by
"No fish - no dinner ....."
"Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish
and he can feed his family forever ....."
Old Chinese Proverbs
Since the World Food Conference of 1974, conditions of world food security have changed profoundly. Sustainable agricultural development, including the essential contribution of the fisheries sector, has become of utmost importance, both to ensure adequate supplies of food at affordable prices, and as the main source of economic and social progress for the rural poor. Food security is now dependent upon a set of circumstances that has political, social and economic dimensions at the national, regional and global levels.
In recent years the international community, national governments and development agencies have been giving more and more attention to these issues. These initiatives culminated in the World Food Summit, held in Rome in November 1996. The special role of the fisheries sector in this regard was examined at the International Conference on the Sustainable Contribution of Fisheries to Food Security, organised by the Government of Japan in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and held in Kyoto in December 1995. More detailed consideration of these concerns has now devolved regionally and nationally, and includes the ongoing UNDS-supported Review of Food Security Issues and Challenges in the Asia and Pacific Region. The present paper is a contribution to the regional debate on these issues in so far as the role of fisheries is concerned.
As illustrated simply but cogently by the above ancient proverbs from China, fisheries have from time immemorial played a very significant role in many countries and communities through the supply of food and the creation of employment and income. This is particularly the case in many developing countries where, on average, fish currently provide almost one-fifth of the total animal protein supply; in many parts of the Asia-Pacific region, the importance of fish to food supplies is even greater.
The present paper undertakes a brief examination of the overall world food situation, with special reference to conditions in the Asia-Pacific region. The recent trends and present state of the fisheries sectors in the region are then discussed, in particular the marine, inland water and aquaculture activities in three main sub-regions. The paper brings together the findings of the six case studies commissioned for this report, i.e. the East Asia sub-region (consolidating case studies of Japan, China and the Republic of Korea) Oceania (Oceania case-study) and the South and South East Asia sub-region (combining the case studies of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries). The analysis also incorporates relevant materials drawn from a number of other studies and publications (see Appendix 3).
The paper then proceeds to a review of the present role of fisheries in food security in Asia and the Pacific and to a consideration of existing and prospective policy issues in sustainable fisheries development and management in the region. The report concludes by setting out a number of recommendations for national and regional action to promote the role of fish in achieving regional food security.
The information presented to the 1996 World Food Summit presented a picture of encouraging but uneven progress towards greater world food security. The concept of food security used in its most general sense means a state of affairs in which all people at all times have access to sufficient safe and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life. This was the definition of "food security" endorsed by the International Conference on Nutrition, Rome, December 1992.
The main indicator for monitoring developments in food security is per-caput consumption, calculated on the basis of national food balance sheets and population data. This gives the average daily dietary energy supply (DES) in calories. The information available permits the estimates and projections set out in Table 1.
It has been estimated that those persons consuming 2,100 calories or less per day declined from 1,747 million in 1969/71 to 411 million by 1990/92. The number of persons classified as seriously undernourished has, however, fallen at a much slower rate, from 920 million in 1969/71 to recent levels around 840 million - in percentage terms, a decrease of 35 to 20 percent.
For a number of developing countries, the 1970s were a decade of improvement, faster than in the 1960s; rapid progress continued up to the mid 1980s and at a slower pace thereafter. Other countries, indeed whole regions, failed to make such progress and even experienced outright reversals, notably many African countries. In East and Southeast Asia, significant improvements were achieved in food energy deficiencies which fell from 41 percent of the population in 1969/71 to 27 percent by 1979/81 and 16 percent in 1990/92. The comparative figures for South Asia (33 percent, 34 percent and 22 percent) are rather less encouraging. Of special concern is the fact that in many cases these improvements were only achieved by means of increasing dependency by developing countries upon food imports from developed countries.
According to the evidence of the UN medium variant projections, population growth rates are likely to slow down, globally, from 1.57 percent per annum during 1990-95 to 1.20 percent by 2010-2015; the comparative estimates for Asia indicate a decline in the rate from 1.64 percent to 1.15 percent. Life expectancies, however, will continue to improve, globally, from a 1990/95 expectancy of 64.4 years to 69.9 years by 2010-15; in Asia, life expectancy over that period is likely to rise to 73.2 years, an increase of 8.7 years over current levels. The total world population is thus expected to continue to expand dramatically, both in the medium and long term. From the present level of some 5.7 billion people, the world population in the year 2050 could rise to 9.8 billion, of which 5.8 would be living in Asia (compared to the present 3.5 billion Asian people).
The growth in world food production is likely to be slower in the future than it was in earlier decades. A major negative factor is the inadequate growth in per-caput income and the continued prevalence of severe poverty in many countries. The implication is that, in many developing countries, per-caput food supplies may remain inadequate to allow for significant nutritional progress. The dependence of a large number of developing countries on food imports, especially of cereals, will most likely continue to increase.
The overall conclusion is that, globally, many of the food security problems of today will persist and some will become worse. Needless to say, these circumstances will not be evenly spread. Significant progress towards greater per-caput supplies of food can be expected in East Asia, as well as the Near East, North Africa and Latin America. Lesser but still welcome improvements may occur in South Asia, and the scourge of chronic malnutrition in terms of absolute numbers will tend to shift from that sub-region to sub-Saharan Africa.
This then is the underlying context within which the present and prospective contribution of the fisheries sector to world and regional food security must be viewed.
