COVID-19 Impacts on Fisheries and Aquaculture Systems

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated profound disruptions across global fisheries and aquaculture, revealing both vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities within these intertwined food systems. Widespread lockdowns and restrictions curtailed inland and marine fishing activity, triggered abrupt shifts in demand as hospitality and export markets collapsed, and amplified pressures on small-scale and artisanal fishers. Conventional supply chains fractured, prompting the rapid expansion of direct marketing channels and alternative networks. In many regions, reduced fishing effort yielded short-term ecological benefits, such as increased abundance of fast-growing species, yet these gains proved transient once restrictions eased. Simultaneously, the necessity to enforce health protocols at landing sites exposed gaps in social distancing and disease mitigation. Across high- and low-income countries alike, fishers and aquaculturists deployed a suite of coping strategies—diversifying species, forging local partnerships, leveraging online sales and tapping government support—to sustain livelihoods. The crisis has catalysed renewed attention to resilience, socio-ecological integration and policy frameworks that can safeguard food security, worker welfare and ecosystem health in the face of future shocks.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have quantified the pandemic’s impact on marine vessel activity and highlighted public-health risks at fish landing sites. One analysis mapped global declines in marine traffic during the first half of 2020, revealing spatial and temporal heterogeneity in how confinement measures reduced vessel occupancy across exclusive economic zones. The observed nadir in April coincided with the greatest contraction in passenger vessels, informing large-scale monitoring approaches to assess implications for the blue economy and ocean health. A complementary investigation used unmanned aerial vehicles to assess physical distancing among artisanal fishers in coastal Ghana. Nearest-neighbour distance analyses exposed pervasive crowding at landing sites, identifying hotspots for potential disease transmission and underscoring the urgent need for targeted health interventions in small-scale fisheries.

COVID-19 Impacts on Fisheries and Aquaculture Systems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in covid-19 impacts on fisheries and aquaculture systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Supply chain resilience: The capacity of fisheries and aquaculture networks to absorb, adapt to and recover from disruptions while maintaining core functions.

Socio-ecological system (SES): An integrated system comprising human societies and ecological components, whose interactions determine resource dynamics and sustainability.

Landings per unit of effort (LPUE): A metric expressing the weight of catch relative to fishing effort, used to assess changes in stock abundance and fishery performance.

References

1. Emerging COVID-19 impacts, responses, and lessons for building resilience in the seafood system. Global Food Security (2021).
2. Tracking the global reduction of marine traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Communications (2021).
3. Physical distancing and risk of COVID-19 in small-scale fisheries: a remote sensing assessment in coastal Ghana. Scientific Reports (2020).
4. Seafood Consumption Trends among U.S. Consumers: Influences of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Foods (2024).
5. Transforming the seafood supply system: challenges and strategies for resilience. Food Security (2023).
6. The socio-ecological resilience and sustainability implications of seafood supply chain disruption. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (2023).
7. Ecological and economic effects of COVID-19 in marine fisheries from the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Biological Conservation (2021).
8. Adaptation and resilience of commercial fishers in the Northeast United States during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. PLOS ONE (2020).
9. Alternative Seafood Networks During COVID-19: Implications for Resilience and Sustainability. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (2021).
10. COVID-19 pandemic impacts on global inland fisheries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2020).
11. Aquaculture-capture fisheries nexus under Covid-19: impacts, diversity, and social-ecological resilience. Maritime Studies (2021).