Sustainable aquaculture

Although aquaculture – the controlled farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants – dates back thousands of years, its development has increasingly gained momentum in recent decades. In 2022, aquaculture production of aquatic animals surpassed that of capture fisheries for the first time.

COFAD has been committed to the sustainable development of aquaculture since the company was founded in the early 1980s. For us, sustainable aquaculture means:

• Environmental sustainability concerns inputs such as feed, water, and land use; the practices used within the aquaculture facility, including animal welfare; and outputs or outflows such as wastewater and escaping animals.
• Economic sustainability means aquaculture must be a financially viable business that ensures the livelihoods of those who operate or work in it.
• Social sustainability includes, for example, a contribution to human nutrition, fair working conditions and a generally accepted distribution of resources, including in relation to activities that may compete with aquaculture.

COFAD is active in aquaculture on several continents, particularly in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Our multidisciplinary in-house team, combined with a large pool of international consultants, covers most aspects of the development of aquaculture in different parts of the world and at different intensity levels, from subsistence aquaculture to highly commercialised ventures.

For more information on the services we provide in aquaculture, info [at] cofad.de (please contact us.)