Background
Aquaculture plays a crucial role in meeting the rising global demand for aquatic foods of an expanding world population, expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.
The aquaculture sector in North America is a small but reliable contributor to global aquatic food production, generating a steady output of 600 000 to 650 000 tonnes annually. While production volumes have remained consistent over the past 25 years, the value of aquaculture products has continued to rise, driven by initiatives such as branding, eco-certification, processing and packaging. These value-adding strategies have not only increased profitability, but also positioned the industry to meet growing global demand for diverse aquatic products.
The sector is seeing growth opportunities through species diversification and technological innovation motivated by challenges related to environmental sustainability, social license, climate change adaptation and price competition from imported products. Diversification serves as a strategy for mitigating business risks in regions with fluctuating or uncertain aquatic food demand. In addition, technological innovations have played a transformative role in improving on-farm productivity while reducing production costs and environmental impacts, further bolstering the sector’s competitiveness.
Despite these advances, the aquaculture sector continues to face challenges. In North America, social license remains a pressing issue, with negative public perceptions of the industry often impeding growth. However, proactive industry actions, including improved transparency and eco-certification efforts, could gradually shift these narratives. However, regulatory uncertainty also persists, particularly due to complex regulatory frameworks given shared jurisdictions in the aquaculture space. Such issues can impede investment in innovative technologies that have the potential to improve sustainability and public acceptance of the sector.
Initiatives in both Canada and the United States are addressing these constraints to facilitate growth while ensuring the sustainability of the sector. Seaweed aquaculture, for example, is an emerging opportunity in the region, leveraging North America’s extensive and optimal growing conditions. The sector is beginning to embrace this potential, which aligns with the broader environmental and economic goals of the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA).
The Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture
Containing a set of shared and agreed principles and practices to promote a sustainable aquaculture sector worldwide, the FAO Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA) can serve as a tool to guide policy processes, decision-making and action at all levels - local, national, regional and global. As an adaptable framework developed by FAO and its Members, the GSA are designed to address the challenges posed by the rapid growth of the aquaculture sector, supporting its sustainable expansion and intensification in alignment with the FAO Blue Transformation roadmap. They support the implementation of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the 2021 COFI Declaration for Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture and their implementation will enable aquaculture to contribute effectively to the 2030 Agenda.
While the sector is well-developed in North America, there is still significant utility in leveraging the GSA to address ongoing and emerging challenges, particularly those related to social license, within the North American context. For instance, by providing a robust framework, the GSA can demonstrate how many components of the sector are currently well managed in North America, while also serving as a guide in the growth of nascent sub-sectors in the region, such as seaweed farming.
Purpose of the North American Regional Workshop
As part of the European Union funded project ‘Supporting a Blue Transformation: Implementation of the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA),’ FAO is engaged in mainstreaming the GSA into global, regional and national policies and strategic frameworks in close collaboration with its Members and key stakeholders.
A key component of this initiative is the organization of Regional Workshops, which bring together participants such as policy- and decision-makers, experts, industry leaders, researchers, financial institutions, and civil society organizations (including NGOs and professional associations), certification bodies, partners from the Global Sustainable Aquaculture Advancement Partnership (GSAAP) and farmer representatives (from both large- and small-scale operations).
The North American (NA) Regional Workshop, to be held on 8 March 2025 in New Orleans, the United States of America, will be an open session with all conference delegates welcome and encouraged to attend. We hope delegates present will fully represent the diversity of stakeholders in aquaculture in the region. The session will focus on the development process of the GSA and their scope and their relevance for the region. Stakeholders will have the opportunity to ask questions in a dedicated Q&A session. Furthermore, participants will engage in polls and an interactive exercise exploring how the GSA can contribute to enhancing the sustainability of aquaculture in the region.
The workshop will be guided by the following key questions:
Expected output
FAO will prepare a workshop report that may help guide the implementation of the GSA regionally and globally.
Proposed structure of the session