy framework that identifies key strategic priorities and actions that countries and the international community should undertake for a more responsible management of aquaculture species, and their farmed types (the equivalent of livestock breeds and crops for the aquaculture sector) and wild stocks.
Information is power and availability of clear, consistent and harmonized information on the status of genetic resources, especially at the level below species (“farmed types” and wild stocks), promotes clearer understanding of the priority needs prevalent in countries and can inform the development of appropriate strategies, policies, management plans and human resource capacity. Very few countries possess information systems on their aquatic genetic resources and those that exist are not harmonized and utilize different characterization methods and different descriptors of genetic resources. FAO is addressing this need through the development and application of AquaGRIS, a global information system for aquatic genetic resources. A fully functional version of AquaGRIS was release in mid-2024 and FAO is now supporting countries in the application of AquaGRIS to develop national registries of their genetic resources for aquaculture.
Whilst the aquaculture sector in North America has developed and utilizes numerous developed farmed types (strains and varieties) of important aquaculture species the continent is also home to key reservoirs of genetic diversity for several important aquaculture species, including salmonids and ictalurid catfish. Due to the presence of a well-resourced and active research community, there is often a richness of information available on the genetic status of cultured species and their wild relatives, related to conservation, sustainable use and development these genetic resources. FAO is looking to engage with national focal points on aquatic genetic resources globally and to support them to create national registries of their aquatic genetic resources. Given the richness of data available on genetic resources in North America it would be interesting to explore the opportunity of utilizing AquaGRIS as a single depository of this information and to explore the benefits that could accrue to stakeholders in aquaculture and in cultured species more broadly from such a registry.