Before examining the role of fisheries in food security in Asia and the Pacific, it is appropriate to review recent trends in the fisheries sectors of the regional countries. An analysis of regional aggregations of national developments is neither easy nor always useful. Even at the sub-regional level, consolidation of trends and events across a range of very varied countries and fisheries may be a rather artificial exercise. However, the sub-regional approach to analysis does facilitate the handling and examination of the enormous amount of data and other information regarding the fisheries of the many countries which comprise the Asia-Pacific region.
The discussion below therefore considers events and issues in the marine, inland water and aquacultural fisheries in three main groups of countries - those in East Asia, in South and Southeast Asia and in the South Pacific/Oceania.
This sub-region encompasses the marine and inland water jurisdictions of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Macao, Mongolia, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, the east coast of the Russian Federation and Taiwan Province of China. The review will concentrate on the three most important fishing nations - China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
This sub-region is one of the world's greatest fish producing areas. The East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Sea of Japan and the eastern offshore waters of Japan are among the most heavily exploited waters in the world; aquaculture in the sub-region contributes more than 70 percent of the total global production. Fish consumption is generally high and the countries of the sub-region are very active international traders; the sub-region as a whole is a net importer of fish and fishery products.
Marine fisheries landings by local fleets of East Asia reached a total of 22.6 million mt in 1994. Another 1.9 million mt were caught in other marine waters. Total marine production in the sub-region has decreased over recent years, mainly as a result of the decline in pelagic fish landings, in particular the Japanese pilchard.
Fisheries in the East China Sea are, for the most part small-scale, although large trawlers are sometimes used. The demersal fish resources of the Yellow Sea are exploited by trawlers from China, the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Japan. All species are overfished, and the catch of particularly valuable species has declined recently. The Sea of Japan has a range of pelagic and demersal species, but these resources have gradually been overexploited by fleets from Japan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The largest fleet in the sub-region is that of Japan. Over the last thirty years there have been profound changes in the Japanese fishery situation. Catches from marine waters by Japanese vessels rose steadily and substantially from 1965 (6.4 million mt) to 1985 (11.5 million mt). Subsequently, production began to decrease and by 1994 it had declined to 6.6 million mt, partly as a result of the gradual exclusion of Japanese distant-water fleets from the EEZ's of other coastal states and partly because of set-backs in offshore and coastal fisheries. Similar difficulties face the fishing industry in the Republic of Korea, whose marine catches - after rising from 816,000 mt in 1970 to almost 2.5 million mt by 1990 - have plateaued in recent years at around 2.2 to 2.3 million mt per annum; rising labour costs, depleted local resources and difficulties with distant water operations have been the main contributory factors.
In China, there has been an explosive expansion of fish production, particularly through inland water and aquaculture activities but also from marine fisheries (see Table 2). This extraordinary rate of growth followed fundamental changes in state policies, in particular the decentralisation of production system responsibilities and overall moves towards a market-orientated economy. It is notable that Chinese fishing capacity has expanded even faster than production. The heavy exploitation of most marine resources in Chinese waters and the strongly emerging consumer market have provided the impetus for China to develop a distant-water fishing fleet, first introduced in 1985.
Production from freshwater capture fisheries in East Asia is dominated by China, which harvested almost 1.37 million mt in 1995 out of a sub-regional total of some 1.6 million mt. Environmental degradation, combined with overfishing, has affected capture fisheries in all major Chinese rivers, particularly in stretches downstream of significant pollution sources. This has resulted in significantly reduced yields and the loss of many commercially valuable species.
In contrast to the declining contribution of river fisheries, increased yields are being achieved through intensified exploitation of natural lakes and reservoirs, mainly from enhancement measures such as improved stocking, fertilization, the control of unwanted species, habitat modification, and environmental engineering of the water bodies.
The sub-region accounts for almost three-quarters of the total world aquacultural production. Over the period 1984 to 1994, this sub-sector demonstrated a compounded yearly growth rate of 10 percent in volume and 11 percent in value. China is by far the most important producer, representing some 60 percent of total world aquaculture output. From 786,000 mt in 1970, China's harvest of cultured fish rose to over 3 million mt by 1985 and over 6 million mt in 1990 since which time production has more than doubled. This remarkable growth can be attributed to considerably expanded culture areas, the introduction of new species and new systems such as cage culture and artificial propagation programmes.
In contrast to China, which is characterised by finfish farming; low-stocking densities; and semi-intensive, polyculture, pond-based systems, Japanese aquacultural production patterns are restricted almost entirely to high-value carnivorous marine and diadromous species grown in intensive farming systems. The two major species are yellowtail and red sea bream. Aquatic plants constitute the second most important species group by weight and value. Molluscs and crustaceans are also produced. Given impetus by the constraints experienced in marine capture fisheries, aquaculture production in Japan grew from 600,000 mt in 1970 to over 1.4 million mt by 1994; a notable feature is the high value of many farmed products which are marketed fresh. A similar picture is evident in aquacultural development in the Republic of Korea where cultured shellfish and finfish have been of growing importance since restrictions on distant-water fisheries were imposed, and now yield between 350,000 and 400,000 mt annually. The seaweed harvest has also increased significantly, from some 400,000 mt in 1985 to over 750,000 mt in 1994.
Environmental concerns are becoming an increasingly important issue for future aquaculture development in the sub-region, as elsewhere. For example, the pollution of rivers, lakes and reservoirs and disease outbreaks in ponds cause considerable economic losses to Chinese aquafarmers and fishermen; environmental problems with high density coastal aquaculture practices in Japan, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong SAR are also matters for concern.
