In 2013, the agri benchmark Network came up with the idea to apply the typical farm approach to fish production systems, too.
Fish is captured in the sea, in lakes and rivers or farmed in ponds, raceways and cage cultures. World fisheries and aquaculture provide 158 million tonnes of the aquatic resource every year. The majority is caught or cultured for human consumption; the rest mainly is supplied to feed industries.
While fisheries landings seem to stabilize on a high level, aquaculture is the fastest growing sector of the global food production. Asia is certainly the main driver of aquaculture expansion, which is an important part of the so called Blue Growth.
But, the sustainable growth of aquaculture and the establishment of a responsible fisheries management face many challenges: in some parts of the world overfishing endangers the natural regeneration of wild stocks; carnivore aquaculture species still depend on fish meal and oil as animal protein ingredient, which is a limited resource. Regarding the high variety of production systems within the sector, it is not clarified yet, which systems are advantageous to ensure a sustainable fish supply in future.
The sector is characterized by two total different principles of production: Fisheries (“hunting under water”) and aquaculture (“farming under water”). Fishers and fish farmers catch or culture hundreds of species, use dozens of gears and culture methods.
To choose a starting point for agri benchmark has not been an easy task. Trout has been chosen as an interesting pilot study, because its aquaculture has globally diffused and covers different production practices and products.
In the meantime, other studies on saithe fisheries in the North Sea, pangasius aquaculture in Vietnam and carp cultures in Poland have already started.
Country information and farm results: 
Trout production