Situations et perspectives de l'aquaculture mondiale

On a global scale, aquaculture produced around 17 million tonnes in 1991, compared with 11 million tonnes in 1985 and 6 million tonnes in 1975. Since the beginning of the 80s, this production increased by an average of 7.5% per year in volume, and more than 13% in value. This amount represents only 17 tonnes of the global volume of sea and fresh water products, but more than 25% of its value. On a worldwide scale, water products account for an important part of the animal product supply in human food. For example, aquaculture accounts for a larger part than ovine production and represents around 5% of the world's animal protein supply. Aquaculture is an activity that is still booming from a technological development point of view and should be one of the major issues of food production at the beginning of the 21st century.