Highlights

Abstract

Keywords

۱٫ Introduction

۲٫ Methods

۳٫ Results

۴٫ Discussion and conclusion

۵٫ Future of the aquaculture PFSC after the shock: the long path toward resilience

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgements

Author contributions

Competing interests

Appendix A. Supplementary material

References

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 COVID-19 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.

۱٫ Introduction

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), COVID-19, as a pandemic. Since it was first recognized the virus spread rapidly and globally, causing millions of deaths. In a fight against time to slow the spread and to contain the severe deadly outbreak across the planet, national governments have made enormous efforts, by imposing containment and suppression measures with varying degrees of rapidity and strictness (Guan et al., 2020) with people experiencing unprecedented disruptions to their daily lives. Cumulatively, these responses, aimed at preventing the spread COVID-19, had clear direct and indirect effects on global economic productivity (FAO and CELAC, 2020).