Fishing For The Future?fishery Facts
(by yash jain)
The world?s fisheries are under more pressure than ever before. From 1950 to 1990,
there was a fivefold increase in the world annual fish catch. The average yearly per-
person fish consumption in the industrialized world (59 pounds) is three times that of
people in the developing world (20 pounds). Fish demand remains high: An additional
15.5 million tons of fish will be required by 2010 just to maintain current rates of fish
consumption. Today, 70 percent of the planet?s marine stocks are fully exploited or
overexploited.
The number of people fishing and practicing aquaculture worldwide has doubled since
1970. More than 21 million people are full-time fishers, and 200 million depend on
fishing for their livelihood. Asia contains the vast majority of the world?s fishers. In the
early 1950s, developed countries took 80 percent of the world?s fish catch. Today, they
take only 36 percent of the catch, while developing countries take 64 percent.
The technology used to catch fish and the number of fish caught per fisher varies
enormously. Modern fleets are the most environmentally destructive, as they use
enhancements such as airplanes, radios, seafloor maps, and video sonar to track down
fish schools. Once they have found the fish, these fleets use large nets to drag up not
only the targeted fish but also coral, the seafloor, and around 27 million tons annually of
?by-catch??nonmarketable fish that are killed and thrown overboard.
To compensate for reduced wild fish stocks, more and more fish are being farmed.
Nearly a third of all fish for food is harvested from aquaculture. For every 11 pounds of
beef grown globally, there are now 4.5 pounds of farm-raised fish produced. Fish
farming causes environmental destruction comparable to the replacement of rain forest
with cattle ranches. About 11 pounds of wild ocean fish need to be caught to feed each
pound of farmed species. Thailand, which has one of the biggest aquaculture industries,
has lost half its mangrove forests due to shrimp farming. Densely stocked salmon farms
in British Colombia, Canada, produce waste (including fertilizer, effluent, and fishmeal)
equivalent to that generated by half a million people.
Despite these numbers, there is still hope for the world?s fisheries. Fisheries can be
restored through the adoption of sustainable fishing practices. With the proper
incentives, fishers can be encouraged and rewarded in their effort to sustainably
manage marine resources. For example, partnerships between local communities and
scientists in the central islands of the Philippines resulted in the establishment of marine
reserves to help manage overexploited fisheries. The establishment of no-fishing zones
in the reserves has increased catches in adjacent fishing grounds. Another solution is to
use the power of the market to encourage sustainable fishing practices. The Marine
Stewardship Council together with the World Wildlife Federation and Unilever, one of
the largest makers of fish products, has developed a certification process that includes
a label telling consumers that fish products came from fisheries certified as sustainable.
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