FAO news > Fisheries & aquaculture

FAO news > Fisheries & aquaculture http://www.fao.org/news/newsroom-home/en/ News from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization en FAO Newsroom RSS Newsfeed Export http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 2009 FAO FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) Culprit behind massive shrimp die-offs in Asia unmasked In a major breakthrough, researchers at the University of Arizona have identified the causative agent behind a mysterious disease that has been decimating shrimp farms in Asia. Shrimp Early Mortality Syndrome has over the past two years caused large-scale die-offs of cultivated shrimp in Asia, where 1 million people depend on shrimp aquaculture for their livelihoods. FAO is engaging with a broad coalition of partners to organize a concerted, interregional effort to address the disease. 3 May 2013, Rome - In a major breakthrough, researchers at the University of Arizona have identified the causative agent behind a mysterious disease that has been decimating shrimp farms in Asia.

The disease, known as Shrimp Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) or Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Syndrome (AHPNS), has over the past two years caused large-scale die-offs of cultivated shrimp in several countries in Asia, where 1 million people depend on shrimp aquaculture for their livelihoods.

In 2011, the Asian region produced 3 million tonnes of shrimp, with a production value of $13.3 billion.

Infected shrimp ponds experience extremely high levels of mortality early in their growing cycle — as high as 100 percent death rates in some cases.

So far, the cause of the illness has baffled scientists, animal health authorities and farmers, making prevention and treatment difficult.

But now the identity of the culprit has been cracked: a strain of a bacterium commonly found in brackish coastal waters around the globe, Vibrio parahaemolyticus.

A team of researchers at the University of Arizona have managed to isolate the strain and use it to infect healthy shrimp with EMS/AHPNS — a scientific method known as Koch's Postulate and the epidemiologist's equivalent of a smoking gun.

"We succeeded in isolating a pure culture of the V. parahaemolyticus strain and reproduced the EMS/AHPNS pathology in our laboratory," said Prof. Donald V. Lightner of the Aquaculture Pathology Laboratory at the University of Arizona (UA). "The high virulence of this agent to shrimp may be due to a phage which affects this particular strain of V. parahaemolyticus," he added.

The effort to study EMS, identify its pathology and respond to EMS was supported by a coalition of partners including UA; FAO; the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE); the World Bank; the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA); the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA); the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam; CP Foods; the Minh Phu Seafood Corporation; Grobest Inc. and the Uni-President Feed Company.

This breakthrough finding by UA of a bacterial aetiology is a crucial first step in finding effective ways to combat EMS.

EMS/AHPNS initially surfaced in 2009. By 2010 outbreaks had become serious. In China in 2011, farms in Hainan, Guangdong, Fujian and Guangxi suffered almost 80 percent losses. In Thailand, shrimp production for 2013 is predicted to be down 30 percent from last year due to EMS. Production on some farms in eastern parts of the country has been cut by 60 percent.

FAO first fielded a mission to Viet Nam through its Crisis Management Centre for Animal Health to investigate the disease in 2011 which pointed to an infectious agent and since 2012 is implementing an emergency technical assistance project in Viet Nam.

No risk to human health

Some rare strains of V. parahaemolyticus do cause gastrointestinal sickness in humans — through the consumption of raw or undercooked shrimp and oysters — but only strains carrying two specific genes cause human disease.

Just 1-2 percent of wild V. parahaemolyticus strains worldwide contain these two genes — and the strain identified by Lightner and his team as responsible for EMS is not among them.

"The strain of V. parahaemolyticus we isolated appears not to have the genes that confer virulence to human infections," said Lightner.

"There have been no reports of human illness being associated with EMS, and these new findings would tend to confirm that EMS-infected shrimp do not pose a health risk to people," added Iddya Karunasagar, a seafood safety expert at FAO.

Only shrimp vulnerable

EMS affects two species of shrimp commonly raised around the world, the Giant Tiger Prawn (Penaeus monodon) and Whiteleg Shrimp (P. vannamei).

Clinical signs of the disease include lethargy, slow growth, an empty stomach and midgut and a pale and atrophied hepatopancreas (an internal digestive organ that serves the function of a liver), often with black streaks. Within 30 days of a pond being stocked large-scale die-offs begin.

So far countries officially reporting EMS include China, Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam.

But anyplace where P. monodon and P. vannamei are cultivated is potentially at risk. This includes most of Asia and much of Latin America, where shrimp farming is also important, as well African countries where shrimp are cultivated (Madagascar, Egypt, Mozambique and Tanzania).

Disease spread would appear to be linked to proximity to already-infected farms or the movement of infected live shrimp, usually juveniles used to stock ponds.

Lightner's team was unable to reproduce EMS using frozen and thawed shrimp samples, suggesting freezing kills the responsible bacterium. Since international shrimp trade is mostly in frozen form, there is apparently no or very low risk of disease transmission from these products.

Dealing with EMS

Now that EMS's causative agent is known more research is urgently needed to have a better understanding of how the disease spreads from farm to farm and implement appropriate countermeasures.

At the same time, FAO is engaging with partners to organize a concerted, inter-regional effort to address the disease.

For shrimp farmers, reliance on already-established aquaculture and biosecurity best practices will help prevent EMS-related problems. These include:

• Post-larvae shrimp used for stocking should be purchased from reputable sellers, be accompanied by animal health certificates prior to being introduced on-farm, and subjected to a temporary quarantine prior to stocking.

• High quality feed should be used, and environmental stresses avoided, to keep shrimp healthy.

• The health of pond environments should be carefully maintained and young shrimp should be closely monitored. Any illness should be immediately reported to the proper authorities.

• Regular fallowing of aquaculture ponds should be considered as part of a routine on-farm program of aquatic animal health, as this practice has been shown to break pathogen life cycles.

Off farm, any movement of live or unfrozen shrimp products should also comply with established best practices.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/175416/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/175416/icode/ Fri, 03 May 2013 08:00:00 GMT No green economy without blue economy, says FAO Efforts to end hunger and fight the effects of climate change in the Pacific Islands will hinge on the success of sustainable development, including wise use of oceans and fisheries, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told ministers from the region today. 12 April 2013, Apia, Samoa/Rome – Efforts to end hunger and fight the effects of climate change in the Pacific Islands will hinge on the success of sustainable development, including wise use of oceans and fisheries, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told ministers from the region today.

“There can be no truly ‘green economy’ without a ‘blue economy’, one that makes the sustainable development of oceans and fishery resources a priority,” Graziano da Silva said.

“The importance of capture fisheries and aquaculture cannot be neglected. They provide over 3 billion people with about 15 percent of their average per capita intake of animal protein. And these two activities contribute over 200 million jobs globally,”

“At the same time, these vital services must not jeopardize the key role oceans play in regulating the earth’s climate. They absorb more than 25 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from human activities.”

Speaking at the 10^th Meeting of FAO South West Pacific Ministers for Agriculture in the Samoan capital, Graziano da Silva also said addressing climate change had become “a question of survival – just like hunger.”

The South West Pacific area accounts for roughly 15 percent of the globe, and includes about two thousand islands and atolls, which are particularly vulnerable to storms and flooding, water scarcity, and stresses on fishery and forestry systems.

The Director-General said one of FAO’s priorities was to work on the especially urgent climate change issues faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and low-lying coastal areas in the Pacific and all regions.

FAO supports Pacific island countries in many ways, in part, by working to broaden and deepen implementation of internationally agreed norms, like the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and related instruments.

The organization works with governments and partners at the national, regional and international levels on issues like illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; the management of tuna fishing; and the management of marine areas beyond national jurisdictions.

Nourishing ideas

Graziano da Silva pointed out that the world had gained ground in the fight against hunger, but there was still much work to be done to improve both food security and the quality of nutrition, and to achieve the Millennium Development Goal to halve by 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger, as measured against 1990 benchmarks.

Graziano da Silva also noted that three-quarters of all adult deaths in the Pacific are linked to nutrition and lifestyle-related diseases. He highlighted the importance of addressing nutritional issues by implementing integrated nutrition strategies, diversifying diets and recovering the use of traditional, local crops produced by smallholders.

“Every region has a variety of non-commodity crops that were used in the past as food,” said the FAO Director-General, citing pandanus plants as an example from the Pacific. “Research shows that pandanus contains high levels of carotenoids, which protected many generations from Vitamin A deficiency.”

Regional and global cooperation

The main task before participants of the meeting was to review and adopt an overall plan for FAO’s work in 14 countries in the region from 2013 to 2017.

“The support FAO offers you must respond to your development needs and priorities, as laid out in your sustainable development plans,” said the FAO Director-General, who also stressed the importance of aligning them with FAO’s revised strategic framework.

During his three-day visit, Graziano da Silva was bestowed with an honorary chiefly title during the Samoan Ava ceremony. He was scheduled to meet with Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, ministers from other countries in the region, and local representatives of civil society and the private sector.

The Director-General was on his first visit to the Pacific islands since taking the helm of the hunger-fighting agency. Earlier in the week, he met with government authorities in Australia. After Samoa, he will travel to Vanuatu and New Zealand.  ]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/173975/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/173975/icode/ Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:00:00 GMT Mediterranean and Black Sea sharks risk extinction Shark populations in the Mediterranean and Black Sea have dropped dramatically over the last two centuries and now risk extinction, with serious implications for the region's entire marine ecosystem and food chains, according to a new FAO study. 14 March 2013, Rome - Shark populations in the Mediterranean and Black Sea have dropped dramatically over the last two centuries and now risk extinction, with serious implications for the region's entire marine ecosystem and food chains, according to a new FAO study.

"Sharks in the Mediterranean Sea have declined by more than 97 percent in number and ‘catch weight' over the last 200 years. They risk extinction if current fishing pressure continues," the study found.

In the Black Sea, although information is scarce, catches of the main shark species have also declined to about half of catches in the early 1990s.

"This loss of top predators could hold serious implications for the entire marine ecosystem, greatly affecting food webs throughout this region," it added.

The study, Elasmobranchs of the Mediterranean and Black Sea: Status, Ecology and Biology, was undertaken by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, one of several FAO regional bodies working in the fisheries sector.

