Indicator: CO-08 National tonnage and value of aquaculture production
Data
Aquaculture produces about a quarter as much food by weight as wild fish harvesting but, in 2003-2004, the value of this production had risen to approaching half the value of the wild fishery.
| Tonnes | Value $000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Aquaculture production | ||
| 2001-02 | 44,746 | 731,163 |
| 2002-03 | 45,943 | 734,470 |
| 2003-04 | 43,475 | 731,811 |
| Wild fish production | ||
| 2001-02 | 197,632 | 1,769,062 |
| 2002-03 | 212,512 | 1,647,455 |
| 2003-04 | 228,275 | 1,486,131 |
| Aquaculture as a proportion of wild fish | ||
| 2001-02 | 23% | 41% |
| 2002-03 | 22% | 45% |
| 2003-04 | 19% | 49% |
Source: Derived from ABARE: Australian Fisheries statistics
For more detailed information on the value of Australian fisheries, see:
For further information on Australian fisheries, see:
What the data mean
On the basis of the time series data to date, it is not possible to observe a trend. Both the quantity and value of aquaculture production rose considerably between 2001-2002 and 2002-2003, but declined slightly the following year.
Data Limitations
The data is not disaggregated into aquaculture in inland waters vis-a-vis coastal waters.
These data are not environmentally significant in their own right but provide a baseline for tracking changes in the contribution of the national aquaculture fishery to human life which may result from either the declining condition of the resource or from societal responses to that decline. It will be useful to track changes in the amount and value of food produced by aquaculture against future declines and/or improvements in the production of the wild fishery, wild fishery sustainability, the condition of other aspects of the marine environment that are vulnerable to degradation as a result of fishery production, and the condition of aspects of the marine and coastal environment that are vulnerable to degradation from aquaculture.
Issues for which this is an indicator and why
Coasts and Oceans — Contributions of the coasts and oceans to human life - Food
Farmed fish are an expanding source of human food. Aggregated tonnage and dollar value are reasonable ways of tracking trends in this contribution.
Other indicators for this issue:
- CO-07 Australian fisheries production - national tonnage and value of retained catch
- HS-48 Material Flows in Human Settlements
Human Settlements — Services provided by the environment to human settlements - Fisheries
A proportion of the food fish consumed in human settlements in Australia derives from aquaculture.
Other indicators for this issue:
Key
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