PointofView
CARLOSMAGNO
Chief-executive officer at Embrapa Fisheries and Aquaculture, in Palmas (TO)
Formorefishing
AhugepartofthefishavailableintheBrazilianmarketcomefromfishing,
butthetrendisforconsumptiontorelyevermoreonaquaculture
E
xtractive fishing and aquacul-
ture in Brazil moved more than
1.7 million tons of fish, includ-
ing imported fish in 2015. “The
two activities are different but
they complement each other. Only if the
leaderships of the two sectors get together
we will have a strong activity”, says Carlos
Magno, chief-executive officer at Embra-
pa Fisheries and Aquaculture, created in
2009, in Palmas, State of Tocantins. Now,
in his view, there is need for leaders with
strategic thinking, prospecting for the next
5, 10, 25 and 50 years. “Fishing and aqua-
culture we want for the future should be
carefully planned nowadays. I believe this
will be our biggest challenge: work, union,
thinking and strategic attitudes”.
InBrazil, production fromfishing has be-
come stable at about 800 thousand tons a
year. “There is no perspective for growth,
following on the heels of the activity in the
world, where fish fromaquaculture are sup-
plying the demand for fish”, says Magno. In
2015, the segment produced 574 thousand
tons of fish, up 2% from the volume pro-
duced the previous year, fromdata released
by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and
Statistics (IBGE). However, in one decade,
aquaculture fish production went up by
123%, jumping from 257 thousand tons in
2005 to 574 thousand tons in 2015.
The rising demand for fish and the
structure of the supply chain, through pri-
vate companies and organizations like co-
operatives and associations favor the per-
formance of aquaculture. “This scenario
has unfolded, in part, thanks to public pol-
icies focused on development, by both
federal and state governments, whether
in aquaculture tanks, in dams of hydro-
electric plants, or in small earth dams”, ex-
plains Magno. These cooperatives and as-
sociations have also contributed to the
knowledge about freshwater fishfarming,
like tilapia and tambaqui, main fish in our
national aquaculture operations.
Aquaculture has achieved an annu-
al average growth of 12.3% from 2005 to
2015. But, last year, the sector only in-
creased by 2%. According to the economic
Brazilian
aquaculture
progresses123%,
from2005to2015
SMAGNO
f-executive officer of Embrapa Pesc e Aquicultura, based in Palmas (TO)
Sílvio Ávila
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