Critically endangered

It found that cartilaginous fish species, such as sharks and rays, "are by far the most endangered group of marine fish in the Mediterranean and Black sea where 85 species are known to occur. Of 71 species assessed in the Mediterranean Sea in 2007, 30 (42 percent) were found to be threatened, including 13 percent critically endangered, 11 percent endangered and 13 percent vulnerable. Another 18 percent were categorized as near-threatened.

Cartilaginous fish have skeletons made of cartilage, rather than bones. Within that group, sharks, rays and skates are scientifically termed Elasmobranchs. Their biological characteristics, including low fecundity, late maturity and slow growth make them more vulnerable than bony fish, as their regeneration rates are slower.

Issues such as "overfishing, wide use of non-selective fishing practices and habitat degradation" are therefore affecting these species more than others.

In general sharks and rays have not been deliberately targeted in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, but caught accidentally. Annual aggregated reported landings in the Mediterranean and Black Sea currently amount to some 7 000 tonnes, compared to 25 000 tonnes in 1985 - an indication of the severity of their decline.

At the same time, however fishing activities targeting sharks are intensifying due to rapidly increasing demand for shark fins, meat and cartilage.

Habitat disturbance

This is compounded by extensive damage to, or disturbance of, their habitats, caused by shipping, underwater construction and mining or by chemical, sound and electromagnetic contamination.

Among the most recent measures adopted by the Commission to protect sharks and rays is the prohibition of ‘finning' (removal of fins at sea and discarding of carcass) and the reduction of trawl fishing within 3 nautical miles off the coast to enhance protection of coastal sharks.

The Commission has also recommended Mediterranean and Black Sea countries to invest in scientific research programmes aimed at identifying potential nursery areas and to consider time and area closures to protect juveniles of sharks and rays from fishing activities.

Other initiatives undertaken by the Commission have included the organization of several meetings and courses aimed at better understanding these species and their habitats and creating a background of Regional knowledge to guide GFCM Members in developing national plans to protect these key species.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/171847/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/171847/icode/ Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:00:00 GMT AppliFish, marine knowledge at the touch of a button You want to know more about the fish you are eating or going to buy? Is it maybe an endangered species? AppliFish is a free mobile application developed by the fisheries and biodiversity knowledge platform i-Marine. It makes aquatic-related information available to anyone, anytime, anywhere. 12 March 2013, Rome - You want to know more about the fish you are eating or going to buy? Is it maybe an endangered species? AppliFish will tell you. This free mobile application developed by the fisheries and biodiversity knowledge platform i-Marine makes aquatic-related information available to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

While human consumption of fish products has doubled in the last half century, policies for sustainable use of aquatic ecosystems must address the challenges facing global fish stocks.

Some 30 percent of the world's marine fish stocks assessed in 2009 were overexploited, according to FAO's State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2012.

"With AppliFish, consumers can choose fish that's not endangered, helping ensure that there will be enough for future generations," says FAO's Marc Taconet, Senior Fishery Information Officer and chair of the iMarine board. "Consumers can also use the application to learn more about species, capture levels and habitats, as well as the level of threats faced by these species."

Informed choices for policy-makers and consumers

iMarine is a global consortium of 13 research institutes, universities and international organizations from three continents with €5 million in funding by the European Union (EU).

Its new application AppliFish also has a web version that contains additional scientific information, which can help policy-makers, producers and consumers make informed decisions, and contribute to shape policies necessary for the responsible management of fisheries and conservation of aquatic resources, as underlined in the principles laid out in FAO's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

AppliFish adds on to i-Marine's applications for managing, processing and visualizing scientific content to increase awareness of the challenges which aquatic ecosystems face.

These applications include the biodiversity mapping tool AquaMaps, the Vessel Transmitted Information Tool (VTI), reporting on vessel activity and environmental conditions for scientists working in fisheries, and the Integrated Capture Information System (ICIS), providing regional and global information on capture of aquatic species.

Over 550 species

AppliFish was awarded a prize at the 10th e-Infrastructure Concertation Meeting to discuss the present and future of the EU's research and innovation policy, held in Brussels on 6-7 March.

The application is designed as a pocket book of marine knowledge at the touch of a button. It offers basic information of over 550 marine species, such as a common names and sizes, distribution maps, as well as maps featuring expected changes in species distribution caused by climate change.

AppliFish combines data from authoritative, international sources, including FAO-FishFinder, FAO statistics, WoRMS, Fishbase, SeaLifeBase, IUCN, AquaMaps and OBIS, bringing together a wealth of expertise to create a community of practice in support of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management and conservation of marine living resources.

AppliFish is available both for Android and for iOS.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/171646/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/171646/icode/ Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:00:00 GMT New global partnership to promote aquaculture in fighting hunger A major international initiative, bringing together a global alliance of development agencies, governments and universities, has been launched with EU-funding to better understand the role of aquaculture in food security in poor countries and to develop sustainable policies for improving the livelihoods of millions of people. 1 October 2012, Rome - A major international initiative has been launched to better understand the role of aquaculture in food security in poor countries.

Bringing together a global alliance of development agencies, governments and universities, the initiative will help low-income food-deficit countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to develop sustainable policies for improving the livelihoods of millions of poor people.

The European Union (EU) is funding the three-year project with one million Euros, which is managed by FAO in partnership with a global alliance of 20 development agencies, governments and universities.

Pivotal role

Fish is the primary source of protein for 17 percent of the world's population - nearly 25 percent in low-income food-deficit countries. Fish is also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids benefit the heart and brain development of healthy people, and those at high risk of - or who have - cardiovascular disease. Nearly 50 percent of the fish that we eat now comes from aquaculture.

Although aquaculture is widely regarded to play a pivotal role in fighting hunger, little is known about its exact impact on food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation in developing countries.

Given population growth projections, increasing demands for fish products with stable production of capture fisheries, aquaculture will need to expand to meet the future demand for fish.

Impact on food security

The new partnership represents the world's regions where aquaculture plays a major role and supports the livelihoods of millions of small-scale fish farmers. It also includes key institutions with a strong expertise in research, development project implementation and dissemination.

The project ("Aquaculture for Food Security, Poverty Alleviation and Nutrition - AFSPAN") will develop new ways to quantify the contribution of aquaculture with better tools and more systematic and quantitative assessments. Moreover, it will elaborate strategies for improving the impact of aquaculture on food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation.

"The project will work closely with fish farming communities and will focus on field research in many major aquaculture countries in the developing world. It will develop tools and methodologies to help key partners to develop policies geared to improving aquaculture's contribution to food and nutrition security," said Rohana Subasinghe, senior FAO expert on aquaculture and coordinator of the project.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/159323/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/159323/icode/ Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:00:00 GMT FAO Director-General welcomes new international declaration on oceans, fisheries Highlighting the important role that marine ecosystems play in feeding the world, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said this weekend that the responsible and sustainable management of oceans and coasts must become "a global priority." The remarks came during a high-level panel discussion at the International Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea. 14 August 2012, Yeosu, Republic of Korea/Rome - Highlighting the important role that marine ecosystems play in feeding the world, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said this weekend that the responsible and sustainable management of oceans and coasts must become "a global priority."

The remarks came during a high-level panel discussion at the International Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and Willy Telavi, Prime Minister of Tuvalu, made remarks ahead of the panel, on which UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and Koji Sekimizu, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, and other experts participated along with Graziano da Silva.

The three-month-long Expo - whose theme was "The living ocean and coasts" - wrapped up on Sunday with panel participants endorsing the Yeosu Declaration, a policy document that aims to promote international cooperation and knowledge-sharing in order to improve stewardship of the marine environment. One of the declaration's key messages is the importance of marine resources to a new green economy.

Oceans provide food and income

In his remarks, Graziano da Silva emphasized the role of oceans in providing food and livelihoods to millions of people. "The livelihoods of 12 percent of the world's population depend directly or indirectly on fisheries and aquaculture," he said. "They are a primary source of protein for 17 percent of the world's population and nearly a quarter in low-income food-deficit countries. They are vital for the Zero Hunger Challenge launched by the Secretary-General at the Rio+20 Conference".

The FAO chief highlighted the need to strengthen governance of oceans, which should build off the principles contained in FAO's Code of Conduct for Responsible fisheries and the recommendations made by associated instruments as well as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

And development of small-scale fisheries must aim to benefit communities that rely on them for their livelihood, contributing more to poverty alleviation, he said.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/154300/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/154300/icode/ Mon, 13 Aug 2012 22:00:00 GMT Fisheries and aquaculture – enabling a vital sector to contribute more Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture play a crucial role in food and nutrition security and in providing for the livelihoods of millions of people. FAO’s latest flagship publication on the state of fisheries and aquaculture, launched at the opening of the 30th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries, highlights the sector’s vital contribution to the world’s well-being and prosperity, a point reflected in the recent Rio+20 Outcome Document. 9 July 2012, Rome - Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture play a crucial role in food and nutrition security and in providing for the livelihoods of millions of people.

FAO's latest flagship publication on the state of fisheries and aquaculture, launched at the opening of the 30th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries, highlights the sector's vital contribution to the world's well-being and prosperity, a point reflected in the recent Rio+20 Outcome Document.

The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2012 reveals that the sector produced a record 128 million tonnes of fish for human food - an average of 18.4 kg per person - providing more than 4.3 billion people with about 15 percent of their animal protein intake. Fisheries and aquaculture are also a source of income for 55 million people.

"Fisheries and aquaculture play a vital role in the global, national and rural economy," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. "The livelihoods of 12 percent of the world's population depend directly or indirectly on them. Fisheries and aquaculture give an important contribution to food security and nutrition. They are the primary source of protein for 17 percent of the world's population and nearly a quarter in low-income food-deficit countries."

Árni M. Mathiesen, head of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, said: "Fisheries and aquaculture are making a vital contribution to global food security and economic growth. However, the sector faces an array of problems, including poor governance, weak fisheries management regimes, conflicts over the use of natural resources, the persistent use of poor fishery and aquaculture practices. And it is further undermined by a failure to incorporate the priorities and rights of small-scale fishing communities and the injustices relating to gender discrimination and child labour."

Boosting governance

FAO is urging governments to make every effort to ensure sustainable fisheries around the world. The report notes that many of the marine fish stocks monitored by FAO remain under great pressure.