This sub-region covers the western and central parts of the southern Pacific Ocean. There are 16 independent states, two of which are developed (Australia and New Zealand) while the remaining states, together with a number of dependent territories of France, the U.K. and the U.S.A., are small island developing states (SIDS). The sub-region embraces vast areas of marine waters but accounts for only about 2 percent of total world fishery production. Nevertheless, the fishery sector plays a crucial role in the economies of the South Pacific states and territories. Fish consumption is relatively high, especially in some of the SIDS. Exports of fish, notably tuna, are of considerable importance.
The total domestic marine fishery production of the sub-region was 769,000 mt in 1994, making up almost 90 percent of total fish production. Almost 1 million mt of tuna is also harvested annually by foreign fleets. In the 1980s and early 1990s, regional production rose much more quickly than the global average, but has declined in recent years mainly as a result of restructuring in Australian commercial fisheries and changing management regimes in New Zealand. The bulk of aggregate landings originate from the fishing area of the south-western Pacific Ocean, mainly caught by New Zealand. Australia also fishes in the eastern Indian Ocean and the catch of the small island developing states (SIDS) is mainly harvested in the western central Pacific Ocean.
In the SIDS, the main types of fisheries are distinguished by their pattern of operation and the way they are administered. For industrial fisheries, tuna is the main target and distant-water fishing fleets from several countries outside the region participate through access agreements; in fact, Pacific island national fleets take only about 6.5 percent of the total catch of around 1 million mt. Small-scale coastal fisheries are divided between those targeting export products and those fishing for domestic consumption. The strong tradition of eating fish results in extensive involvement in subsistence fisheries. Export production includes high-value products, such as sea cucumbers, snapper and mother-of-pearl shells for specific markets. There is very little interaction between the export fisheries and domestic fish production, and the species exported are usually not part of the local diet. However, export species are also retained for the tourist industry which is estimated to account for three-quarters of the 110,000 mt caught annually for local consumption by coastal fisheries. In the Pacific island states and territories, industrial fisheries technology is of intermediate level. Lack of a trained work force and the infrastructure necessary to support sophisticated industrial fishing operations is characteristic in most states and territories in the region. Foreign fishing fleets operate in the South Pacific and a number of activities relating to conservation and management have been put in place for these fleets. In coastal fisheries, there are localised excess capacity problems, particularly around atolls and reefs.
Fishery technology and infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand are advanced and appropriate to a modern fisheries industry. These two states lead the world in deep-water trawling technology. Nearshore fisheries, harvesting methods and small vessel design also use extremely high technology. In Australia catches include a large variety of species - scallops, lobster and orange roughy being among the more important. New Zealand catches have recently been dominated by blue grenadier, as well as squid, jack and horse mackerel and orange roughy. Several stocks have recently shown signs of over-exploitation. The New Zealand marine capture fisheries now land around half a million mt annually, compared with 215,000 mt in 1980; recent output by Australia's marine fisheries has been around 200,000 mt p.a., an increase of about 40 percent since the nineteen eighties. Most assessments suggest that these levels are at about the maximum yield possible.
From the point of view of food supplies, inland fisheries are of importance in only two countries of the sub-region, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, particularly in the highland areas of the former where other sources of animal protein are limited. The total inland capture fishery harvest in the South Pacific in 1994 was around 25,000 mt. In Australia and New Zealand, inland fisheries are also valued but as a recreational resource and not as a source of food security.
Aquaculture production in the sub-region rose from 20,000 mt in 1984 to almost 75,000 mt in 1994, mainly owing to increases in New Zealand and Australia. The remaining Pacific states and territories contributed a mere 2,500 mt in 1994. The major increase from a single species was from mussel cultivation in New Zealand, which grew from 9,800 mt in 1984 to 47,000 mt in 1994. Other significant, rapid increases have been observed in the culture of salmon in New Zealand and of Salmo salar in Australia. Oysters and pearl oysters are other important species. Most aquaculture production is derived from coastal aquaculture.
This sub-region consists of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in South Asia and Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia. It includes some of the most productive fishing waters in the world, and output reached 19.5 million mt in 1994, 27 percent of the total world catch, compared with 9 million mt in 1974. Consumption of fish varies considerably from country to country, with especially high per-caput supplies in coastal areas of Southeast Asia and much lower consumption levels in the northern inland parts of South Asia. It is estimated that well over 10 million people are engaged in the fisheries; fish trade has expanded significantly over the last decade.
Total marine catches in the sub-region have grown substantially, from 9.1 million mt in 1984 to over 13.4 million mt by 1994. Southeast Asian nations accounted for 10 million mt in 1994. Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and India produced almost three-quarters of the total sub-regional output of marine fish. The fisheries are mainly characterised by multi-gear, multi-species operations principally using small traditional craft.
In 1994, 64 percent of marine production (or 7.9 million mt) came from the western central Pacific. Some of the main species were scads, sardinellas, tunas, snappers, shrimps and mackerels. Another 3.7 million mt were caught in the eastern Indian Ocean and 2.4 million mt in the western Indian Ocean, with mackerels, shad, shrimps and oil sardines among the major species. However, many regional landings were classified as "unidentified" in fishery statistics.
Small pelagic species are more important as food in this region than in any other. They accounted for somewhat less than one-third of the landings in 1994, followed by demersal species and tuna. Although Penaeus shrimp catches make up less than 10 percent of the total weight, it is by far the most valuable species group exploited. Cephalopods currently provide only a small fraction of the total catch, but production has grown significantly at an annual rate of 11 percent over the last ten years.
