FISH farming will provide up to two-thirds of global food fish consumption by 2030 as catches from wild capture fisheries level off and demand from an emerging global middle class, especially in China, substantially increases.

The findings were based on a new joint report by World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Food Policy Research Institute, released on Wednesday.

The report, "Fish to 2030: Prospects for Fisheries and Aquaculture," highlights the extent of global trade in seafood which tends to flow heavily from developing to developed countries.

"At present 38 percent of all fish produced in the world is exported and in value terms, over two-thirds of fishery exports by developing countries are directed to developed countries," the report said.

The study says that a major and growing market for fish is coming from China which is projected to account for 38 percent of global consumption of food fish by 2030, adding that China and other countries are increasing their investments in aquaculture to help meet this growing demand.

The same report also states that the rest of Asia, including South Asia, Southeast Asia, China and Japan, is projected to make up 70 percent of global fish consumption 16 years from now.

Although Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to decline its per capita fish consumption by one percent per year from 2010 to 2030, the report said, the rapid population growth of 2.3 percent in the same period, the region's fish consumption will be pushed to 30 percent overall.

The report also predicts that 62 percent of food fish consumption from aquaculture will likely to come from tilapia, carp and catfish, and it added that "global tilapia production is expected to almost double from 4.3 million tons to 7.3 million tons a year between 2010 and 2030."

The World Bank Director of Agriculture and Environmental Services, Juergen Voegele, said the report provides valuable information for developing countries interested in growing their economies through sustainable fish production, in a statement.

Voegele, however, cautioned that governments need to have carefully thought out policies to ensure the resource is sustainably managed.

"We continue to see excessive and irresponsible harvesting in capture fisheries and in aquaculture, disease outbreaks among other things, have heavily impacted production. If countries can get their resource management right, they will be well-placed to benefit from the changing trade environment," the World Bank official was also quoted in the statement as saying.