Ninety-five States participated at the International Conference on the Sustainable Contribution of Fisheries to Food Security, hosted by the Government of Japan in cooperation with FAO at Kyoto, 4 to 9 December 1995. The conference noted a continuously growing world population and the need to secure enough food for the people in present and future generations as well as the significant contribution of fisheries to income, wealth and food security for all people especially those in low-income, food-deficit countries (LIFDCs). It also noted the FAO projection that demand for fish will increase faster than supply in the next decade and beyond. The estimated demand in 2010 was about 110-120 million tons against the estimated supplies from all sources of only 73-108 million tons. The conference adopted the Kyoto Declaration and Plan of Action on the Sustainable Contribution of Fisheries to Food Security, especially to address the supply issues in a sustainable manner.
The Kyoto Declaration recognized that the projected shortfall of supply of fish and fishery products by 2010 could substantially be reduced and the marine and inland waters maintained as a sustainable source of renewable food resources if a combination of measures is taken. The Declaration called for actions in conserving and managing fishery resources and fisheries as well as immediate actions to be taken by States, inter alia, for effective implementation of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, strengthening scientific research for sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture, assessing the stock productivity and adjusting the fishing capacity to a level commensurate with long-term stock productivity, and increasing the available supply of fish and fishery products for human consumption, nationally and internationally.
The urgent need to ensure food security was further emphasized at the World Food Summit, organized by FAO in the following year, Rome, in November 1996. The Rome Declaration on World Food Security stressed the importance of sustainable management of natural resources and the elimination of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production. The Plan of Action adopted by the Summit recognized degradation of land and aquatic-based natural resources and the need to restore and rehabilitate these resources in depleted and overexploited areas to achieve greater production. The Plan of Action therefore called for all States to collaborate to achieve sustainable world food security and availability of enough food for all.
In the Asia-Pacific region, fisheries play a significant role for food security of people in all levels, both nationally and internationally. In 1998, capture fishery production from this region accounted for half of the world production. Moreover, aquaculture production continues to increase in the last two decades. The production from aquaculture in Asia-Pacific reached 88 percent of the world aquaculture production of fish and shellfish and 99 percent of seaweed production in 1998. To continue such trends into the new millennium, all States in the region were urged to give due attention to the current problems and constraints in managing their fishery resources and fisheries and to find ways and means to reverse the negative trends as already observed in some countries in the region in order to bridge the gaps in supplies and demand for fish and fishery products.
The present study was carried out under the UNDP's RAS/95/01T project on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in Asia and the Pacific: Issues and Challenges, which was implemented by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific since 1998. Four technical reports have been issued so far, namely, Poverty Alleviation and Food Security in Asia: Issues and Challenges; Land Resources; Role of Livestock; and Enhancing Forestry and Agroforestry Contributions. This fifth report reviews the sustainable contribution of fisheries in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Oceania by experts from each subregion. It is our sincere hope that the Member States as well as the Non-members and other regional fisheries bodies would seriously consider the current situation, the envisaged gaps in production and demand and the options available to adjust fishery policies and practices in their countries or areas of competence to ensure long-term sustained contribution of fisheries and aquaculture from this region to food security to all.
R.B. Singh
Assistant Director-General
and Regional Representative
for Asia and the Pacific