Most known fish stocks are approaching full exploitation. Coastal demersal species have generally been heavily exploited, whereas offshore resources may have been less intensively fished to date. The general lack of catch and effort statistics makes it difficult to assess these stocks, but it is believed that small pelagic stocks are still less heavily exploited in certain waters. Most stocks of Penaeus shrimp appear to be fully exploited or over-depleted. Tuna stocks vary but in many areas they are fully utilised.
The yield from the sub-region's inland water capture fisheries increased only slightly from 1984 to 1994, from 2.2 million mt to 2.4 million mt. This sub-sector suffers considerably from very heavy fishing pressure, growing environmental degradation and, in some places, conflicts with other land and water users.
About a quarter of the total catch is taken from the extensive inland water fisheries of Bangladesh, where production reached 570,000 mt in 1994. Some countries have recently undertaken large-scale stocking programmes, and the increase in freshwater fish production in Bangladesh is partly owing to fisheries enhancement. India and Indonesia have considerable inland fisheries resources and together contribute 35 percent of the total sub-regional output. All of the fish catches of landlocked Laos, Bhutan and Nepal, as well as most fish supplies in Cambodia, come from inland waters.
From the point of view of food security, it is important to note that as catch statistics for inland waters in many countries do not include subsistence fishing, total production figures as well as the relative importance of freshwater fish in food supplies may be underestimated. In Thailand, for example, it is estimated that direct consumption by fishermen and their families may amount to a quarter of the reported catch.
In many parts of the sub-region, aquaculture has been practised for generations through traditional systems well integrated into the surrounding activities. In recent years, total aquaculture production in the sub-region increased spectacularly from 1.8 million mt in 1984 to 4.4 million mt in 1994. The increase in value over the same period was even more notable - US$ 1,570 million to $ 9,240 million. In volume, the main producers are India, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. Finfish are the main species in volume, followed by crustaceans, aquatic plants and molluscs. Crustaceans represented more than 50 percent of the total value in 1994.
Total production of farmed finfish was 3 million mt in 1994, mainly from freshwater. The bulk of freshwater production is a polyculture within traditional semi-intensive pond-based farming systems that contributes a low-priced source of food fish for mass domestic consumption, especially in India. The principal species cultivated belong to the cyprinid family. Other species are cultivated in pens and cages (e.g. tilapia) or in coastal ponds (e.g. milkfish).
Farmed shrimp culture has developed dramatically over the last decade, and production in 1994 was 692,000 mt. The region contributes 75 percent of the total world production of cultured shrimp, the giant tiger prawn being the most popular species cultivated. The major shrimp-producing countries are Thailand and Indonesia, principally for export.
As already noted, food security means that food is available at all times, that all persons have access to it, that it is nutritionally adequate in terms of quantity, quality and variety and that it is acceptable within a given culture. When all these conditions are present, a population can be considered to be "food secure". However, it is not sufficient for a nation as a whole to be regarded as food secure while groups within it remain chronically insecure.
It is generally recognised that the root cause of food insecurity is poverty. The people who are most susceptible to food insecurity are those living in rural areas, including fishing and fish farming communities. In many parts of Asia and the Pacific, fishing communities are still underprivileged socially, economically and politically, despite being the primary producers of fish. The eradication of poverty and attainment of food security for all are thus being given high priority by governments across the region.
Fish and rice constitute the traditional diet of most Asian and Pacific peoples. Thus fish has long played an important role in regional food security by providing nutritious food which includes protein, essential amino acids, fish oils and essential micronutrients such as calcium, iodine and certain vitamins. Fisheries also make a significant contribution to the process of improving food security through the opportunities the sector provides for employment and income to millions of people, either directly or indirectly.
In some countries, the foreign exchange earnings generated by fisheries, and increasingly, aquaculture are also making a growing contribution to the economy; it should be noted, of course, that foreign exchange earned from the export of fishery products may not necessarily be devoted directly to improving food security but may be diverted to other purposes. It is also significant that in an increasing number of Asian and Pacific countries, supplies of food fish for domestic consumption have been boosted only by recourse to large and growing imports.
Table 3 shows the evolution of total and per-caput supplies of food fish in the Asia and Pacific region from 1970-93. During this period, the total annual domestic production of food fish expanded by a remarkable 30 million mt. However, such was the rise in the quantity diverted to non-food uses (from c. 3 million mt in 1970 to between 7 and 8 million mt annually over the last decade or so of the period) or consigned abroad as exports (a growth from 1.6 million to 6.5 million mt p.a.) that a very substantial expansion in imports was necessary, first simply to maintain, and more recently to augment per-caput supplies for a rapidly increasing regional population. It is a measure of the welcome improvement achieved in the contribution of fish to overall regional food security that, despite these pressures, average per-caput supplies rose from 9 kg in 1970 to almost 14 kg by 1993, a 54 percent increase. This outstrips the growth attained on a world wide basis, global per-caput supplies having risen over the period from 10.8 kg to 13.4 kg, an improvement of 30 percent.
