Press release:
Total global fish production, including both wild capture fish and
aquaculture, reached an all-time high of 154 million tons in 2011, and
aquaculture is set to top 60 percent of production by 2020, according to
new research conducted for Worldwatch's
Vital Signs Online
service. Wild capture was 90.4 million tons in 2011, up 2 percent from
2010. Aquaculture, in contrast, has been expanding steadily for the last
25 years and saw a rise of 6.2 percent in 2011, according to report
authors Danielle Nierenberg and Katie Spoden.
Growth in fish
farming can be a double-edged sword, however. Despite its potential to
affordably feed an ever-growing global population, it can also
contribute to problems of habitat destruction, waste disposal, invasions
of exotic species and pathogens, and depletion of wild fish stock.
Humans
ate 130.8 million tons of fish in 2011. The remaining 23.2 million tons
of fish went to non-food uses such as fishmeal, fish oil, culture,
bait, and pharmaceuticals. The human consumption figure has increased
14.4 percent over the last five years. And consumption of farmed fish
has risen tenfold since 1970, at an annual average of 6.6 percent per
year. Asia consumes two thirds of the fish caught or grown for
consumption.
The fish sector is a source of income and sustenance for millions of people worldwide. According to the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization,
for every one job in the fish sector, three to four additional jobs are
produced in secondary activities, such as fish processing, marketing,
maintenance of fishing equipment, and other related industries. And on
average each person working in the fish sector is financially
responsible for three dependents. In combination, then, jobs in the
primary and secondary fish sectors support the livelihoods of 660
million to 820 million people—10–12 percent of global population.
Although
Africa is only the fourth largest producer of fish in the world, its
water resources are highly sought after by larger, more-competitive
fishing trawlers. Extreme overfishing occurs when foreign trawlers buy
fishing licenses from African countries for marine water use. In West
African waters, foreign trawlers pose a threat because factory ships
from the United Kingdom, other countries within the European Union,
Russia, and Saudi Arabia can outcompete the technologies used by local
fishers. In Senegal, for example, a local fisher can catch a few tons of
fish each day in the typical 30-foot pirogue. In contrast, factory
ships from industrial countries catch hundreds of tons daily in their
10,000-ton factory ships.
Wild fish stocks are at a dangerously
unsustainable level. As of 2009 (the most recent year with data), 57.4
percent of fisheries were estimated to be fully exploited—meaning
current catches were at or close to their maximum sustainable yield,
with no room for further expansion. Of the remaining fisheries in
jeopardy, around 30 percent were deemed overexploited, while a little
less than 13 percent were considered to be not fully exploited.
A number of government initiatives give some hope to a future of sustainable fishing. In the United States, the
Magnuson-Stevens Act mandated
that overfished stocks be restored; as of 2012, two-thirds of U.S.
stocks are fished sustainably and only 17 percent are fished at
overexploited levels. In New Zealand, 69 percent of stocks are above
management targets, but Australia only reports 12 percent of stocks at
overexploitation levels due to increased government fishery standards.
To
maintain the current level of fish consumption in the world,
aquaculture will need to provide an additional 23 million tons of farmed
fish by 2020. To produce this additional amount, fish farming will also
have to provide the necessary feed to grow the omnivorous and
carnivorous fish that people want. Aquaculture is being pressured to
provide both food and feed because of the oceans’ overexploited
fisheries.
Continually increasing fish production, from both
aquaculture and fisheries, raises many environmental concerns. If
aquaculture continues to grow without constraints, it could lead to
degradation of land and marine habitats, chemical pollution from
fertilizers and antibiotics, the negative impacts of invasive species,
and a lessened fish resistance to disease due to close proximity and
intensive farming practices. To prevent these problems, policymakers,
fishers, and consumers need to find alternative sources for fish feed,
combat illegal fishing, encourage more-sustainable practices in
aquaculture, acknowledge the potential effects of climate change on the
oceans, and think critically about what and how much fish to consume.
Further highlights from the report:
- In
2011, inland aquaculture increased 6.2 percent to reach 44.3 million
tons, while marine aquaculture increased 6.6 percent, to 19.3 million
tons.
- Fish production rose 6.4 percent in Asia in 2010 (the
latest year with regional data), amounting to 121.3 million tons. In
2010, Europe, a distant second, produced 9.7 percent (16.4 million tons)
of the global fish supply.
- In 2010, some 54.8 million people were directly engaged full-time or part-time in capture fisheries or aquaculture.
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