2 October 2014: Representatives from Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) to develop a FAO regional initiative on blue growth at a two-day inception workshop. The blue growth initiative aims to intensify aquaculture production in a sustainable, environmentally sound and socially acceptable manner.

To meet increasing Asian consumer demand for meat and fish, aquaculture production will need to increase by more than 50% by 2030, according to FAO. Asia already produces 90% of global aquaculture and its demand for aquaculture is expected to rise as a result of increasing urbanization and socio-economic change. For instance, the percentage of middle-income earners in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to triple from 2009 to 2020, which is in turn expected to exponentially increase demand for fish consumption, particularly in China, India and Indonesia, according to FAO. As wild capture fisheries level off in the future, aquaculture is predicted to meet two-thirds of global fish demand, including through increases in species such as carp, catfish and tilapia.

“FAO is supporting each country with its own initiatives in blue growth strategies and work plans,” Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, said at the workshop. FAO will work with each country to further develop their blue growth workplans, with the aim of having them in place by March or April 2015.

The workshop took place in Bangkok, Thailand from 2-3 October 2014. [FAO Press Release]