According to the latest statistics available, almost 30 percent of these fish stocks are overexploited - a slight decrease from the previous two years, about 57 percent are fully exploited (i.e. at or very close to their maximum sustainable production), and only about 13 percent are non-fully exploited.

"Overexploitation not only causes negative ecological consequences, but it also reduces fish production, which leads to negative social and economic consequences," the report says. "To increase the contribution of marine fisheries to the food security, economies and the well-being of coastal communities, effective management plans must be put in place to rebuild overexploited stocks".

Strengthened governance and effective fisheries management are required. The report argues that promoting sustainable fishing and fish farming can provide incentives for wider ecosystem stewardship and advocates enabling mechanisms such as the adoption of an ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture with fair and responsible tenure systems.

Global fish production

Capture fisheries and aquaculture supplied the world with about 148 million tonnes of fish in 2010 valued at US$217.5 billion.

Production growth from aquaculture keeps outpacing population growth, and it is one of the fastest-growing animal food-producing sectors - trends that are set to continue.

Fish and fishery products are among the most-traded food commodities worldwide. Following a drop in 2009, world trade in fish and fishery products has resumed its upward trend driven by sustained demand, trade liberalization policies, globalization of food systems and technological innovations. Global trade reached a record US$109 billion in 2010 and 2011 points to another high estimated at US$125 billion.

Increase resilience, strengthen the sector

The report notes that the coming decades are likely to see major changes in economies, markets, resources and social conduct, where climate change impacts will increase uncertainty in many food sectors, including fisheries. It stresses the importance of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and its associated international plans of action and technical guidelines, to achieving the goal of a global sustainable food production system.

Small-scale fisheries employ more than 90 percent of the world's capture fishers and are vital to food and nutrition security, poverty alleviation and poverty prevention. The FAO Committee on Fisheries has recommended developing international voluntary guidelines to contribute to policy development, secure small-scale fisheries and create benefits.

Although women make up at least 50 percent of the workforce in inland fisheries and market as much as 60 percent of seafood in Asia and West Africa, their role is often undervalued and neglected. Here again, and as reaffirmed at Rio+20, the report shows that, in addition to working towards the UN Millennium Development Goal of gender equality and empowering women, mainstreaming gender is an essential component of alleviating poverty, achieving greater food and nutrition security, and enabling sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture resources.

As fishers, fish farmers and their communities tend to be particularly vulnerable to disasters, the report examines approaches to improved preparedness for and effective response to disasters in fisheries and aquaculture. Emergency responses should strengthen food and nutrition security through the sustainable rehabilitation and long-term recovery of the fisheries and aquaculture sector and the livelihoods that depend on it, especially targeting women and other marginalized groups.

"Enabling fisheries and aquaculture to flourish responsibly and sustainably requires the full involvement of civil society and the private sector," says Mathiesen, adding: "Business and industry can help develop technologies and solutions, provide investment and engender positive transformation. Civil society and international and local non-governmental organizations can hold governments accountable on agreed commitments and ensure that the voices of all stakeholders are heard."

Looking ahead

The primary threats undermining the food and nutrition security potential of fisheries and aquaculture result principally from ineffective management coupled with poor conservation of habitats. A transition towards people-centred approaches is required to enhance the sector's contribution to food and livelihoods security. As underlined at the recent UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, such a shift could spur the global community to achieve the real sustainable and responsible use of aquatic resources to meet today's needs while ensuring benefits for future generations.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/150839/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/150839/icode/ Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:00:00 GMT FAO Food Price Index falls again The FAO Food Price Index fell for the third consecutive month in June 2012, dipping 1.8 percent from May to its lowest level since September 2010. The four-point drop in June brought the index to 201 points from a revised level of 205 points in May 2012. The June index stood at 15.4 percent below its peak in February 2011. 5 July 2012, Rome - The FAO Food Price Index fell for the third consecutive month in June 2012, dipping 1.8 percent from May to its lowest level since September 2010. The four-point drop in June brought the index to 201 points from a revised level of 205 points in May 2012.

The index now stands at 15.4 percent below its peak in February 2011. The average prices of all commodity groups in the Index were below May levels, with the largest drop registered for oils and fats.

Continued economic uncertainties and generally adequate food supply prospects kept the index down although growing concerns over dry weather sent prices of some crops higher toward the end of the month.

Food commodity prices have started rising again recently, mostly because of adverse weather and this may result in a rebound of the Food Price Index in July.

FAO also lowered its forecast for 2012 world cereal production by more than 23 million tonnes from May, which is likely to result in a smaller build-up of global stocks by the end of seasons in 2013.

FAO’s new forecast for world cereal production in 2012 stands at 2 396 million tonnes, still a record level and 2 percent up from the previous high registered last year.

Supply and demand situation adequate

According to FAO’s latest assessment, the overall supply and demand situation in 2012/13 remains adequate thanks to abundant supplies of rice, a leading food staple, and sufficient exportable supplies of wheat and coarse grains.

But grain prices were very volatile in June due to continuing dryness and above-average temperatures in most of the major maize growing regions of the United States. Adverse weather is diminishing prospects of an improvement in the maize supply situation and FAO is monitoring the development closely.

High-level event on volatility and speculation

The issue of swinging food prices will be discussed by a high-level event on “Food Price Volatility and Price Speculation” to be held at FAO on Friday, 6 July. Speakers will include Leonel Fernández, President of the Dominican Republic who will give a keynote address, and FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

“FAO has been actively involved in studying food price volatility and identifying appropriate policy responses,” said Graziano da Silva. “Our analytical work is helping to deepen the understanding of the nature, causes and impacts of volatility and of what governments and other stakeholders can do about it.”

The FAO Food Price Index is a measure of the monthly change in average international prices of a basket of 55 food commodities.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/150904/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/150904/icode/ Wed, 04 Jul 2012 22:00:00 GMT Rio+20 has the urgency the world needs FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that countries were seizing the moment to transform our goals of sustainable development into action at the Rio+20 Conference. Rio de Janeiro, 21 June 2012 - FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that countries were seizing the moment to transform our goals of sustainable development into action at the Rio+20 Conference.

"The common vision that is emerging from the Rio+20 document that countries are negotiating reflects the urgencies we have today: the urgency to end hunger and extreme poverty, while preserving the environment and our natural resources. We are seizing the golden opportunity to bring together the agendas of food security and sustainable development to build the future we want," said the FAO Director-General.

"We will leave Rio with a blueprint and the understanding that the time to act is now. We are accountable to the world's poor and marginalized and to future generations, our children and grandchildren," added Graziano da Silva.

The FAO Director-General arrived in Rio after participating in the Los Cabos G20 Summit in which the Government of Russia confirmed they would maintain food security and small-scale farming among the priorities of the group in its upcoming presidency.

Voluntary Guidelines

Graziano da Silva highlighted that the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security is part of the outcome document being negotiated.

The Voluntary guidelines were endorsed by the renewed Committee of World Food Security following extensive consultations and negotiations involving governments, civil society, private sector and other stakeholders. They provide a basis to recognize the ownership and access rights of poor families and communities to natural resources and are the result of three-years of debates and negotiations that involved over one thousand people, 130 countries, private sector and civil society.

"In any consensus building process, we need to give and take to find a common ground. As happened with the Voluntary Guidelines, I am confident that we will also come out of Rio+20 with a strong foundation to move decisively towards sustainable development," said Kostas Stamoulis, secretary of the Committee of World Food Security.

"It's very important to come out from Rio with a consensus to move ahead faster," he stressed.

Key points

The proposed outcome document being negotiated includes the main messages that FAO and the Rome Based Agencies Bioversity International, FAO, IFAD and WFP brought to the Conference.

The text recognizes the right to food and the role of the Committee of World Food Security in global food governance, and highlights the importance of food security and sustainable management and use of forests, oceans and other natural resources, the need to shift towards more sustainable production and consumption patterns, and the need to revitalize agriculture and rural development.

"It has been very rewarding to see the attention that oceans and fisheries have been getting here in Rio and that is reflected in the proposed text. Never before have we gotten such clear directions on where we want to go on these important issues. This is particularly relevant since the links between the oceans, fisheries and food security are so clear in the text. The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries is central in this and creates the connection to Rio 1992 since it is a product of the commitments made then," said FAO Assistant-Director-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Árni M. Mathiesen.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/150194/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/150194/icode/ Wed, 20 Jun 2012 22:00:00 GMT FAO Food Price Index drops sharply Global food prices have dropped sharply in May due to generally favourable supplies, growing global economic uncertainties and a strengthening of the US dollar. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 204 points and was 9 points down from April, the lowest level since September 2011 and about 14 percent below its peak in February 2011. 7 June 2012, Rome - Global food prices have dropped sharply in May due to generally favourable supplies, growing global economic uncertainties and a strengthening of the US dollar, FAO said today.

The FAO Food Price Index, measuring the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, fell by four percent in May. It averaged 204 points and was 9 points down from April. This was the lowest level since September 2011 and about 14 percent below its peak in February 2011.

"Crop prices have come down sharply from their peak level but they remain still high and vulnerable due to risks related to weather conditions in the critical growing months ahead," said FAO's grain analyst Abdolreza Abbassian.

FAO at the same time raised the forecast for world cereal production by 48.5 million tonnes since May, mainly on the expectation of a bumper maize crop in the United States.

FAO's latest forecast for world cereal production in 2012 stands at a record level of 2 419 million tonnes, 3.2 percent up from the 2011 record.

The bulk of the increase is expected to originate mainly from maize in the United States amid an early start of the planting season and prevailing favourable growing conditions. As a result, the global coarse grain production is forecast at 1 248 million tonnes, a huge 85 million tonnes increase from the previous year.

However, with planting still to be completed and much of the crop at very early stages of development, the final outcome will depend greatly on weather conditions in the coming months.

With the main northern hemisphere rice crops now in the ground in several countries, the forecast of global rice production in 2012 is firmer and points to a 2.2 percent increase from 2011, to some 490 million tonnes, mostly reflecting larger plantings in Asia.

For wheat, latest indications point to a contraction of about 3 percent in production in 2012, to 680 million tonnes, still well above the average of the past five years.

