Aquaculture now largest sector of seafood industry

Australia’s aquaculture sector continues on a trajectory of steady growth, but the entire industry has experienced disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest edition of ABARES’s Australian Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics.

According to ABARES Executive Director Dr Jared Greenville, Australia’s aquaculture sector has been steadily increasing in both value and share of gross value of fisheries production (GVP).

“The GVP of the Australian aquaculture sector grew 10% in 2019−20,” Dr Greenville said.

“While total Australian fishery and aquaculture GVP in 2019–20 decreased slightly by 2% to $3.15 billion, higher aquaculture GVP offset lower GVP in the wild-catch sector.

“Last year aquaculture made up just over half of the total GVP share of the Australian fisheries and aquaculture industry, which is up from 43% in 2015–16 and 34% in 2005–06.

“Much of this has been reflected in Tasmania’s growing salmon aquaculture industry, which is now worth 35% of national fisheries and aquaculture GVP.

“That said, market disruption during COVID-19 has impacted the decrease in wild-catch production, mostly due to decreased exports of rock lobster and abalone, with fishery product exports down 8% to $1.41 billion in 2019–20.

“This created a 12% contraction in the GVP of the wild-catch sector.

“This trend isn’t limited to exports. Domestically, buyer behaviour has also changed. Australians consumed around 335,000 tonnes of seafood in 2019−20, a decrease from around 341,000 tonnes in 2017–18, including imported seafood products.”

The total value of fishery and aquaculture products imports decreased by 4% to $2.2 billion last year, driven mostly by decreased imports of prawns, squids and octopus.

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