The aggregated regional figures presented in Table 3 of course hide the very considerable variations which exist sub-regionally and nationally in the pattern and importance of fish supplies. (See also Table 4 for data regarding the contribution of fish to supplies of protein). In East Asia, for example, per-caput consumption of food fish is - with the exception of China - extremely high and even in China there has been a dramatic, almost four-fold, increase in per-caput supplies. In Southeast Asia fish is a very important item in the diet. In South Asia, fish consumption varies from the world's highest per-caput level in Maldives to among the lowest in Pakistan and parts of northern India; for the sub-region as a whole, consumption has been static in recent years. In Oceania, fish consumption is high in Australia, and especially New Zealand, while subsistence fisheries make an important contribution to often high levels of per-caput supplies in many of the small island developing states.
A more detailed examination of the contribution of fisheries to food supplies and to food security at the sub-regional level is presented below.
Very substantial changes have occurred in both total and per-caput supplies of food fish in East Asia (see Table 5). The sub-region accounts for about a third of the world's total fish consumption. Average annual per-caput food fish supply has virtually doubled since 1970 to reach 22 kg, notwithstanding a growth in the sub-region's aggregate population to 500 million persons; with respect to food security, fish provides about one-quarter of the total animal protein intake in the sub-region.
In Japan, fish is one of the most widely distributed foods. Per-caput consumption is extremely high, reaching 70 kg annually, and represents some 40 percent of total animal protein intake. However, the role of fish in the diet has declined over the last two decades, especially among younger generations who tend to eat more meat than before, partly as a result of a shift in preference and partly because of the increased availability and price competitiveness of meat following import liberalisation. Nevertheless, self-sufficiency in food fish supplies has declined sharply, from 86 percent in 1985 to 61 percent in 1994 and the high levels of per-caput consumption have been maintained only through considerable and rising imports.
The fisheries sector in Japan also contributes to food security through employment and income generation, with over 300,000 fishermen engaged directly in production and some 1.34 million persons working in processing, marketing, transport, and related industries. Fish exports are now relatively small but remain of high economic value, earning US$ 1,200 million in foreign exchange in 1994.
Many of the developments in Japan described above can be observed in the Republic of Korea where fisheries also make an important contribution to diet and livelihood. Per-caput consumption of food fish has rapidly and substantially increased and now exceeds 50 kg per annum. Again, with domestic production of fish remaining fairly stable in recent years, increased imports have been necessary in order to maintain the high levels of consumption. As in Japan, these developments and greater supplies of other foodstuffs (especially red meats) have led to a decrease in the percentage of fish as a source of animal protein in the Korean diet, from around 70 percent in the 1970s to 45 percent by 1994. In addition to contributing to food supplies, the fisheries sector provides employment and income to the rather rapidly declining number of people who are directly involved in fisheries or aquaculture (estimated at around 200,000 persons) plus a much larger number in secondary, supporting industries.
Fisheries are playing an increasingly important food security role in China. As already noted, the growth in Chinese production of aquatic products has been quite remarkable. From around 4 kgs per caput in the late 1970s, food fish supplies have sharply risen to a reported 20 kgs per caput in 1995. Important variations in consumption nevertheless continue to exist. In the southern part, particularly in Guandong province, the average per-caput supply exceeds 40 kgs p.a., whereas fish consumption in isolated areas of the northeast is negligible. Aquaculture output, especially freshwater pond products such as carp species, plays a predominant role in satisfying domestic demand.
Over 11 million people are now reported to be engaged in fishery production, either full or part-time, about 7 million of them in aquaculture; fishery workers earn more than aquacultural labourers. Fish exports also make a valuable indirect contribution to food security in China; exports of fish and fishery products earned US$ 3,290 million in foreign exchange in 1995, a ten-fold increase over export values in the early 1980s. Fishery product imports have also grown (US$ 1,268 million in 1995) but, in volume terms, are mainly fish-meal.
To assess the importance of fish as food in Oceania, it is necessary to distinguish between Australia and New Zealand on the one hand and the Pacific islands on the other.
In Australia, the gradual increase in per-caput fish consumption, attributable to increased perceptions of fish as a healthy, desirable food; better products and marketing; and growing personal income has been made possible mainly by a notable rise in imports. (See Table 6). The tremendous growth in the New Zealand fisheries has, however, essentially served a booming export trade, particularly to Australia; much of the increase in domestic per-caput consumption reflects a growing demand for shellfish.
In Australia and New Zealand, fish has grown in importance as a component of animal protein intake, from 4.7 percent to 6.2 percent. In addition to export earnings, the fisheries sectors also contribute to overall food security by offering valuable employment opportunities. In 1995 the sector in New Zealand employed a record 10,000 persons, just over half being in the processing sector. Direct employment in the Australian capture sector was estimated to be 14,000 in 1990; the number of employees in the secondary sector is unknown.
Fish is culturally and nutritionally an important source of food throughout the Pacific islands area and fisheries play a central role in many aspects of food security. The diet of the Pacific islanders depends heavily on fish and most states and territories derive a high proportion of their animal protein from fish, ranging up to 69 percent for Kiribati and with almost all states deriving over 25 percent from this source. Actual fish consumption is difficult to estimate, however, because of the limited statistics available and the unknown contribution from unrecorded household catches. Subsistence fisheries yield perhaps four times larger catches than the commercial harvests, provide a major source of protein for residents of coastal rural areas and outer islands, and contribute directly and significantly to household food security.
The contribution of the fisheries to food supplies is particularly important in a region where there is already a very heavy dependence upon imports of food. The licensing of foreign fishing vessels to operate in the waters of Pacific island countries forms a notable source of revenue (estimated at US$ 56 million in 1993), which has implications for programmes to enhance the food security situation.
