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Taking Hubei province, the largest carp producer in China, as a case study, surveys of trends in aquatic food consumption preferences were matched against farm production surveys and compared to official production data and statistics to gauge the current and future status of Chinese inland aquaculture. Surveys showed that consumer tastes were changing to a much broader aquatic food menu as their spending power increased. Traditional aquaculture species were becoming less profitable due to reduced profit margins as input costs increased and consumption preferences changed. Consequently, many producers were diversifying their production to meet local demand. Some farmers were also de-intensifying by reducing commercial aquafeed inputs and reverting to more traditional methods of dyke-crop culture to optimise trade-offs between input costs and labour, and manage their risk more effectively. In addition, analysis of local data showed wholesale changes were occurring to aquaculture production as environmental protection legislation took effect which reduced the growing area for carps considerably.

Trends in aquatic food consumption were matched against farm production surveys within Hubei province and compared to official production data and statistics. Surveys showed that consumer tastes were changing to a much broader aquatic food menu as their spending power increased. Traditional aquaculture species were becoming less profitable due to reduced profit margins as input costs increased and consumption preferences changed. Consequently, many producers were diversifying their production to meet local demand. Some farmers were also de-intensifying by reducing commercial aquafeed inputs and reverting to more traditional methods of dyke-crop culture to optimise trade-offs between input costs and labour, and manage their risk more effectively. In addition, analysis of local data showed that wholesale changes were occurring to aquaculture production as environmental protection legislation took effect which reduced the growing area for carps considerably. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01503-3.

The numbers of alerts from the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) related to crustacean products were compared to numbers of mainstream media stories related to health concerns. An internet search of "farmed shrimp" was also conducted and the content of the websites assessed for subject matter and balance. The study found that the absolute number of RASFF alerts has fallen considerably since legislation controlling testing of food being traded into and within the EU was introduced in 2002 and tracked increasing stringency of EU procedures. There were 1512 alerts from 1980 to 2015 with 44.0% and 21.2% of alerts attributed to farmed and wild shrimp respectively. There were large numbers of alerts reporting antibiotic residues in wild shrimp, which raised questions about the source of the contamination, and natural occurrence of the antimicrobial residues was considered. The number of mainstream media stories closely followed the number of alerts, but 91.2% of media articles concerning the health aspects were concerned with consumption of farmed shrimp. The internet search revealed a much more negative view of farmed shrimp compared to the mainstream media. It is suggested that the internet generally follows an historic negative narrative on farmed seafood, often with little validation which narrows the discourse on seafood production rather than empowering consumers. According to the risk assessment of RASFF data, it was concluded that farmed shrimp does not possess any more risk than wild seafood choices but producers have not been able to communicate the benefits of farmed produce to the consumer.

Sustainability analyses of aquaculture typically ignore the fate and value of processing by-products. The aim of this study was to characterise the nutritional content of the common processing by-products (heads, frames, trimmings, skin and viscera) of five important finfish species farmed in Europe; Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and turbot (Psetta maxima) to inform on best utilisation strategies. Our results indicate a substantially higher total flesh yield (64–77 %) can be achieved if fully processed, compared to fillet only (30–56 %). We found that heads, frames, trimmings and skin from Atlantic salmon, European seabass, gilthead seabream and turbot frames showed medium to high edible yields, medium to high lipid, and medium to high eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content, indicating significant potential for direct use in human food. By-products which are unattractive for use in food directly but have low ash content and medium to high crude protein, lipid and EPA and DHA content, such as viscera, could be directed to animal feed. Skin showed interesting nutritional values, but has more potential in non-food applications, such as the fashion, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The results indicate potential to increase the direct food, animal feed and non-food value of European aquaculture, without an increase in production volumes or the use of additional resources. The importance of changing consumer perceptions and addressing infrastructure and legislative barriers to maximize utilisation is emphasised.

The paper offers a review and commentary, with particular reference to the production of fish from wild capture fisheries and aquaculture, on neglected aspects of health impact assessments which are viewed by a range of international and national health bodies and development agencies as valuable and necessary project tools. Assessments sometimes include environmental health impact assessments but rarely include specific occupational health and safety impact assessments especially integrated into a wider public health assessment. This is in contrast to the extensive application of environmental impact assessments to fishing and the comparatively large body of research now generated on the public health effects of eating fish. The value of expanding and applying the broader assessments would be considerable because in 2004 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reports there were 41,408,000 people in the total 'fishing' sector including 11,289,000 in aquaculture. The paper explores some of the complex interactions that occur with regard to fishing activities and proposes the wider adoption of health impact assessment tools in these neglected sectors through an integrated public health impact assessment tool.

Funding Information: We wish to acknowledge funding from Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) to write this review. The research of BdR and AAS is supported by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS). NR is funded by the University of Copenhagen, AG and TA are funded by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh, AAM is funded by Noakhali Science and Technology University Bangladesh and FM and DL are funded by the University of Stirling. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF