Discover more about MSc Sustainable Aquaculture and Fisheries
Our MSc programme is unique in its ethos and content for the promotion of aquaculture
Sustainable Aquaculture and Fisheries
Aquaculture and fisheries are central to global food security, nutrition, livelihoods, and economic development, supplying billions of people worldwide with an essential source of high-quality protein, omega-3 oils, and micronutrients. While capture fisheries remain critically important to global seafood supply and coastal communities, aquaculture has now surpassed capture fisheries as the primary source of seafood for human consumption and continues to expand rapidly as one of the world’s fastest-growing food-production sectors.
Together, the aquaculture and fisheries sectors are valued at more than US$400 billion annually and make major contributions to global employment, trade, food security, and socioeconomic development. From small-scale subsistence and artisanal practices to large-scale intensive production systems, hundreds of aquatic species are farmed or harvested globally across a diverse range of freshwater, coastal, and marine environments.
As global demand for aquatic foods continues to rise, increasing pressure is being placed on marine and freshwater ecosystems, fisheries resources, land use, feed ingredients, and coastal environments. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of aquaculture and fisheries therefore represents one of the major global challenges facing aquatic food production.
Key issues include responsible resource management, sustainable feed development, aquatic animal health and welfare, biosecurity, environmental impacts, climate change resilience, fisheries governance, and the development of innovative technologies and management approaches capable of supporting productive and environmentally responsible aquatic food systems.
Learning and assessment
You’ll learn about the scale and nature of the global industry through specialised modules. Teaching is primarily delivered through lectures, seminars, practical sessions and field trips. To ensure that the programme reflects the very cutting-edge issues of the industry, guest lectures from farmers, aquarists, regulatory bodies and various stakeholders from the industry are employed, as well as the inclusion of national and international field trips.
The programme assessments are by means coursework through reports, essays and various other assignments.
Aquaculture has rapidly become the fastest growing food production industry and is regarded as one of the most viable potential solutions for future food supply challenges, so transitioning from a background in marine biology and coastal ecology to aquaculture felt like a practical way to apply my knowledge to promote future sustainability in a real-world context.