The global cereal utilization is forecast to expand by at least 2 percent in 2012/13, to 2 376 million tonnes, with feed utilization growing by 3.8 percent, while food consumption is expected to increase by just over 1 percent, largely keeping pace with world population growth.

At the current forecast level, world cereal production would exceed the anticipated utilization in 2012/13 (which has been revised up since last month by 19 million tonnes or 1 percent) and lead to a significant replenishment of world cereal stocks, up 36 million tonnes, or 7 percent, from the previous season.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/147440/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/147440/icode/ Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:00:00 GMT Countries adopt global guidelines on tenure of land, forests, fisheries In a landmark decision the Committee on World Food Security today endorsed a set of far-reaching global guidelines aimed at helping governments safeguard the rights of people to own or access land, forests and fisheries. The new Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security outline principles and practices that governments can refer to when making laws and administering land, fisheries and forests rights. 11 May 2012, Rome - In a landmark decision the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) today endorsed a set of far-reaching global guidelines aimed at helping governments safeguard the rights of people to own or access land, forests and fisheries.

The new Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security outline principles and practices that governments can refer to when making laws and administering land, fisheries and forests rights.

The guidelines are based on an inclusive consultation process started by FAO in 2009 and then finalized through CFS-led intergovernmental negotiations that included participation of government officials, civil society organizations, private sector representatives, international organizations and academics.

The aim of the guidelines: to promote food security and sustainable development by improving secure access to land, fisheries and forests and protecting the rights of millions of often very poor people.

Historic and far-reaching

"Giving poor and vulnerable people secure and equitable rights to access land and other natural resources is a key condition in the fight against hunger and poverty. It is a historic breakthrough that countries have agreed on these first-ever global land tenure guidelines. We now have a shared vision. It's a starting point that will help improve the often dire situation of the hungry and poor," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

Much public debate has focused on the so-called ‘land-grabbing' phenomenon, which is one of the issues that are dealt with in these guidelines.

While the guidelines acknowledge that responsible investments by the public and private sectors are essential for improving food security, they also recommend that safeguards be put in place to protect tenure rights of local people from risks that could arise from large-scale land acquisitions, and also to protect human rights, livelihoods, food security and the environment.

Investment models exist that do not result in the large-scale acquisition of land, and these alternative models should be promoted. Investments should also promote policy objectives such as boosting local food security and promoting food security, poverty eradication and job creation, and "provide benefits to the country and its people, including the poor and most vulnerable."

The guidelines address a wide range of other issues as well, however, including:

· Recognition and protection of legitimate tenure rights, even under informal systems
· Best practices for registration and transfer of tenure rights
· Making sure that tenure administrative systems are accessible and affordable
· Managing expropriations and restitution of land to people who were forcibly evicted in the past
· Rights of indigenous communities
· Ensuring that investment in agricultural lands occurs responsibly and transparently
· Mechanisms for resolving disputes over tenure rights
· Dealing with the expansion of cities into rural areas

"Some of the issues addressed by the Voluntary Guidelines go back centuries even. The fact that these guidelines tackle those entrenched issues as well as newer concerns is what makes them so significant," said Graziano da Silva

Next steps

"These guidelines are the product of a three year, inclusive process of consultations and negotiations that brought together many stakeholders and ensured that a wide range of voices were heard," said Yaya Olaniran, current CFS Chair. "The result is that we have a meaningful series of principles and practices that everybody — countries, the private sector, farmers, civil society — can stand behind and support, and that will work out in the real world."

It is now up to the countries who endorsed the guidelines to put them into practice on the ground, according to Olaniran. "These changes won't happen overnight. But we also know. as a result of the extensive consultations by FAO and the CFS-led negotiation process, that there is a lot of buy-in and support for the guidelines. The CFS endorsement lends them legitimacy and strength, and all the countries involved are ready to take them on board," he said.

Speaking on behalf of civil society organizations involved in the guidelines process, Ángel Strapazzón, of Movimiento Campesino Indígena-Vía Campesina Argentina said: "We commend the process that was adopted for developing the guidelines, which provided the opportunity for civil society and representatives of small-scale food producers to participate at all stages, to draw attention to the real life issues and make concrete proposals."

"We welcome the Guidelines, but with awareness that they fall short in some areas that are key to the livelihoods of small-scale food producers. Despite this, we call on governments and intergovernmental agencies to implement them and urgently improve governance of tenure for food security," he added.

Luc Maene, Chairman of the International Agri-Food Network, representing the private sector, said: "Land tenure is fundamental to food security, and it is fitting that the newly-reformed Committee on Food Security leads this process. The guidelines set out important key elements to make land tenure function. In many places, land tenure systems are effectively non-existent. To us in the private sector and to our farmer partners, it is important that there should be effective local administration of land registries without corruption. Fair, transparent rules benefit everyone, ensuring women get equal access to land and furthering responsible investment throughout the agri-food chain."

FAO's Graziano da Silva added that the Organization stands ready to provide support and assistance to countries in adapting and implementing the guidelines.

As done in the past in the case of other, similar agreements — for example the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries — FAO will now develop a series of technical handbooks designed to help countries adapt the guidelines to their local contexts and put them into play. The Organization will also provide targeted technical assistance to governments towards that same end.

For its part, the CFS will next take a focused look at the issue of responsible agricultural investments in general. The body is currently planning a yearlong consultative process, to start in October, that could culminate in set of recommended principles for responsible investment in agriculture later in 2013.

Made up of governments, UN agencies, civil society organizations, agricultural research centres, financial institutions, private sector groups and philanthropic foundations, CFS is the leading global platform for discussions on food security issues and serves as a mechanism for consensus-building at the international level and policy promotion at the national level.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/142587/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/142587/icode/ Fri, 11 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT Food prices ease but stay high Global food prices measured by the FAO Food Price Index fell three points or 1.4 percent from March to April 2012 but seem to have stabilized at a relatively high level of 214 points. The fall was the first after three consecutive months of increases. 3 May 2012, Rome - Global food prices measured by the FAO Food Price Index fell three points or 1.4 percent from March to April 2012 but seem to have stabilized at a relatively high level of 214 points, FAO said today.

The fall was the first after three consecutive months of increases and although the index is significantly down from its record level of 235 points in April 2011, it is still well above the figures of under 200 which preceded the 2008 food crisis.

The index was published in the latest FAO Food Outlook, a global market analysis which comes out twice a year. It noted that the prospects for the second half of this year and into the next indicate generally improved supplies and continuing strong demand.

Consequently the global food import bill in 2012 could decline to $1.24 trillion, down slightly from last year’s record of $1.29 trillion Food Outlook said.

Record cereals production

The forecast for cereals production was for a modest expansion in 2012 to a new record of 2 371 million tonnes compared to 2 344 million tonnes in 2011.

However, within the cereals sector, wheat production in 2012 is anticipated to fall by 3.6 percent compared to 2011, to 675 million tonnes, with the largest declines forecast for Ukraine, followed by Kazakhstan, China, Morocco and the EU. The expected decrease coincides with prospects of a slight reduction in total wheat utilization in the 2012/13 marketing season.

Lower wheat output is offset by a record coarse grains production of 1 207 million tonnes anticipated in 2012, compared to 1 164 million tonnes in 2011 – itself a record year. But the increase, expected to follow a sharp rise in plantings in the United States, is unlikely to be sufficient to ease current market tightness because of the very low level of opening stocks, with consequent, continuing pressure on prices.

Rice production is expected to grow 1.7 percent in 2012 to 488 million tonnes, but slackening import demand and the return of India as a major exporter are keeping prices down. World rice production this year is expected to exceed demand for the eighth consecutive year.

Oilseeds not meeting growing demand

After two seasons of relatively ample supplies, in 2011/12 the market for oilseeds and derived products is set to tighten again. Global oilcrop production will not be sufficient to satisfy growing demand for oils and meals. Global soybean production is estimated to decrease by almost 10 percent, one of the steepest year-on-year falls on record. With oilcrops other than soybeans only partly compensating for the shortfall, total oilcrop production should drop to a three-year low, down 4 percent from last season. International prices for oilcrops and derived products, which have risen sharply since January, are therefore likely to stay firm.

World sugar output in 2011/12 is set to increase by close to 8 million tonnes, or 4.6 percent over 2010/11, reaching nearly 173 million tonnes. For the second consecutive year, production is anticipated to surpass consumption, with a surplus expected of some 5.4 million tonnes helping to rebuild relatively low stock levels.

The growth in sugar output is attributed to significant expansion in area and input use, prompted by strong international sugar prices and better weather. A fall in production in Brazil, the world’s largest producer, is expected to be offset by increased production in other major producing countries, including Thailand and India.

Expansion seen for meat, dairy and fish

Driven exclusively by gains in poultry and pigmeat production, global meat output is set to expand by nearly 2 percent to 302 million tonnes in 2012. Most of the sector growth is likely to originate in developing countries. An ongoing struggle for markets is expected to intensify in 2012 as increased production in key importing countries slows down global meat trade expansion. This, combined with limited supplies in developed exporting countries, is shifting international market shares towards developing countries, in particular Brazil and India.

World milk production in 2012 is forecast to grow by 2.7 percent to 750 million tonnes. Asia is expected to account for most of the increase, but higher output is anticipated in most regions. World trade in dairy products is expected to continue expanding in 2012. Demand remains firm, with imports anticipated to reach 52.7 million tonnes of milk equivalent. Asia will continue to be the main market, followed by North Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Sustained demand for fish and fishery products is boosting aquaculture production worldwide and pushing prices higher, despite some consumer resistance in the more traditional markets in southern Europe. Overall production for the year is expected to grow by 2.1 percent to 157.3 million tonnes, thanks to a 5.8 percent increase in aquaculture output that more than offset a small decline in capture fisheries following limitations on catches of small pelagic species in the Pacific.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/141965/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/141965/icode/ Wed, 02 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT Green investments in the marine sector can bring tide of economic and social benefits Healthy seas and coasts would pay healthy dividends in a green economy, according to new report by the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, FAO and other partners. The report, "Green Economy in a Blue World," highlights the huge potential for economic growth and poverty eradication from well-managed marine sectors. 25 January, Manila/Nairobi - Healthy seas and coasts would pay healthy dividends in a green economy, according to a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), WorldFish Center and GRID-Arendal, that highlights the huge potential for economic growth and poverty eradication from well-managed marine sectors.

