Over 50 countries have endorsed the Global Aquaculture Advancement Partnership (GAAP) which is designed to bring together governments, UN agencies, and private sector organizations and businesses to find solutions that will enable global aquaculture to meet growing demand. Aquaculture currently supplies 50% (63 million tons) of fish for global consumption and with the constant depletion of wild stocks of fish it will mostly fall to aquaculture to supply the additional 50 million tons of fish annually to meet demand. Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food sectors with a current rate of growth of 6.1% however recent trends point to a decline in the sector which would mean a future gap between supply and demand. GAAP aims to build a strong public-private partnership to maintain the current rate of growth in the industry. The initiative will now go before the Committee of Fisheries for approval when it meets at FAO headquarters in Rome in 2014.
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