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Fisheries and Aquaculture Maintained by FAO-FI  
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Introduction
 
From local to global levels, fisheries and aquaculture play important roles for food supply, food security and income generation. While marine capture fisheries are stable, marine aquaculture continues to grow steadily and they together produce about 140 million tonnes of fish, or about 80% of the total quantity of fish produced by the inland and marine aquatic ecosystems. Aquaculture production now is more than half the capture fisheries production. Ocean fisheries provide livelihoods directly and indirectly to a large proportion of the 200 million people who, globally, are estimated to depend on fisheries and aquaculture for a living. Recreational fisheries contribute substantially to the global economy, tourism development, and quality of life. Fish and fish products provide about 20% of humanity's animal protein needs. For many of the world's most vulnerable people living on coastal zones or islands it is a particularly important and often vital source of protein and micronutrients necessary for a healthy life.

Additional statistics are available in the most recent edition of the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA). Hard copy includes an updated version of the FAO World Fisheries and Aquaculture Atlas CD-ROM or view online.
 
Ecosystem based management
 
The intrinsic value of marine life and the socio-economic importance of the fishery sector underpin the necessity for governments, to establish effective management systems in their exclusive economic zones and in the high seas. The available information on the state of the fishery resources indicate that, in 2010, about 50% of marine fish stocks are close to their maximum biological production level (or maximum sustainable yield), about 25% are overfished, and about 25% could possibly sustain higher exploitation rates. However, those stocks being fished at their maximum level of production could rapidly become overfished if fishing pressure is not effectively controlled. Historical data indicate that the proportion of stocks being overfished has increased significantly since the early seventies, underlining the need for an improvement in fisheries governance. Additional stress on the fisheries production system is added by pollution and environmental degradation from non-fisheries developments, including land-based ones, with long-lasting and possibly irreversible consequences for fisheries.

The contribution of aquaculture and coastal aquaculture is increasing rapidly, filling the gap between supply and demand of fishery products. This development has problems related to water use rights; pollution; diseases; invasive species; and modification of wild genetic pools.

 
Governance for increased food security
 
Careful and thoughtful improvement in the governance of fishing and aquaculture, and its integration with other sectors' management (e.g. in the coastal areas) could bring about greater reliability of supply, improved economic viability and the generation of increased benefits for fishers and for society as a whole. Failure to establish effective governance in fisheries and in coastal areas could result in a further deterioration in food security, particularly for the most vulnerable people in the developing world; increasing impoverishment of fishers; and destabilization of social structures in remote coastal areas. New forms of governance are being tested, including various forms of fishing rights as well as precautionary and ecosystem-based approaches.
 
 
 
 
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TitleEnmeshed: Australia and Southeast Asia's Fisheries  ( DOCUMENT )
Author(s) / Editor(s) Williams, M.J
DescriptionThe report, Enmeshed: Australia and Southeast Asia’s Fisheries, contends that Southeast Asia and Australia are connected by dynamic and growing fish trade, illegal cross border fishing and management of shared fish stocks including the major tuna fisheries of the Indian and Pacific oceans and southern bluefin tuna, and shared stocks of sharks, rays and snappers. These connections have and could still further lead to international tensions over fish and fishing. The tensions are being driven by underlying major problems such as rampant overfishing throughout Southeast Asia, little progress in turning around this problem, overlapping but often ineffective regional fisheries management organizations and a lack of basic information, especially on the social and economic side of the fisheries hotspots, as well as on basic fisheries resource characteristics. The report recommends a course of comprehensive policy action for Australia to take, in regional partnerships with governments, non-government and private sector interests, including those along the international fish supply chains.
Keywords AUSTRALIA; SOUTHEAST ASIA; FISHERIES; TRADE; MANAGEMENT; TUNA; RAYS; SNAPPERS
Geography Keywords AUSTRALIA; SOUTHEAST ASIA
Content Language(s)English
Web Addresshttp://www.lowyinstitute ... p?pid=714
Type of Document Bibliography (unpublished)
Document StatusFinished
Publisher Lowy Institute for International Policy
Publication LocationSydney (Australia)
Publication DateNovember 2007
Hard Copy AvailabilityPO Box H-159, Australia Square. NSW 1215. AUSTRALIA
Related to TopicsFisheries and Aquaculture (1815)
  
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