The report, Green Economy in a Blue World, argues that the ecological health and economic productivity of marine and coastal ecosystems, which are currently in decline around the globe, can be boosted by shifting to a more sustainable economic approach that taps their natural potential - from generating renewable energy and promoting eco-tourism, to sustainable fisheries and transport.

It highlights how the sustainable management of fertilizers would help reduce the cost of marine pollution caused by nitrogen and other nutrients used in agriculture, which is estimated at US$100 billion (EUR 80 billion) per year in the European Union alone.

With five months to go before world governments meet at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil, Green Economy in a Blue World presents a case to stimulate countries to unlock the vast potential of the marine-based economy in a paradigm shift that would significantly reduce degradation to our oceans, while alleviating poverty and improving livelihoods.

The synthesis report also examines how Small Island Developing States (SIDS), such as those in the Asia-Pacific and Caribbean regions, can take advantage of green economy opportunities to reduce their vulnerability to climate change and promote sustainable growth.

With as much as 40 per cent of the global population living within 100 kilometres of the coast, the world's marine ecosystems (termed the ‘Blue World' in the report) provide essential food, shelter and livelihoods to millions of people. But human impacts are increasingly taking their toll the health and productivity of the world's oceans.

Today, some 20 per cent of mangroves have been destroyed, and more than 60 per cent of tropical coral reefs are under immediate, direct threat.

"Oceans are a key pillar for many countries in their development and fight to tackle poverty, but the wide range of ecosystem services, including food security and climate regulation, provided by marine and coastal environments are today under unprecedented pressure", said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. "Stepping up green investments in marine and coastal resources and enhancing international co-operation in managing these trans-boundary ecosystems are essential if a transition to low-carbon, resource efficient Green Economy is to be realized."

"In the run-up to Rio+20, this report shows that a shift to a Green Economy can if comprehensively implemented unlock the potential of marine ecosystems to fuel economic growth - particularly in small island developing states - but in ways that ensure that future generations derive an equitable share of marine resources and services, added Mr Steiner."

Árni Mathiesen, Assistant Director-General of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, said: "The food production potential of the oceans is at risk and with it the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people who depend on fisheries and aquaculture. If the current trend in unsustainable use of marine resources is not reverted the ability of our oceans to deliver food for future generations is severely compromised. Ocean fisheries and aquaculture are among humanity's best opportunities to deliver highly nutritious food to a growing population. To lose this opportunity would be a crime on future generations."

Linwood Pendleton, one of the contributors to the report, and Director of Ocean and Coastal Policy at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, said: "This report provides concrete examples of how emerging ocean industries-including ocean energy and aquaculture industries-can become more profitable, more sustainable, and meet the needs of a growing population without sacrificing the health of our fragile ocean ecosystems."

Green Economy in a Blue World lays out a series of recommendations across six marine-based economic sectors.

Fisheries and aquaculture

Approximately 30 per cent of the world's fish stocks are overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion and 50 per cent are fully exploited. According to FAO and World Bank estimates, the world economy can gain up to USD 50 billion annually by restoring fish stocks and reducing fishing capacity to an optimal level.

Aquaculture, the fastest growing food production sector, is creating new jobs, contributing to trade balances, and helping meet rising global demand for fish but, when poorly planned, it can increase pressure on the already suffering marine and coastal ecosystems.

Adoption of green technologies and investments to lower fossil fuel use could dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the sector while enhancing its contribution to economic growth, food and nutrition security and poverty reduction. Green technologies include low-impact fuel-efficient fishing methods and innovative aquaculture production systems using environmentally friendly feeds.

Strengthening regional and national fisheries agencies, as well as community and trade fishing associations and cooperatives, will be critical to the sustainable and equitable use of marine resources. Small-scale producers and traders in developing countries make up the majority of the 530 million fishery-dependent people in the world. There is a need for policies that ensure they have access to an equitable share of the benefits of ‘greener' fisheries and aquaculture.

Marine transport

International shipping transports around 90 per cent of world commerce and is the safest, most secure, most efficient and most environmentally sound means of bulk transportation. The sector already benefits from a global regulatory framework and agreements such as the MARPOL Convention, which regulate emissions of air pollutants and energy efficiency measures.

Further greening of the sector could be achieved, argues the report, by supporting countries to implement and enforce standards, switching ships to environmentally sound fuel sources and preventing the transfer of invasive aquatic species transported via ships' ballast water or hulls (the effects of which are estimated to cost US$100 billion a year), and addressing the technical, operational and environmental aspects of the increasing size of ships.

Marine-based renewable energy

Marine-based renewable energy (wind, wave and tidal) potential is high, yet in 2008 these energy technologies represented just one per cent of all renewable energy production.

Installed capacity is unlikely to become significant until after 2020, because, with the exception of offshore wind energy, most marine-based renewable energy technologies are in the conceptual or demonstration phase. Technical costs also remain a barrier.

Marine-based renewable energy also carries significant potential for green job creation. The type and scale of opportunity will vary according to national context and energy source.

To harness the potential of marine-based renewable energy to drive a green economy, the report recommends:

Consistent long-term policies, with specific targets for marine-based renewable energy, and targeted financial support from governments to overcome technical barriers. Incentives such as grants, subsidies and tax credits are required to encourage private investment to move from small prototypes to pilot plants.

Governments need to proactively guide developments to reduce potential for social environmental and legal conflicts and promote synergies with other marine users.

Ocean nutrient pollution

Fertilizers such as nitrogen and phosphorous are essential to global food security and have played a key role in increasing crop yields. But inefficient use of nutrients is contributing to the degradation of marine ecosystems and groundwater, including the formation of oxygen-poor ‘dead' zones.

The amount of nitrogen reaching oceans and coasts has increased three-fold from pre-industrial levels - primarily due to agricultural run-off and untreated sewage. This could expand by up to 2.7 times by 2050 under a ‘business as usual' scenario.

The report says nutrient pollution and can be reduced - and innovation, public-private partnerships and job creation enhanced - through:

• A ‘cyclical approach' including substantial recovery and recycling of waste nutrients

• Policy instruments that include stricter regulation of nutrient removal from wastewater, mandatory nutrient management plans in agriculture and enhanced regulation of manure.

• Subsidies that encourage nutrient recycling

Coastal tourism

The tourism economy represents 5 percent of global GDP and contributes 6 to 7 per cent of total employment. Estimates are that more than one-third of travellers favour environmentally friendly tourism.

There is considerable potential for creating more green jobs in the tourism sector, given that one job in the core industry is shown to create one and a half jobs in tourism-related sectors. Sourcing local products (from sustainable farming and fishing) and safeguarding local culture are examples of where green investments could be targeted.

Key steps outlined in the report include:

• Improving waste management to save money, create jobs and improve the appearance of tourism destinations

• Mobilising multi-sector partnerships and financing strategies to spread the costs and risks of green investments and support small and medium size enterprises (which represent the majority of tourism businesses).

• Investment in energy efficiency, which can generate significant returns within short payback periods

• Cross-sectoral consultation (between governments, communities and businesses) and integrated coastal zone management to help ensure sound development strategies in tourist areas that meet the needs of diverse stakeholders

Deep-sea minerals

Deep-sea minerals are a possible new revenue stream that could support national development goals. However, the deep-sea environment is one of the least understood regions of the planet and there is still only a rudimentary understanding of the ecosystems services that these environments support. Management of these resources must be informed by sound science and best environmental practices applied.

All stakeholders need to be considered when managing deep-sea mining activities in the context of sustainable use of oceans. Management practices should be holistic, based on an integrated overview of all present and future human uses and ecosystems services.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/120936/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/120936/icode/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT FAO and ILO partnering on child labor in fisheries FAO and the International Labor Organization have released the first draft of a guidance document that aims to help policymakers and government authorities tackle the thorny issue of child labor in fisheries. Most experts agree that child labor in fishing is a widespread problem. But specifics are lacking — statistics on child labor are often lump fisheries, forestry, agriculture and livestock-raising together. Combined, child workers in these four sectors are estimated to account for 60 percent of the world's 215 million under age laborers. 23 December 2011, Rome - FAO and the International Labor Organization have released the first draft of a guidance document that aims to help policymakers and government authorities tackle the thorny issue of child labor in fisheries.

The two organizations are currently seeking public feedback on the document, FAO-ILO guidance for addressing child labor in fisheries and aquaculture: policy and practice, in order to release a final version later next year.

Most experts agree that child labor in fishing is a widespread problem. But specifics are lacking - statistics on child labor are insufficient and additionally often lump fisheries, forestry, agriculture and livestock-raising together. Combined, child workers in these four sectors are estimated to make up the largest portion — 60 percent — of the world's 215 million under age laborers.

Activities in which children engage can range from actively fishing, cooking on boats, diving for reef fish or to free snagged nets, herding fish into nets, peeling shrimp or cleaning fish and crabs, repairing nets, sorting, unloading, and transporting catches, and processing or selling fish.

A complex issue

While some of these activities are extremely dangerous, others are not — work performed by children and child labor are not necessarily the same thing, according to the FAO-ILO document. While child labor impairs children's well-being or hinders their education and development, other types of work are not, and can even be beneficial to children of a certain a age Interventions aimed at stemming child labor must be able to make this distinction, the report says.

"The FAO-ILO guidance document seeks to shed light on this issue , as well as on the nature, scope, causes and consequences of child labor in fisheries and aquaculture," said Bernd Seiffert of FAO's Economic and Social Department.

"It also provides guidance to governments and development agencies in how to identify where child labor in fisheries and aquaculture is happening, sort out situations in which children are helping support family livelihoods from bad-practices, mainstream these considerations in national policies, and develop strategies for dealing with it," added Rolf Willman of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department.

Prevention is key

Investment in the prevention of child labor is the most cost-effective approach to ending child labor in the long run, say FAO and ILO. This means tackling root causes so that children at risk do not become child laborers in the first place.

"By addressing poverty and promoting development, children stand a better chance to keep out of unsuitable work and especially hazardous labor," the working document states.

