Top Ten Changes Facing Aquaculture

I find that one of the most useful tools for helping to prioritise the most important innovations required into the future in any industry is to start by looking at some of the major changes facing that industry. Any change can result in a shift in customer satisfaction with present solutions thus leading to a potential opening for new and innovative solutions.

Some of the main changes impacting Aquaculture include:

• a shift from a production driven approach to a market driven approach with emphasis on the whole supply chain from producer to consumer
• increased globalisation resulting in greater competitive pressures, growing power of trans-national companies especially in food industry research, processing and marketing
• an exacting range of demands by consumers including product consistency, reliability of supply, food safety, product choice, and more recently, sustainability of production
• a revolution in technologies applied to aquaculture including genetic manipulation of plants and animals, precision farming and information management —this involves a trend to patented input systems
• the development of an industrialised system of aquaculture with increased vertical integration, a systems approach to aqua-industries and implementation of industry-wide quality assurance
• continuing increase in mechanisation and capital intensity
• concern for the environment, especially the issues of water quality and degradation, air quality and climate change
• reduction in the number of mainstream commercial farms, increasing farm size
• an increase in the ‘critical mass’ for aquaculture required to support up-to-date infrastructure, information systems, processing, reliable year-round supply capacity and marketing

Is the list complete? Can you help by proposing other important changes?

Tags: change, Innovation
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