1s4: Circularity and marine food production

Abstract

The ongoing rise of the world population size along with increasing incomes in the developing world will result in rising food demand and a dietary change towards more animal protein in the decades to come. Concerns about the sustainability of modern agriculture and its negative impact on global biodiversity, has led to the search for more sustainable alternatives to meet the growing food demand, such as circular agriculture. People also started to look at the oceans as a great underutilized source of human food. The recent increase of aquaculture is seen as a promising signal, and some reports even expect an increase in marine food production by orders of magnitude. Although it is questionable whether these high expectations can be met, it would be wise not to make similar mistakes when farming the sea as have been made on land.