Additional recommendations it makes include:

Ensuring that national labor legislation provides full protection of children.
Promoting implementation of that legislation through incentives and enforcement mechanisms.
Involving local communities in tackling the issue
Supporting education and anti-poverty projects in communities at risk
Improving coordination between government agencies working on rural development, poverty and labor issues
Incorporating child labor considerations into "port state measures" use to check ships coming in to port
Establishing good programmes to promote safety-at-sea in the fishing sector that include issues of child labor

The FAO-ILO guidance document for addressing child labor in fisheries and aquaculture: policy and practice is currently available for public comment. Feedback on the draft document can be sent to FI-inquiries@fao.org through 30 April 2012.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/117475/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/117475/icode/ Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:00:00 GMT Ten proposals to safeguard the ocean UN agencies are launching today a plan to improve the management of oceans and coastal areas. The Blueprint for Ocean and Coastal Sustainability sounds the alarm about the health of the oceans, and explains how they influence our everyday life by regulating the climate, providing highly-nutritious food and by sustaining livelihoods and economies. 1 November 2011 Paris - UN agencies are launching today a plan to improve the management of oceans and coastal areas. The Blueprint for Ocean and Coastal Sustainability sounds the alarm about the health of the oceans, and explains how they influence our everyday life by regulating the climate, providing highly-nutritious food and by sustaining livelihoods and economies. It recalls that although the ocean accounts for 70 per cent of the surface of our planet, only one per cent of it is protected.

Presented at UNESCO Headquarters during the 36^th session of the General Conference, the Blueprint was prepared for consideration by the UN conference on sustainable development (Rio+20, June 2012).

It proposes a series of concrete measures to:

Create a global blue carbon market as a means of creating direct economic gain through habitat protection

Fill governance gaps in the high seas, by reinforcing the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,

Support the development of green economies in small island developing states

Promote research on ocean acidification- how to adapt to it and mitigate it.

Increase institutional capacity for scientific monitoring of oceans and coastal areas

Reform and reinforce regional ocean management organisations

Promote responsible fisheries and aquaculture in a green economy

Strengthen legal frameworks to address aquatic invasive species

"Green" the nutrient economy (fertilizers for example)

Enhance coordination, coherence and effectiveness of the UN system on ocean issues

The Blueprint was prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

It emphasises that 60 per cent of the world's major marine ecosystems have been degraded or are being used unsustainably, resulting in huge economic and social losses. Mangrove forests have lost 30 to 50 per cent of their original cover while coral reefs have lost 20 per cent, increasing the vulnerability of many highly populated coastal areas. The ocean absorbs close to 26 per cent of atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions which is provoking acidification that is already threatening some varieties of plankton and poses a threat to the entire marine food chain and dependant socio-economic activities.

Some of these phenomena are not new but are aggravated by cumulative pressures such as climate change, intensified human activity and technological advances. Furthermore, ecosystems situated in the deep ocean, where biodiversity and habitats often have major value, but are generally not well understood, have virtually no protection at all.

The international community pledged to tackle these challenges at the Summits of Rio (1992) and Johannesburg (2002). However the commitments made remain largely ineffectual and their objectives have not been met. Such has been the case for the pledge to restore fish stocks to sustainable levels by 2015, and the promise to create networks of protected marine areas by 2012. Few countries have adopted legislation to reduce land-based marine pollution, leading to an increase in the number of dead ocean areas. More than 400 marine areas have been listed as "biologically dead" to date.

"The full implementation of many of these goals and targets will require further efforts by States, intergovernmental organizations and the international community," state the authors of the report. They claim the present situation is the result of insufficient political will and resources, inadequate institutional capacities, insufficient scientific data and market imbalances.

"Greening the Blue Economy will be science and technology driven," they conclude. "But success will depend on sound policy processes and effective institutional arrangements and will therefore require commitment and funding from the international community as well as nations and industry". ]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/93814/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/93814/icode/ Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:00:00 GMT Further action on responsible fisheries recommended Countries are making progress in implementing the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, which is now 15 years old, but still extremely relevant. However, additional efforts are needed, declared participants at the close of the 29th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries. 10 February 2011, Rome - Countries are making progress in implementing the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, which is now 15 years old, but still extremely relevant. However, additional efforts are needed, declared participants at the close of the 29^th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries.

The Committee, the only global intergovernmental forum to examine and address major challenges facing fisheries and aquaculture, said that the Code's principles must be more widely included in national policy, legislation and implementation. It encouraged a broader application of the ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture, requesting that FAO provide countries with technical assistance, especially for the problems confronting the world's small-scale fisheries, including inland fisheries.

This was one of the largest Committee meetings, attended by 565 participants, including 115 Member States, specialized UN agencies and observers from over 70 intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations.

"The Committee on Fisheries is a unique international meeting where delegates can discuss the most pressing issues confronting fisheries and aquaculture and make the most appropriate decisions. The increasing number of participants attests to its importance in the global arena," said Mohammed Pourkazemi, Chairperson of the meeting.

The Committee recognized that illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a major global threat to long-term sustainable fisheries, particularly to developing countries. Noting the adoption of the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures, the Committee agreed that port state measures are a powerful and cost-effective tool in combating IUU fishing and welcomed the forthcoming FAO Technical Consultation on Flag State Performance. It also gave its support to the development of a global record of fishing vessels - an online database to provide vessel-related information on fishing and support vessels - as another useful tool in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

During its week-long meeting, the Committee also adopted three sets of guidelines - on aquaculture certification, on the ecolabelling of fish and fishery product from inland capture fisheries, and on bycatch management and reduction of discards. Noting the important role of small-scale fisheries, which provides livelihoods for over 540 million people, the Committee asked FAO to prepare guidelines on small-scale fisheries, focusing on the needs of developing countries and complementing the Code.

Members also asked FAO to prepare a report on the extent of the implementation of the 1999 International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks.

Aquaculture, acknowledged by the meeting as a key contributor to future food and nutrition security and for its overall benefits to social and economic well-being, needs better management to ensure sustainable and responsible growth.

Regarding climate change, the Committee told FAO to raise awareness of the role of fisheries and aquaculture in ensuring food and nutritional security and how climate change could affect this relationship.

The Committee also endorsed the reports of the two intersessional Sub-Committee meetings on aquaculture and trade and discussed the programme of work for FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. The 30^th session of COFI will take place in July 2012.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/50902/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/50902/icode/ Wed, 09 Feb 2011 23:00:00 GMT Fish consumption reaches all-time high The contribution of fish to global diets has reached a record of about 17 kg per person on average, supplying over three billion people with at least 15 percent of their average animal protein intake. This increase is due mainly to the ever-growing production of aquaculture which is set to overtake capture fisheries as a source of food fish, according to the State of the World’s Fisheries and Aquaculture released today. The report also stressed that the status of global fish stocks has not improved. 31 January 2011, Rome - The contribution of fish to global diets has reached a record of about 17 kg per person on average, supplying over three billion people with at least 15 percent of their average animal protein intake. This increase is due mainly to the ever-growing production of aquaculture which is set to overtake capture fisheries as a source of food fish, according to the State of the World's Fisheries and Aquaculture, released today. The report also stressed that the status of global fish stocks has not improved.

Overall, fisheries and aquaculture support the livelihoods of an estimated 540 million people, or eight percent of the world population. People have never eaten as much fish and more people than ever are employed in or depend on the sector.

Fish products continue to be the most-traded of food commodities, worth a record $102 billion in 2008, up nine percent from 2007.

The overall percentage of overexploited, depleted or recovering fish stocks in the world's oceans has not dropped and is estimated to be slightly higher than in 2006. About 32 percent of world fish stocks are estimated to be overexploited, depleted or recovering and need to be urgently rebuilt, the report says.

On the other end of the scale, 15 percent of the stock groups monitored by FAO were estimated to be underexploited (three percent) or moderately exploited (12 percent) and therefore able to produce more than their current catches.

"That there has been no improvement in the status of stocks is a matter of great concern," said senior FAO fisheries expert Richard Grainger, one of the report's editors. "The percentage of overexploitation needs to go down although at least we seem to be reaching a plateau."

Tighter control

The report examines the growing legal efforts to enforce tighter controls on the fisheries sector, for example, through trade measures and against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The trade measures are meant to block entry of such fish and fish products from international trade in an effort to better manage the entire fisheries sector and reduce levels of overexploitation. A recent study estimates the cost of illegal and unreported fishing alone at $10-23.5 billion per year.

The report also notes increasing debate about a proposed global record of fishing vessels, which ideally would assign a unique vessel identifier to each vessel that would remain constant regardless of ownership or flag changes over time. Such transparency would make it easier to police vessels engaged in illegal fishing activities.

The increasing demand for fish highlights the need for the sustainable management of aquatic resources. The report recommends an ecosystem approach to fisheries, which is an integrated approach for balancing societal objectives with the state of the fishery and its natural and human environment.

Snapshot of the sector

Total world production of fish and fish products rose from 140 million tonnes in 2007 to 145 million tonnes in 2009, according to the FAO report. Much of the fish now comes from aquaculture, which is growing at the rate of almost seven percent a year.

The report held up aquaculture policies in Southeast Asia — where fish is a fundamental part of people's diets — as a good example of balanced management. The report praised continuously improving government interventions built on comparative advantages and economic incentives that lead to growth, food security and better living standards.

The report contains a special chapter on inland fisheries. Inland fisheries are often overlooked by policymakers and irrigation and hydroelectric schemes are at times planned without regard for the impact on inland fishers' livelihoods. However, inland fisheries supports 61 million people worldwide.

"Fish is a good quality and high protein food and the sector contributes in an important way to world food security," said Grainger.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/50260/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/50260/icode/ Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:00:00 GMT Fisheries experts agree on first global guidelines on reducing fishing discards The first global guidelines for bycatch management and reduction of fishing discards were released today by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. They now go to the Committee on Fisheries for endorsement when it meets in Rome at the end of the month. The guidelines were agreed by fisheries experts from 35 countries who met at FAO last month. 14 January 2011, Rome - The first global guidelines for bycatch management and reduction of fishing discards were released today by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. They now go to the Committee on Fisheries for endorsement when it meets in Rome at the end of the month. The guidelines were agreed by fisheries experts from 35 countries who met at FAO last month.