Fish makes a significant contribution to food security of most countries in Southeast Asia. With the exception of Laos and Cambodia, where supplies consist almost entirely of freshwater fish, the average annual per-caput consumption of fish and the percentage of fish in all animal protein intake is generally higher (and in some cases, very much greater) than average world levels. At the same time, the rate of increase in per-caput supplies over the last twenty years or so has not been as rapid as in some other parts of the Asia and Pacific region (See Table 7).
The majority of Southeast Asian people, especially those living in rural areas, prefer whole fresh fish. A wide range of traditional processed products is also available at local markets, including fish sauces and cured fish. In Singapore and Thailand the consumption of shellfish and crustaceans is gaining in popularity in response to growing affluence.
In recent years, there has been a great improvement in facilities for fish storage, handling, and product development and marketing in the major fish producing and processing countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. High quality and high value fish and crustaceans, including tuna and shrimps are being produced, frozen, filleted or canned, increasingly for export. New products such as fish cakes, squid rings, extruded sticks and fish balls have been developed for sale in local urban supermarkets.
It is estimated that about 4 million people are engaged, full or part-time, in the primary activity of capture fisheries or fish farming. Four to five times that number are employed in secondary industries such as processing, distribution and trade. The fisheries sector also makes an increasingly important contribution to the economic wealth of a number of Southeast Asian countries through export earnings from international and, particularly, intra-regional trade. The total value of fish and fishery product exports of Southeast Asian countries, in particular Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore (which together accounted for over 80 percent) reached US$ 7,700 million in 1994, a near fourfold increase in ten years; export earnings thus considerably exceed the costs, also rapidly rising, of fish imports (US$ 1,976 million in 1994).
Per-caput fish supplies in the South Asia sub-region are only about one-third of those for the Asia and Pacific region as a whole (see Table 8). Moreover, again compared with the region as a whole where per-caput supplies increased by almost 55 percent from 1970-1993, per-caput availability in South Asia rose by less than a third. The major exceptions are Maldives, where fish is virtually the only source of animal protein and apparent consumption is the highest in the world, and Sri Lanka where per-caput supplies approximate the average for the Asia and Pacific region.
Nevertheless, fish plays an important role in food security throughout most of South Asia, notably as a condiment with rice which, together with other cereals and vegetables accounts for well over 80 percent of the total protein supply. The most significant increase in fish supplies, both in total and per-caput amounts, has been in India where domestic production, particularly from aquaculture, rose from 1.75 million mt in 1970 to 4.3 million mt by 1993, permitting a growth in per-caput consumption from 2.8 kg to 4 kg, notwithstanding a very substantial increase in the population. A similar development, albeit from a very low base, can be observed in Pakistan where per-caput supplies doubled over the period 1970-93. In Bangladesh, successive cyclones and floods have constrained the growth of both agricultural and fisheries output. Fish plays a very minor dietary role in land-locked Nepal, despite an encouraging rate of growth in output from both freshwater capture fisheries and aquaculture.
Fisheries provide not only food but also employment, much of it part-time, and income for approximately 5.5 million fisherfolk in South Asia. Especially in India and Bangladesh, many are engaged in inland water fisheries and aquaculture. In Maldives, virtually the entire population might be considered one traditional marine fishing community. As elsewhere in the Asia and Pacific region, the primary harvesting sector supports and is supported by a range of fisheries-related activities such as processing, distribution and trade which provide employment for perhaps a further 20 million persons.
The importance of fish trade in the sub-region varies from country to country. With the exception of Sri Lanka which buys notable quantities of fish from Maldives, India and Bangladesh, there are few imports into the sub-region. Exports, however, have grown in importance, particularly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives; in the latter, exports of fish and fishery products, although relatively small, contribute a quarter of the nation's GDP.
5. Demand and Supply Prospects
The foregoing review demonstrates how the fisheries sector plays, albeit to varying degrees, a valuable role in the food security situation in most countries in the Asia and Pacific region. The future demand for food fish in the region and the prospects for sufficient supplies to satisfy these requirements and thus maintain or indeed increase the contribution of fish to food security must next be considered, together with the major issues involved in achieving such a development of the fisheries in a sustainable manner.
The demand for food fish in the East Asia sub-region is almost certain to remain high and indeed increase, in both volume and per-caput terms, in some areas. An exception to this might be Japan, where fish consumption is already high and population growth close to zero. Nevertheless, the composition of Japanese fish consumption is expected to continue to change from lower-value to higher-value products. The sophisticated nature of fish consumption attitudes in Japan has an important bearing on domestic production strategies which need to focus on those types of products where Japanese producers have a clear competitive advantage over foreign suppliers, for example, ranched products which can be marketed as "fish from the wild" rather than cultured products.
Future fisheries development in Japan will be guided largely by market factors, especially the ability of the domestic industry to compete with foreign suppliers. Japanese fisheries are unlikely to grow significantly over the coming decades. Modest production gains from culture and ranching are likely to be offset by a further decline in the long-distance fleets, and the country will have to continue to rely on imports to satisfy its high demand for fishery products.
Similar considerations apply to the Republic of Korea. Given a continuing rise in personal income which might boost per-caput demand for fish even further, to say 60 kg, and further population growth, the total need for food fish could be as high as 3 million mt by 2010. Taking into account non-food needs and the Republic's important export trade in fish and fishery products, a total supply requirement approximating 3.9 million mt can be envisaged, compared with recent domestic production levels of around 2.7 million mt p.a. The Republic is presently liberalising its trade regulations on fishery products and imports could well increase significantly in the future. As regards domestic production, priority is being given to enhancing the national fishing zones through the construction of artificial reefs and release of fingerlings. A further expansion of aquaculture output can also be anticipated.
