To feed the world, recognize the interconnectedness of aquaculture and fisheries

Abstract Efforts to scale up aquaculture are increasingly framed as essential to global food security and ocean sustainability, yet such narratives often obscure the complex and interdependent relationships between aquaculture and wild-capture fisheries. This paper critically interrogates the dominant “feed the world” framing of aquaculture expansion, arguing that treating aquaculture and fisheries as isolated systems undermines social equity, ecological sustainability, and effective food policy. Drawing on a novel classification of twenty-one aquaculture–wild fishery interaction types spanning ecological, economic, and social dimensions, we highlight the inadequacy of current policy frameworks that ignore these entanglements. Through mixed methods, including global time-series data and in-depth case studies from countries such as Chile, Fiji, Vietnam, and Zambia, the analysis reveals that aquaculture expansion often displaces traditional fisheries, privatizes marine space, exacerbates gender and class inequalities, and privileges export-oriented production over local food systems. The study argues for a paradigm shift in seafood governance that reframes aquaculture not as a stand-alone solution but as a component of deeply embedded, context-specific, and socially contested food systems. This critical lens pushes for policies that prioritize justice, local agency, and the co-governance of marine resources, challenging technocratic visions of blue growth with a call for integrated, equity-centered approaches.