Overexploitation of fish and fishery resources and the increasing demand for fish and fishery products mean that present global catches should be utilized better and that waste and losses in processing and harvesting operations should be reduced. One way of achieving this is through the use of fish technology in the post- harvest handling, processing and distribution of fish and fishery products from harvesting to final use. At one end of this chain the interests of fish technologists overlap with those of fish biologists; at the other they overlap with those of people concerned with marketing of fishery products.
True breakthroughs in technology are uncommon. Technology generally advances steadily by improvements in existing practices, and by incorporating new ideas, materials and procedures, from other fields. Fish technology is no exception. Some developments can be pointed to as making marked changes - freezing at sea, manufacture and use of fillet blocks, introduction of deboning machines, cryoprotectants for surimi, vacuum and MAP packaging of products for example - but all of these incorporated existing methodologies that were adapted to serve the purposes of fish technology. Certainly this incremental development will continue into the next century and some trends can be identified.
The trend to mechanize and automate processes will continue and robotic systems that are making an impact in production processes elsewhere will be introduced into fish processing. It should be noted that much of the world's catch, about 40%, is caught and processed in East and South East Asia. This is the area with 'tiger' economies willing to invest in new machinery and ready to accept and develop new technologies, particularly those based on electronics and robotic systems. At present most fish handling and processing machinery is made in developed countries, but developing countries of the Pacific rim are becoming more prominent in manufacturing refrigeration equipment and other equipment for fish processing plants. These countries could play an important part in developing mechanized and automated systems for the fish processing industry.
Markets for value added products will expand and there will be continuing innovations in products and in packaging and presentation of products. These innovations will be linked to similar developments in other sectors of the food industry. Quality, including safety, will continue to be an important factor in fish processing. Developments in mechanization and automation are driven as much by the need to achieve consistently high quality as it is to save labour, particularly skilled labour. If properly applied, existing technologies could quite easily reduce current losses and wastes. Fish has become an expensive commodity and expected shortages relative to demand will push prices higher. Economic forces will strengthen the trend to reducing waste and to using underutilized species better. Losses due to spoilage could be reduced predominately through providing well- tested systems for chilling and fast distribution of products. To reduce losses from insect infestation and other damage in cured products, existing technologies should be applied and new technologies will need to be developed.
Bycatches and discards represent a valuable source of food fish supplies. An estimated 27 million tonnes of bycatch are discarded and wasted annually. While many discards are non-target or low-value species, undersized fish of target species are also discarded. Improving selectivity of fishing gears could partially help to solve the problem, but wastes could be reduced further by utilizing bycatch, preferably for human consumption. In the context of securing the human food supply, serious consideration should be given to encouraging fishers to bring bycatch ashore, or even requiring that they do so. To this end, proper handling systems and suitable processing methods will be necessary. Lastly, as a large part of bycatch consists of fish species of low market value, market promotion might also be required.
Further food supplies could also come from those catches currently used to produce fish meal. In 1993, fish meal consumed some 28 million tonnes of fish, and part of this could be redirected for human consumption. In particular, some of the small pelagic fish are widely accepted by consumers in many parts of the world. However, there are difficulties associated with the logistics of utilizing and marketing these resources. Many developing countries already catch and consume a variety of pelagic fish, and markets for the species which comprise the industrial catch already exist there, but it would have to be a low priced market. Developing this market is more connected with economics and marketing than technology.
Aquaculture will continue to increase its contribution to fish supplies, and more attention should be given to exploiting the advantages of aquaculture products over products from capture fisheries regarding postharvest handling of products and for meeting consumer demands.
Fishing industries in developing countries, both catching and processing sectors, have received considerable donor aid. Whether because of this or not, catches of the developing countries have increased steadily since the 1950's and now contribute more than 60% of the world catch. Nevertheless, the level of fish technology and the fish processing industry varies greatly among and within developing countries. Considerable resources will need to be invested to improve the quality of fish processing, distribution and marketing in developing countries, particularly given current emphasis on hygiene and sanitation in the handling, storage and processing of fishery products, and on quality assurance in processing plants.
Most fish stocks around the world are now fully or overexploited and there is substantial overcapacity in the world's fishing fleets. This is certainly true of the mechanized sector and probably true in the artisanal sector as well. Most fishing fleets are subsidised in some way - grants for building boats, soft loans, preferential prices for fuel - and it is estimated that the world's fleets have an annual operating deficit, running costs less the value of the catch, of US$22 billion. This is without allowing for capital charges.
The catch from capture fisheries is unlikely to increase significantly in the next decade and any increase in supplies for the anticipated increase in population will have to come from aquaculture or from more complete use of the existing catch, including redirecting stocks from reduction to fish meal to human consumption. Perhaps some of the resources that presently go to supporting capture fisheries should be switched towards supporting aquaculture and post harvest handling, processing and marketing of fish.