France represents one of the major aquatic food markets within EU15, whose domestic production of fish is mainly supplied by capture fisheries and, that of shellfish (especially bivalves) by aquaculture. From 1988 to 1998, French aquatic food supply from aquaculture became more pronounced. On the one hand, the domestic production by capture fisheries levelled off, due to the depletion of demersal fish resources; on the other hand the growth of seafood imports was steady and partly supported by the significant rise in farmed products (salmon and shrimps). Finally, the French apparent seafood consumption slightly increased whereas the supply of fish became more dependent on aquaculture. From the viewpoint of demand analysis, the main trends in aquatic food consumption are related to the socio-demographic features of the French population, and are analysed through the available quantitative data, e.g. mainly from on-going consumer panel surveys which are home consumption-oriented.