The guidelines cover all types of bycatch including discards, that is, fish that are caught accidently and then thrown back into the sea either dead or dying. Unmanaged bycatch and discards threaten the long term sustainability of many fisheries and adversely affect the livelihoods of millions of fishers and fishworkers.

Bycatch may also include endangered species, juvenile fish, turtles, seabirds, dolphins and so on. Depending on the definition used, current bycatch may be in excess of 20 million tonnes a year. In some countries, bycatch has an economic value and is consumed, making it hard to estimate the scale of the wastage.

"These are the first guidelines to cover all species encountering fishing gear," said FAO fishing technology expert Frank Chopin. "The guidelines extend the principles of fishery management to all species and all areas of concern. Although the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries refers to bycatch and discards, these guidelines elaborate more clearly how countries should address bycatch and discard problems in practice". He noted that the bycatch guidelines had been requested by the countries themselves and are another important step towards applying an ecosystem approach to fisheries management.

The guidelines cover bycatch management planning, improvement of fishing gear, fisheries closures, economic incentives to facilitate uptake of measures, monitoring, research and development, building the capacity of states to follow the guidelines and other relevant issues.

Chopin said care had been taken so that the guidelines would not place an undue burden on poor artisanal fishers and on developing states. "The guidelines emphasize doing an assessment of the situation first to see if there is a problem. The social, economic and biological impacts of applying these guidelines need to be studied in each case," he said.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/49486/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/49486/icode/ Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:00:00 GMT Shining a spotlight on illegal fishing In a bid to shed new light on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, a FAO Technical Consultation has agreed to identify a structure and strategy for the development of the Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport Vessels and Supply Vessels. 22 November 2010, Rome - In a bid to shed new light on the shadowy world of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, an FAO Technical Consultation has agreed to identify a structure and strategy for the development and implementation of the Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport Vessels and Supply Vessels, FAO said today.

The recommendations will be presented to the January 2011 meeting of FAO’s Committee on Fisheries for approval.

IUU fishing remains one of the greatest threats to sustainable fisheries and the millions of people whose livelihoods depend on them. While no exact figures are known, it is widely accepted that the scale of illegal fishing is huge - one recent study estimated that it could be worth an estimated $10-23 billion dollars annually.

Lack of information a major challenge

One of the greatest obstacles faced by fisheries authorities and regional fisheries management organizations as they seek to detect and eradicate IUU fishing, is a lack of access to even basic information on fishing vessel identification, ownership, control and activity.

This provides easy passage for the criminals backing IUU fishing because their vessels can move about at will, change flag and identity, and vary the owner and operator details so that legitimate authorities find it virtually impossible to track them,

The recommendations that have been developed are designed to create a Global Record that will remove this lack of transparency and strongly compliment existing tools and measures available to combat IUU fishing by providing a single web-based portal through which information such as vessel identification, capability, capacity, history, ownership and activity can be easily accessed.

The information is currently available to varying degrees within national jurisdictions but this project offers the International community the opportunity to cooperate in a way that can really make a difference.

The Global Record will include not only fishing vessels, but also refrigerated transport vessels and supply vessels which support fishing vessels at sea. Such vessels are often integral to IUU fishing operations.

The Record will also apply to vessels in all areas of operation including the high seas and waters under national jurisdiction. This recognises that the majority of IUU fishing actually occurs in waters under national jurisdiction and much of that illegal catch can end up as an export commodity.

A stepwise approach

FAO member countries suggest the Global Record should be established as soon as possible incorporating flexibility and a phased implementation approach so that all States can develop their capacity to participate. The needs of developing countries were specifically recognised and FAO is requested to work closely with them and to improve capacity where needed and coordinate their full participation.

Phase one of the Global Record will involve the introduction of larger vessels in the global fishing fleet into the Record. All vessels greater than 100 gross register tonnage (GRT) or greater than 24 metres in length (LOA) will be eligible for immediate inclusion but countries will also have the discretion to introduce other vessels if they wish. The first step in the introduction process is to obtain a ‘unique vessel identifier’ (UVI) for each vessel and this will be coordinated by flag State authorities.

The biggest hurdle still to be overcome is that of identifying sustainable long-term funding for the initiative. Substantial development and operating funds will be needed and States will be asked to urgently consider how they can contribute.

The value of having relevant vessel and vessel-related information readily available to fisheries managers and fisheries enforcement agencies has long been recognised but over time the Global Record could have many other important uses.

It could be a useful tool in helping to control fishing capacity, assisting in the management of safety at sea, supporting maritime security efforts and improving the health and welfare of fishing crews. The fishing vessel is at the heart of all these issues and the Global Record will provide a means to identify, monitor and control its activity - something that is currently not possible on a global scale.

Market demands

Many large-scale seafood retailers are asking that their providers certify that their products have come from responsibly-managed fisheries. In January 2010 new EU regulations came into effect requiring fish exporters to show that their products were harvested legally as a condition of entry to the European market. The Global Record will provide a useful reference point in that certification process and provide end-users with an ability to check the identity of the vessel.

The idea of a Global Record of fishing vessels first emerged in the late 1990s and fisheries management experts have promoted the concept ever since. In 2005, Fisheries Ministers from around the world met at FAO and collectively called for such a comprehensive Global Record to be established.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/47812/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/47812/icode/ Sun, 21 Nov 2010 23:00:00 GMT First global guidelines for aquaculture certification finalized The first global guidelines for aquaculture certification have been adopted by the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries, part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Over 50 countries attended the meeting of the sub-committee, which is the only global intergovernmental forum discussing aquaculture development. 1 October 2010, Rome/Phuket, Thailand - The first global guidelines for aquaculture certification have been adopted by the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries, part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Over 50 countries attended the meeting of the sub-committee, which is the only global intergovernmental forum discussing aquaculture development.

The guidelines, which are non-binding, cover animal health, food safety, the environment and socio-economic issues relating to aquaculture workers. They will now go to the Committee on Fisheries when it meets in Rome in January 2011 for approval.

If the guidelines are followed in full by countries, certification will enable consumers standing at the fish counter to know whether the shrimp they are considering buying were raised without damaging a coastal mangrove swamp, whether the fish farm worker was paid a fair wage, and whether the shell fish is free of contamination.

Although aquatic animal health and food safety issues have been subjected to certification and international compliance for many years, the new guidelines mark the first time animal welfare, environmental issues and socio-economic aspects have been subjected to compliance or certification.

"These guidelines have been developed to bring some harmony to what is the fastest growing food sector in the world," said FAO aquaculture expert Rohana Subasinghe. "Certification of aquaculture products has proliferated over the years claiming all kinds of things. There was no criteria, no benchmarks or agreed principles. Aquaculture products are globally traded and it is important that we ensure responsible production and consumer satisfaction."

The guidelines were finalized after four years of consultation and debate among governments, producers, processors and traders.

Eighty percent of fish farmers are small-scale, often with a backyard pond for fish or a shrimp pond along the coast. One thorny issue that had to be resolved was how a costly certification process could be engineered so as not to shut small-scale producers out of the market.

The guidelines call on governments to support capacity building of fish producers for developing and complying with aquaculture certification systems. "There are ways for small producers to operate within a modern certification system. For example, in India and Thailand clusters of fish farmers share the costs of certification so they are not too heavy for each farmer," Subasinghe said.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/45834/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/45834/icode/ Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:00:00 GMT New fishing techniques, equipment can help sea turtles Sea turtles have swum the seas for almost 60 million years, but decreases in their populations have many worried that long history could be coming to an end. A range of human activities imperil these gentle giants, including fishing. But fisheries is also an area where the know-how and equipment needed to reduce turtle deaths does exist. On World Oceans day, FAO is highlighting a new set of guidelines that can help. 8 June 2010, Rome - Sea turtles have swum the seas for almost 60 million years, but decreases in their populations over the last century have many observers worried that long history could soon be coming to a close.

A wide range of human activities imperil these gentle giants. One of them is fishing: turtles are accidentally captured in nets or on hooks — a phenomenon referred to as "by-catch" — and often die before they can be released.

Exact numbers for sea turtles lost to fisheries by-catch each year are hard to come by, but it's generally agreed that by-catch of certain species - the Pacific loggerhead, the Pacific leatherback, and the Eastern Indian coast olive ridley, in particular - is a problem.

Fishing is not the only factor playing in to sea turtle deaths. Coastal development is destroying fragile turtle nesting areas. And turtles also consume litter — in particular discarded plastic bags, which look like the jellyfish they normally eat -- and die as a result.

But fisheries is an area where the know-how and equipment needed to reduce turtle deaths does exist, says FAO — and where there is tremendous opportunity to tackle that problem.

New guidelines can help

The UN agency is highlighting this message on the occasion of World Oceans Day 2010 by promoting the use of a new set of Guidelines to Reduce Sea Turtle Mortality in Fishing Operations.

The guidelines build on global efforts aimed at developing techniques that reduce sea turtle mortality due to fisheries and show that often-simple changes in fishing techniques and practices, coupled with the use of "turtle-friendly" technology, can make a difference. It includes drawings and diagrams that can guide fishers in taking onboard its suggestions. The various methods are categorized according to the type of fishery to which they are suited and the advantages and disadvantages of each method are summarized for ease of reference.

"These guidelines provide information about how to change gear and fishing methods, and how the industry can adopt voluntary approaches to reduce sea turtle mortality," said Gabriella Bianchi of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. "They also make suggestions about management actions, like by-catch fees, as well as best practices such as hotspot avoidance, proper handling and release, and reducing derelict fishing gear."

One proven technique is to replace traditional "j-style" hooks with "circle hooks," which are not easily swallowed by turtles. More careful selection of bait to avoid foods favoured by turtles and dying bait a different colour can reduce by-catch as well. Slightly changing the depth at which hooks are set and installing "escape hatches" and "turtle excluder devices" on nets are other strategies recommended by the guidelines.

The theme of World Oceans Day this year is "Our Oceans: Opportunities and Challenges".]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/42968/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/42968/icode/ Tue, 08 Jun 2010 06:00:00 GMT Shedding light on child labour in fisheries More attention should be paid to the plight of child workers in the fisheries sector, according to a group of experts convened by FAO and the International Labour Organization to study the problem. Some 132 million girls and boys aged 5 to 14 years old work in agriculture - child workers in fisheries and aquaculture are lumped into that total. Because hard data on child labour in fisheries is lacking, policy-makers face challenges in tackling it. 10 May 2010, Rome – More attention should be paid to the plight of child workers in the fisheries sector, according to a group of experts convened by FAO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in order to shine light on this often-overlooked problem.

