Blue foods
Discover the potential of blue foods
Why blue foods?
What the evidence says:
Food and nutrition security
Blue foods support food and nutrition security for over 3 billion individuals worldwide. They provide critical protein, as well as essential micronutrients, such as Zinc, Iron, Vitamin B-12, and Omega-3 fatty acids that are important for human development.
Sustainable and climate-resilient
Blue foods provide a climate-resilient source of protein and micronutrients with a carbon footprint that is often lower than that of traditional land-based protein, based on their method of harvest.
Community cornerstone
Blue foods are a vital source of livelihoods, profitable economies, and cultural traditions in both coastal and inland communities.
Essential, yet overlooked
Despite their unique value and importance for billions of people, blue foods are often sidelined in food and climate discussions and currently receive less than 1% of international development funding.
Similarly, SDG 14 is the least funded of the 17 SDGs in international development aid.
Blue foods depend on sustainable management
Of fisheries and aquaculture in order to continue providing a sustainable, nature-positive, and nutrient-dense source of food for billions of people around the world.
Our vision
Realizing the potential of blue foods to combat malnutrition and create nature-positive, resilient food systems is essential for global food system transformation. The Aquatic Blue Food Coalition is dedicated to raising the profile of blue foods through knowledge exchange, advocacy, policy influence, and on-the-ground action.
Blue food.
A snapshot:
Blue food diversity
More than 2,500 species or species groups of blue foods are caught or cultivated.
Blue foods’ nutritional value + protein
Blue foods provide more than 3 billion people with 20% of their animal protein needs and 1 in 5 people with essential micronutrients
Small-scale actors
Over 60% of the blue foods consumed by people are produced by small-scale fisheries, not large-scale industrial operations.
Source: The FAO’s SOFIA Report
600 million people are dependent on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods.
Blue foods and environmental footprints
Blue foods generally have a lower environmental footprint than land-based, animal-sourced foods. There is potential to further reduce the carbon footprint of blue food production. For example, for capture fisheries, fossil-free energy and a shift to low-impact gears can cut emissions. In aquaculture, optimization of feed usage and switching to deforestation-free inputs can reduce emissions by half.
Economic value
Globally, blue foods support millions of people’s livelihoods and food security needs while generating approximately $424 billion annually in global revenue.
Gender equality
Small-scale fisheries offer important opportunities for women: In capture fisheries, women comprise nearly half of the 120 million people engaged in fishing and post-harvest activities.
Climate change
Climate change threatens the nutritional, economic, and cultural contributions of blue foods. Regions that heavily rely on blue foods, such as Africa, South, and Southeast Asia, and the Indo-Pacific, are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity as a result of climate impacts on fisheries.
Get involved
If you are driven to make blue foods a significant part of food systems transformation, contact us to attend one of our meetings, to learn more about our work, and explore the possibility of becoming a member.