In China, the expected continuation of both rapid economic growth and expanding fish production will enable per-caput consumption to increase even further. An official target for domestic fish production of 32 million mt by the year 2000 has been released, and the aim by the year 2010 could be as high as 40 million mt. Significant growth potential exists for freshwater aquaculture, principally through the rehabilitation of existing ponds, the utilisation of water-logged areas and the vast surface areas of paddy fields. The growing number of hatcheries will enable this potential to be realised. Traditional marine capture fisheries do not appear to offer any significant growth potential. Coastal fish resources need to be carefully managed and future increases in landings will probably depend on distant-water fishing. However, strong economic growth is expected to generate enough purchasing power to satisfy any domestic demand-supply gap with a further growth in imports.
In Oceania a distinction must again be made between the small developing island states of the Pacific and the developed states of Australia and New Zealand. Opinions vary as to likely developments in the Pacific Islands. The sub-regional study prepared by Gillett, Preston & Associates considered that the near certainty of continued population growth will engender an increase in demand for food fish of some 60,000 mt (i.e. c. 55 percent); however, in view of the limited coastal resources of most of the countries, per-caput supplies are likely to decrease, leading to increased dependency on imports and declining diet quality, thus creating a deteriorating fish security situation. Other observers take a more optimistic view, arguing that the region's fisheries resources are probably capable of meeting a somewhat increased demand for fish, although it is likely that additional amounts of pelagic species will have to be consumed, particularly in urban areas and in other areas of high population concentration. Marketing and distribution systems will need to be improved in order to move fish more quickly and efficiently both among states and territories in the region and within the states and territories themselves. Such a scenario would permit a contraction of fish imports and a small rise in exports, mainly of tuna.
Whatever the perspective, fish and fishery products will continue to play a fundamental social and economic role in the South Pacific. Fish for human consumption will remain the most important source of animal protein for many Pacific island communities, in particular for the most disadvantaged ones. The fisheries sector could be one of the primary vehicles for promoting economic development in the South Pacific. The promotion of sustainable fisheries and the implementation of regional and national arrangements to ensure that fisheries resources are utilised rationally are thus major social and economic policy issues in the South Pacific. The small island states recognise that effective regulation of both inshore and offshore fisheries resources is essential for long-term food and socio-economic security.
In Australia and New Zealand, per-caput demand for food fish could well rise to over 27 kg p.a., leading, in conjunction with population growth, to a total demand of about 700,000 mt by 2010. Supplies from capture fisheries are unlikely to increase very much, perhaps to around 750,000 mt p.a.; in the case of aquaculture, a continuance of recent trends in output would indicate the possible production of some 160,000 mt in 2010. Thus, if current developments with both exports and imports continue, there will be no negative implications for fish supplies or for food security.
The populations in South and Southeast Asia are rapidly growing, and fish is a customary source of animal protein in most countries in the sub-region. Demand is also expected to increase in response to rising incomes which will also boost intra-regional trade both for high-value products and low-priced fish for general consumption. By 2010, fish supplies will need to be increased by at least 5 million mt merely to maintain current per-caput consumption levels; the effect of economic growth on demand will even further increase requirements. The major growth in demand will be in Southeast Asia where consumption is already notably high. Solely to sustain present levels of personal consumption, some 12.7 million mt of food fish will be needed by 2010, an increase of 3.6 million mt over the 1991/93 average supply. In South Asia, a more modest increase can be expected to maintain current per-caput consumption levels, a 20 percent growth in supplies will be required, a total of about 7.8 million mt or 1.3 million mt greater than recent levels.
Marine fishery resources are generally fully exploited and offer few opportunities for sub-regional countries to increase their domestic supplies. Most of the pelagic fish, crustaceans and demersal species in coastal fishing grounds in the Gulf of Thailand, the Bay of Tonkin, the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea have been fully exploited or depleted. Despite some moderately exploited fish stocks (e.g. anchovies, smaller tunas and cephalopods in the western central Pacific), it is unlikely that future demand will be met from significant increases in marine fish production. In fact, many heavily fished stocks will need to be rehabilitated urgently through drastic reductions in fishing effort. Aquaculture, and to a lesser extent inland fisheries, may provide considerable opportunities for further development to increase regional fish production, particularly in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Nevertheless, the region will probably need to rely more and more on imports of fishery products for its future supplies.
For many of the countries in the region, the central issue remains that of the management and sustainability of the marine resources. Coastal resources are generally severely overfished by an overcrowded small-scale fishery sector, where catch rates, fish sizes and quality and, in some cases, fishers' incomes, are declining. Conflicts between small-scale fisheries and trawlers in the coastal zones are frequent and fisheries administration is made more complicated by the lack of detailed stock assessment data. Coastal fisheries management is complicated further by the variety in both resources and exploitation methods used. Experience indicates that the current centralised state management systems in many countries are not able to regulate fisheries properly over the widely scattered fishing grounds. In some countries, a partnership between local communities and the central government is evolving to develop a community-based fisheries management system for local resources.
The foregoing review indicates that a number of very important issues must be confronted if the fisheries sectors in the Asian and Pacific region are to be able to satisfy the region's prospective demands for food fish and to maintain or even increase the contribution of fish to national and regional food security. Unless appropriate policies and programmes are designed and implemented, the combination of population increases and economic growth in conjunction with over-exploitation of the resources and serious environmental problems will place enormous strains upon the sector's capacity to fulfil its expected role in food security.
