Abstract
Global fish production (capture and aquaculture) has increased quickly, which has altered global flows of phosphorus (P). Here we show that in 2016, [Formula: see text] Tg P yr(-1) (mean and interquartile range) was applied in aquaculture to increase fish production; while [Formula: see text] Tg P yr(-1) was removed from aquatic systems by fish harvesting. Between 1950 and 1986, P from fish production went from aquatic towards the land-human systems. This landward P peaked at 0.54 Tg P yr(-1), representing a large but overlooked P flux that might benefit land activities under P scarcity. After 1986, the landward P flux decreased significantly, and became negative around 2004, meaning that humans spend more P to produce fish than harvest P in fish capture. An idealized pathway to return to the balanced anthropogenic P flow would require the mean phosphorus use efficiency (the ratio of harvested to input P) of aquaculture to be increased from a current value of 20% to at least 48% by 2050 - a big challenge.