Equitable Social and Gender Environment for Discards and Bycatch
The socio-economics of fish trade and the demand for fish are strongly linked to the demand for low value bycatch and the potential market for discards.
In some developing countries, bycatch and low value trash fish provide important trade and processing opportunities for women.
The Production and Use of Low Value/Trash Fish from Marine Fisheries in the Asia-Pacific Region
The Production and Use of Low Value/Trash Fish from Marine Fisheries in the Asia-Pacific Region
Throughout the Asia-Pacific region, captured and cultured marine fisheries continue to play an important role in the food security, poverty alleviation and economies of many countries. Marine fisheries resources have been largely overexploited, and as a result, development of coastal aquaculture has been encouraged to provide the needed protein, income, employment, and export earnings for some countries. Such a policy trend implies, however, that sufficient food for cultured marine fisheries will be available. Inevitably, a dangerous spiral has evolved where the demand for low value/trash fish has supported increased fishing pressure on already degraded resources. This raises some important questions regarding the social, economic and ecological costs and benefits of this system, its sustainability and future trends.
Sale of Trash Fish in Ghana
Sale of Trash Fish in Ghana
With increasing uncertainty in the capture and availability of fish all year round in local communities in Ghana, sale and utilisation of trash fish provides a strategy to combat hunger, inadequate nutrition, poverty and a guarantee for improved liveli-hoods. However, the sizeable number of species exploited and the observed high pressure on fish stocks provides enough concern to both scientists and managers to contribute to instituting pragmatic and dynamic measures and policies to control this growing business. It is expected that such control of the trash fish trade will include adequate scientific collection of data on trash fish and discards that would contribute to efficient estimation of Ghana’s contribution to global estimation of by-catch and discards.
Key Publications
The importance of low value/trash fish in the Asia-Pacific is reviewed, including challenges in production and use. |
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When trash fish is treasure: The case of Ghana in West Africa This paper describes the organization of the trash fish business in Ghana, and the composition of marketed trash fish, and suggests possible management interventions to ensure sustainable fish exploitation. | ||
This paper seeks to evaluate evidence on aggregate fisheries trade and consumption trends, and to put this in the context of other work on present and future demand for meat and fish. |
More Resources
More Resources
27 February 2024
31 October 2023