These challenges need to be tackled at the national, sub-regional and regional levels. Appendix 1 provides a résumé of the recommendations proffered in the sub-regional case studies for policies and actions to promote a sustained contribution by fisheries to food security in each relevant sub-region. The final part of this report presents some more generalised considerations, drawing substantially upon the policy frameworks discussed and approved at the 1995 Kyoto Conference on the sustainable contribution of fisheries to food security.
As a general background to these issues, it is noteworthy that in recent years the role of governments has increasingly been seen as one of creating an appropriate institutional and economic environment for each sector rather than intervening directly in the production and marketing of each commodity. These policies for the fisheries sector are now more and more confined to the actions required when private decision-making and market forces fail to provide the desired economic or social outcome. In particular, where access to fisheries is free and unrestricted, government intervention is frequently required to prevent over-fishing and resource degradation.
Indeed, throughout many parts of the Asia and Pacific region - as in many other regions of the world - the prime concern is probably the need to increase the supply of fish and the economic benefits from fishing by the introduction and enforcement of better management. Such management systems should aim at the stabilisation or restoration of over-exploited stocks by the reduction of excessive fishing effort and over-capitalisation, and the elimination of conflicts between groups of fishermen. Multi-species management should be promoted wherever possible; research in this regard should be improved, especially at the sub-regional levels.
In marine capture fisheries, the supply of fish and the economic gains could also be increased by further, energetic steps to reduce post-harvest wastage. What is required includes improved physical infrastructure, better extension and training services, more efficient marketing practices and the wider dissemination of fish processing and preservation technologies. Such developments might be allied with the increased use of presently under-utilised species.
Steps also need to be taken in many parts of the region to avoid further degradation of the aquatic environment. Such programmes are often best operated within the overall context of integrated coastal area management. These considerations apply equally to marine and to fresh water activities. In the inland capture fisheries sector, which is of considerable importance to a number of countries in the region, a policy of integrated catchment basin management is needed, involving a proper evaluation of the various resources concerned and an appropriate mix of regulatory and economic policy measures. Such considerations may include the need for the harmonisation of policies between provinces and between states sharing larger inland water resources. Attention also needs to be given to the enhancement of fish supplies from inland waters by expansion of stocking and other measures to improve yields.
Aquaculture is an increasingly important supplier of food and sustainer of food security in many Asian countries. Here again, considerable benefits may be gained by the better integration of aquaculture into overall rural and agriculture developments. Supplies of fish from aquaculture could also be further increased by wider application of technological advances and better disease management. Inter-country collaboration in applied research should be encouraged to promote the diversification and genetic improvement of cultured species. The wider application of semi-intensive production systems may also be appropriate in certain cases.
The implementation of the policies and measures described above will require a wide range of human skills, considerable financial resources and, in some countries, significant organisational changes. Thus, when linking such human, financial and institutional resources with the desired policy measures, the following needs are paramount:
To complement and reinforce the actions of individual governments in their efforts to sustain the fisheries sector's contribution to food security, there are also important opportunities for inter-country, sub-regional and regional collaboration. Existing organisations and mechanisms for cooperation between countries in managing and conserving their shared fish resources need further strengthening. Such collaborative efforts should include:
Further steps are also required to improve the provision and coordination of technical and financial assistance to developing countries in the Asia and Pacific region.
The urgency with which the above issues must be tackled and appropriate policies and programmes introduced and implemented is now self-evident. Unless appropriate actions are taken soon, there is a real danger that, in important parts of the region, the contribution of fisheries to food security and to economic welfare generally could fail to match expectations and the needs of the region's people. On the other hand, given an effective response to these challenges, there are opportunities to increase the supply of fish and to use the potential of the fisheries sector to generate higher economic and social benefits.
Preparatory to this Report, a number of sub-regional and national case studies were commissioned (see Appendix 3). This appendix presents a résumé of the main recommendations in those case studies regarding desirable policies and programmes to sustain the contribution of the fisheries sector to food security.
Case studies were prepared of the three major fishing nations in this sub-region, i.e. Japan, the Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China.
The following policy measures and actions were proposed:
The need to intensify or initiate efforts regarding the following issues was emphasised:
The major policies identified to promote the further development and management of the Chinese fisheries included the following:-
This case study presents a sub-regional policy framework for a sustainable contribution by fisheries to food security. The following issues are identified for priority attention:
The major policy issues requiring attention in South Asia include the following:
The following policy issues and measures were identified; most of the items focus on the situation in the Pacific Island countries rather than New Zealand and Australia:
Source: FAO Fish. Circ. No. 821 (Rev. 3)
Source: FAO Fish Circ. No. 821 (Rev. 3)
Source: FAO Fish. Circ. No. 821 (Rev. 3)
1 Refers to Taiwan Province of China.
2 Excludes Macao and Mongolia where fish supplies are very small, although per-caput consumption in Macao in 1993 was c. 38 kg (v. 23 kg in 1970); in Mongolia per-caput supplies are between 0.5 and 1.0 kg.
Source: FAO Fish. Circ. No. 821 (Rev. 3)
Source: FAO FISHDAB
Source: FAO Fish. Circ. No. 821 (Rev. 3)
1 Including Bhutan: total production 1970 c. 200 t; 1993 c. 350 t; per-caput supplies c. 0.2 kilograms p.a.