The aquaculture supply chain in the time of covid-19 pandemic: Vulnerability, resilience, solutions and priorities at the global scale
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2022
Abstract
The COVID-19 global pandemic has had severe, unpredictable and synchronous impacts on all levels of perishable food supply chains (PFSC), across multiple sectors and spatial scales. Aquaculture plays a vital and rapidly expanding role in food security, in some cases overtaking wild caught fisheries in the production of high quality animal protein in this PFSC. We performed a rapid global assessment to evaluate the effects of the COVID19 pandemic and related emerging control measures on the aquaculture supply chain. Socio-economic effects of the pandemic were analysed by surveying the perceptions of stakeholders, who were asked to describe potential supply-side disruption, vulnerabilities and resilience patterns along the production pipeline with four main supply chain components: a) hatchery, b) production/processing, c) distribution/logistics and d) market. We also assessed different farming strategies, comparing land-vs. sea-based systems; extensive vs. intensive methods; and with and without integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, IMTA. In addition to evaluating levels and sources of economic distress, interviewees were asked to identify mitigation solutions adopted at local / internal (i.e., farm site) scales, and to express their preference on national / external scale mitigation measures among a set of a priori options. Survey responses identified the potential causes of disruption, ripple effects, sources of food insecurity, and socio-economic conflicts. They also pointed to various levels of mitigation strategies. The collated evidence represents a first baseline useful to address future disaster-driven responses, to reinforce the resilience of the sector and to facilitate the design reconstruction plans and mitigation measures, such as financial aid strategies.
Keywords
Perishable food supply chain, Disruption, Economic distress, Mitigation measures, Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, Stakeholder perceptions, Rapid assessment, COVID-19 effects
Divisions
ocean
Funders
European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation pro-gramme under the Marie Skodowska-Curie Action [Grant No: 835589],PRIN-MAHRES project (Ministry of Italian Research) [Grant No: MUR-017MHHWBN_003 Linea C],Interreg Italia-Malta HARMONY [Grant No: C1-3.1-31],Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) [Grant No: UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020],Spanish Government funds [Grant No: PID2019-106008RB-C21],ERASMUS+-FISHAQU project [Grant No: 610071-EPP-1-2019-1-PT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP],Marie Curie Actions [Grant No: 835589]
Publication Title
Environmental Science & Policy
Volume
127
Publisher
Elsevier Science Ltd
Publisher Location
THE BOULEVARD, LANGFORD LANE, KIDLINGTON, OXFORD OX5 1GB, OXON, ENGLAND