FAO, the food and agriculture organisation for the UN, credits China's vast aquaculture sector with making an important contribution towards alleviating poverty and improving food security and social well-being.
According to a China Daily report, Ichiro Nomura, assistant director-general of the Fisheries Department under the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said, "I've been impressed by China's progress in agriculture including aquaculture."
Statistics released by the FAO indicated that the top ten aquaculture producing countries are all located in Asia, with China contributing 70.2 per cent of global aquaculture production.
But Ichiro Nomura also expressed some concerns over global aquaculture production at Thursday's opening ceremony of the first session of the FAO Sub-Committee on Aquaculture. Nomura said some inadequately planned and inappropriately managed forms of aquaculture have created significant social and environmental problems.
"It is our responsibility to take collective measures to improve our understanding of the real impact and cause in order to make the sector more and more environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable," he said.
The four-day aquaculture subcommittee meeting in Beijing brings together 120 participants from 40 countries and includes regional and inter-governmental organisations as well as several UN agencies.