THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT CONCEPT FOR SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD PRODUCTION -A REVIEW

The capacity of marine and coastal ecosystems to sustain seafood produ ction and consumption is seldom accounted for. In this article, we rev iew estimates of marine and coastal areas appropriated by aquaculture and fisheries for seafood production, and also by cities and whole reg ions for seafood consumption. The appropriated ecosystem area - the ec ological footprint - ranges from negligible to as much as 50000 ha/ha activity, largely depending on the methods of farming and fishing. Til e area for waste assimilation ranges from 2 to 275 ha/ha seafood produ ction. The human population of the Baltic Sea region (85 x 10(6) peopl e) appropriate for their seafood consumption an area of marine ecosyst ems that corresponds to two additional Baltic Sea areas. Twenty percen t of the global human population (1.1 x 10(9) people), living in large cities worldwide, appropriate 25% of the globally available area of p roductive coastal and marine ecosystems. The capacity of marine and co astal ecosystems to produce seafood is not included in the signals tha t guide economic development. Practices that make use of this capacity without degrading it have to be developed and protected from economic and social driving forces that create incentives for misuse of coasta l and marine ecosystems.