In the past 50 years, global meat consumption has more than quadrupled, from 71 million tons to 310 million tons. Something similar has been going on with milk and eggs. In every society where incomes have risen, so has protein consumption. While middle classes are on the rise, so is the global population, from 7 billion of us today to 9.7 billion by 2050, which means that by 2050, we are going to need at least 70 percent more protein than what is available today. The United Nations’ latest forecast puts population at 11 billion by the end of this century, which means that we are going to need a lot more protein.

This challenge is staggering — so much so that, recently, a team at Anglia Ruskin Global Sustainability Institute suggested that if we don’t change our global policies and food production systems, our societies might actually collapse in the next 30 years.

Currently, our ocean serves as the main source of animal protein. More than 2.6 billion people depe