Abstract

The diverse aquaculture sector makes important contributions toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)/Agenda 2030, and can increasingly do so in the future. Its important role for food security, nutrition, livelihoods, economies, and cultures is not clearly visible in the Agenda 21 declaration. This may partly reflect the state of development of policies for aquaculture compared with its terrestrial counterpart, agriculture, and possibly also because aquaculture production has historically originated from a few key hotspot regions/countries.

Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) are used as cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture to treat sea lice. However, after 18–24 months and reaching 0.4–0.6 kg, the fish is removed from the salmon cage and usually discarded, which raises social, economic, and environmental challenges, as well as ethical concerns. This paper assesses the viability of marketing lumpfish as food by exploring possible products that can be made from the fish in Vietnamese cuisine, and understanding the stakeholder’s perception and acceptance of the fish.