Food from the oceans
This report (PDF) by the High Level Group of the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) gives scientific advice on how more food and biomass can be obtained from the oceans in a way that does not deprive future generations of their benefits. The advice centers on five sets of recommendations. The first calls for mainstreaming a “food from the ocean” paradigm based on responsible culture and capture, into a broad food systems policy framework, as well as into other relevant EU and global systems-level policy agendas. Reflecting the fact that scientific evidence points to mariculture (marine aquaculture) as having the biggest potential to increase food from the ocean, the second set pertains to the development of mariculture globally. As far as Europe’s part in this is concerned, this would require raising the strategic priority of mariculture and bringing all available means to bear on facilitating its development. The importance of the continued development of responsible fisheries management and maintaining marine ecosystems is reflected in a set of recommendations aimed at sustaining wild-capture. A fourth set aims at facilitating policy change by optimizing the use of instruments such as the Open Method of Coordination as well as the forthcoming Blue Bioeconomy Forum. The final set targets future-proofing policy by recommending further development of the Common Fisheries Policy science advice system and actions to fill key knowledge gaps such as scientifically-motivated pilot fishing of as-yet unexploited lower trophic-level species.