Increasing global demand for protein through seafood is driving increasing demand for aquaculture, particularly given the pressures on certain commercially caught wild stocks of fish. The FAO says that "eating fish is part of the cultural tradition of many people and in terms of health benefits, it has an excellent nutritional profile, and "is a good source of protein, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and essential micronutrients".
Aquatic plants such as seaweed are also an important resource for aquaculture as they provide nutrition, livelihood and other important industrial uses, it says, and 80 per cent of current aquaculture production is derived from animals low in the food chain such as herbivorous, omnivorous fish and molluscs. It is predicted over 60 per cent of fish eaten by humans will come from aquaculture by 2030.