By Dr. Ashesh Ambasta
Global aquaculture production has more than doubled in recent years, from 10 million metric tons to 25.5 million between 1984 and 1994. Today this industry, which includes fish farming and coastal fisheries, is worth about $40 billion a year, and the sector contributes nearly 22 percent of the 72 million tons of all marine products bought and sold. It has been among the fastest-growing food sectors, and given current consumption trends, is likely to retain this lead in the years to come.
Because most demand is met through production in the developing parts of
the world, surely this should have been a cause for celebration, signalling
economic prosperity for the coastal peoples and vastly enlarging sorely
needed foreign exchange reserves in chronically cash-starved nations. But,
as the familiar adage goes, if wishes were horses, beggars indeed would be
