Benchmarking species diversification in global aquaculture

This paper develops a benchmarking system to examine species diversification patterns in around 200 countries for three decades to generate information and insights in support of evidence-based policy and planning in aquaculture development. The system uses “effective number of species” (ENS) as a diversity measure that is essentially equivalent to, yet more intuitive than, the widely used Shannon Index. The benchmarking system can be used in foresight analyses to help design or refine future production targets (including species composition) in policy and planning for aquaculture development.