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Navigating the Challenges Facing Seafood Products in a Shifting Global Landscape

FRANCE
Monday, May 19, 2025, 01:00 (GMT + 9)

Sébastien Abis, director of Club Déméter, highlights the geopolitical and food security challenges confronting the seafood sector, emphasizing Europe's vulnerability as a major importer in a rapidly expanding global market.

Sébastien Abis, director of Club Déméter, adeptly shifts the focus to better realign the agri-food sector's thinking on critical geopolitical and food security issues. In his analysis, reported by Marielle MARIE from Produit de la Mer, he specifically addresses the complexities facing seafood products.

"In terms of political and economic power, we have entered the era of the hippopotamus: ferocious, swift, and polygamous," warns Sébastien Abis. The director of the Déméter think tank on agricultural and agri-food issues draws a parallel between the rearmament of navies and the strategic importance of food policy on the global stage. In a global market where seafood ranks as the fifth largest export commodity, the ocean has become a domain fraught with challenges.

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Confronting this "Everest," where the imperative is to "feed (a growing population), repair (depleted resources), and care for (living organisms and interconnected relationships)," the ocean has become a focal point of intense interest. Its resources are vital: water can be desalinated for consumption, and its waterways are essential for global trade. In the context of seafood, Europe, as the world's largest buyer by value, appears particularly susceptible to vulnerabilities. Global production of aquatic animals has witnessed exponential growth, increasing from 40 million tonnes in 1965 to 190 million tonnes in 2020.

Europe heavily relies on expensive imports for its most consumed seafood species, including salmonids, shrimp, tuna, cod, and Alaska pollock. Brexit, with its ongoing second phase of negotiations extending until 2026, further exacerbates this fragility. Seaweed is presented as a potential avenue for progress, alongside aquaculture, provided that coastal regions are no longer viewed solely as leisure destinations.

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