NAca Section 2.pmd - Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Risks of Chemical Usage in Aquaculture
R. P. Subasinghe
Fisheries Department
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 Rome, ITALY
R.P. Subasinghe. 2004. Risks of chemical usage in aquaculture. p. 33-36. In J.R. Arthur and M.G.
Bondad- Reantaso. (eds.). Capacity and Awareness Building on Import Risk Analysis for Aquatic Animals.
Proceedings of the Workshops held 1-6 April 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand and 12-17 August 2002 in
Mazatlan, Mexico. APEC FWG 01/2002, NACA, Bangkok.
Abstract
This paper provides a brief overview of the risks associated with the use of chemicals in aquaculture.
These include potential impacts on human health, domestic animal production, and the environment, and
to access to markets for aquaculture products.
Introduction
World aquaculture production continues to grow tremendously, increasing at an average compounded rate
of 9.2% per year since 1970, compared with only 1.4% for capture fisheries and 2.8% for terrestrial
farmed meat production systems. According to the most recent statistics available from the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO 2002), total world aquaculture production in 2000
(including aquatic plants) was on the order of 45.7 million metric tonnes (mmt), valued at $US 56.5
billion, and accounting for more than a quarter (27.3%) of the total world fishery landings. 1 China remains
the largest producer, accounting for 71% of total world production.
Low-value inland finfish, such as Indian major carps, Chinese carps, tilapias, etc., produced in extensive
or semi-intensive culture systems comprise the bulk of world aquaculture production. Although the culture
of high-priced species such as shrimp and marine cage-reared finfish (salmon, seabass, seabream,
etc.) often receive the most attention, it is important to note that these species contribute only a relatively
small amount to total world aquaculture production, crustaceans, for example, representing only 4.2% of
total production by weight and only 18.1% by value. Developing countries contribute more than 86% of
total world production, with Low Income Food Deficient Countries (LIFDCs) accounting for more than
75% of the total. The LIFDCs contribute more than 80% of the world finfish production, of which more
than 95% is derived from inland freshwater fish culture. Production from the LIFDCs continues to grow
at an above average rate of some 13% annually, indicating aquaculture’s real and potential contribution to
providing low cost protein to those among the world’s most impoverished sectors (Subasinghe et al.
2000).
In aquaculture, as in all food production sectors, chemicals are one of the external inputs essential for
successful crop production. In the most simple, extensive systems, this may be limited to manure or other
1 World aquatic plant production in 2002 was 10.1 mmt, valued at US $5.6 billion (FAO 2002).
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