The impacts of aquaculture development on food security: lessons from Bangladesh

Fish contribute a significant amount of animal protein to the diets of people in Bangladesh, about 63% of which comes from aquatic animals. In Bangladesh, fish is mainly derived from two sources: capture and culture. Aquaculture has shown tremendous growth in the last two decades, exhibiting by about 10% average annual growth in production. Capture fisheries, although still the major source of supply of fish, have become static or are in decline due to over-fishing and environmental degradation, and it is now believed that aquaculture has the greatest potential to meet the growing demand for fish from the increasing population. At present, aquaculture production accounts for about one-third of the total fish production in Bangladesh. This paper examines the impact…