"Worldwide, 132 million girls and boys aged 5 to 14 years old work in agriculture — this figure includes children working in fisheries and aquaculture," says Rolf Willmann, of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. “But because child labor in fisheries is so widely dispersed in small-scale and family enterprises — or is actively hidden by employers — it is difficult to obtain hard data on the true extent of the problem," he added. "This makes it difficult for many policy-makers to tackle it.”

To start plugging information gaps, FAO, in cooperation with the ILO, recently convened a workshop of international experts to share information and come up with policy recommendations specific to child labor in fisheries. Core recommendations will be presented by FAO at a major international conference on child labor set to occur in The Hague May 10-11.

The workshop marks the first time the problem of child labor in fisheries has been dealt with in a coordinated way at the global level.

One of the most dangerous jobs in the world

Fishing is probably one of the most hazardous occupations in the world, FAO deems.

Activities in which children engage can range from actively fishing, cooking on boats, diving for reef fish or to free snagged nets, herding fish into nets, peeling shrimp or cleaning fish and crabs, repairing nets, sorting, unloading, and transporting catches, and processing or selling fish.

Workshop participants confirmed that child labour is most common in small-scale, non-industrial, fishing.

Children in fisheries can find themselves in a variety of circumstances, from helping their fathers feed their families to forced servitude, according to a paper presented at the workshop by the World Fish Centre. At the worst end of the spectrum are cases of child trafficking, the paper noted.

In many cases, the risk to children goes beyond the danger of physical harm. "Child labour often reinforces a vicious cycle of poverty, has a negative impact on literacy rates and school attendance and limits children’s mental and physical health and development," according to Willmann.

Towards solutions

The workshop identified a complex mix of local circumstances and other factors that feed into the problem:

social inequalities
unemployment, poverty and vulnerability
seasonal work cycles and migratory lifestyles
poor quality or low relevance education
lack of access to education for geographic or cost reasons
low levels of parental education
cultural practices
the absence of policies and legislation on child labor and inadequate enforcement

"One thing is clear, there are no silver bullets here," said Bernd Seiffert of FAO's Economic and Social Development Department, who participated in the meeting. "Child labour is a complex problem and requires well coordinated, multisectoral responses."

Workshop participants proposed a range of actions that should be taken at the international, national, and local levels. These include legal measures and enforcement, policy interventions on a number of fronts including education, development and livelihoods support, and better data collection to close information gaps. (See document at right.)

A need to focus and accelerate action

“Although agriculture, including fisheries, has the largest share of child workers world-wide, the resources allocated to tackle the problem in this sector are comparatively very, very small," said Seiffert. "Most attention has been given to the issue within large scale industries and international value chains. Something needs to be done urgently to ensure that the resources allocated to tacking child labour in agriculture are proportionate to the scale of the problem if we are to achieve the global goal of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016,” he said.

A comprehensive final report of the workshop and a joint ILO/FAO technical publication are in the works and will be released later this year.

In the shadows

Most experts agree that child labor in fishing is a widespread problem. But specifics are lacking — statistics on child labor are insufficient and additionally often lump fisheries, forestry, agriculture and livestock-raising together. Combined, these four sectors are estimated to have the largest percentage of child workers – 70 percent of the world total.

Presentations made at the workshop indicate that child labor in fisheries occurs in all world regions, although it is most problematic in Africa and Asia.

Workshop participants shared their knowledge of and experiences from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, India, Senegal, Thailand and Uganda.

In one Sub Saharan country, it was found that children under 15 years of age comprised one-third of the labour force in capture fisheries, boat building and repair, and fish processing and trading.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/42133/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/42133/icode/ Sun, 09 May 2010 22:00:00 GMT More countries back treaty to deter illegal fishing Five more nations have signed a FAO-brokered treaty that, once it enters into force, will deny access to fishing ports to ships involved in illegal fishing. The new signatories are Australia, Gabon, Peru, New Zealand and the Russian Federation. This brings the number of countries that have signed the "Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing" to sixteen. 29 April 2010, Rome - Five more nations have signed the FAO-brokered treaty that once it enters into force will deny access to fishing ports to ships involved in illegal fishing.

The new signatories include: Australia (27/04/2010), Gabon (26/04/2010), Peru (3/03/2010), New Zealand (15/12/2009) and the Russian Federation (29/04/2010).

This brings the number of countries that have signed the "Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing" to sixteen.

Signatures represent a signal of support for the Agreement and are an important first step in the process, followed by ratification at the national level and then official notification of ratification to FAO.

Once notice of the 25th ratification is received by FAO, the Agreement will become active. It will be the first legally binding international treaty focused specifically on the problem of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. It will also be the only such treaty to enlist so-called "non-flag states" in this effort alongside "flag states," which are primarily responsible for the conduct of vessels flying their flags on the high seas. (See definitions at right).

Eleven other FAO members -- Angola, Brazil, Chile, the European Community, Iceland, Indonesia, Norway, Samoa, Sierra Leone, the United States and Uruguay -- signed the Agreement in November 2009 after its text was approved by the FAO governing conference.

"Once it becomes active, this will be the most significant international treaty dealing with fisheries since the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement," said Changchui He, FAO's Deputy Director-General, following the signing of the Agreement by Andrey Krainiy, Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries of the Russian Federation, on April 29 during a ceremony at FAO.

"We take it as a very positive sign that the Russian Federation as well as other recent signatories such as Australia, Gabon, Peru, and New Zealand have come on board. It indicates a broad level of support. The sooner the treaty receives the required 25 ratifications to become active, the sooner countries will have a valuable new tool for combating illegal fishing," he added.

An effective tool

"Port state measures" generally refer to actions taken to detect illegal fishing when ships come to port. This can include undertaking inspections of documentation, catches and equipment when boats land to take on fuel and supplies or offload fish, or requiring vessels to make activity reports before entering port. Vessels found to be involved in IUU fishing can be denied docking rights, causing considerable financial losses to their owners. Such measures are among the most-effective means of preventing the import, transhipment or laundering of illegally caught fish.

The text of the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing is available online; additional background information can be found here and here.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/41879/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/41879/icode/ Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:00:00 GMT New market access rules, economic crisis affecting seafood industry Fish is one of the world's most hotly traded food commodities: 53 million tonnes of it are traded internationally each year, with a trade value of $102 billion. A large share of that fish is from the developing world, the source of 50 percent of all fish imports by rich nations. This wins them both revenue and jobs. But getting their fish to market isn't always easy, according to reports prepared for an FAO meeting this week in Buenos Aires. 26 April 2010, Rome/Buenos Aires - Used to be, seafood was largely something only folks on the coasts got to enjoy, while fresh fish was for those lucky enough to live near streams or lakes. Nowadays, though, fish is everywhere. And not just Lake Perch or Salmon. Odd, exotic fish from far-away places. Tilapia. Swai. Mahi Mahi. Kingclip.

Fish have gone global. They are, in fact, one of the world's most hotly traded food commodities: some 37 percent of all fish production — 53 million tonnes — is traded internationally. Exports of fish in 2008 were valued at a cool $102 billion.

The lion's share of fish being traded is imported by developed countries — 60% of it, in weight terms, and 80% of it in value terms. Europe, Japan and the United States alone account for 70% of all fish imports, in terms of value. The total value of all fish imports in 2008 was $108 billion.

For the most part, that fish is from the developing world — the source of 50 percent of all fish imports by rich nations, in value terms ($43 billion).

This means revenue. Net export earnings for developing countries from fish trade currently run $27 billion a year.

It also means jobs. Some 45 million people are directly employed, either full or part time, in fisheries and aquaculture. An additional 6.5 million are engaged in the sector on an occasional basis. Factoring in jobs in processing — mainly female labor — marketing and service industries and including the family members of all people employed, an estimated half a billion people rely on fish for some or all of their incomes.

Getting fish to market isn't always easy, however. And according to reports prepared for a meeting this week of FAO's Subcommittee on Fish Trade (April 26-29, Buenos Aires), for developing countries, doing so is getting harder.

Challenges, old and new

As of 1 January 2010, the world's largest import market for fish, the European Union, requires that all imports of wild fish be accompanied by a certificate validated by the fisheries authorities of the country that flagged the vessel that originally caught them. The aim is to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, a major problem -- but compliance is placing new, often difficult burdens, on exporters, says FAO. Other major markets concerned with IUU are contemplating similar measures.

Meanwhile, a growing number of food retailers are committing to carrying only fish that has been certified as from a sustainable fishery — Trader Joe's in the U.S. is one example. A range of both government and private, non-government certification schemes are being used to do this, raising the compliance bar further.

For small-scale producers, acquiring technical know how, becoming familiar with best practices, investing in upgrading facilities and equipment — and learning the paperwork and procedures -- necessary to meet such requirements is a challenge, especially if they are trying to comply with more than one standard.

Key global forum

This is why FAO's Subcommittee on Fish Trade has a key role to play.

"This body is a unique global forum where policy makers from importing and exporting countries, from aquaculture producers, Coastal, Flag and Market States come together to find ways to create an enabling environment for the sector to develop while successfully addressing the challenges that development presents," said FAO Assistant Director-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ichiro Nomura, in an address at the start of the meeting.

"Sustainable trade of wild capture fish and seafood depends on a natural renewable resource base that is managed in a sustainable and responsible way. Market access requirements can be shaped to create incentives to achieve sustainable fisheries. The challenge is for policy-makers to ensure these measures are sound, science - based, transparent and do not create unnecessary barriers," Nomura added.

This year's meeting in Argentina represents the first time since its creation in 1984 that the Subcommittee meeting has been held outside of Europe and hosted by a G77 nation. This year's session is being chaired by Ramiro Sánchez of Argentina's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.

Sound management must underpin it all

According to FAO, good management of fisheries by developing nations is essential if they are going to continue to benefit over the longer term.

Increased demand for fish to supply international markets can sometimes result in excessive fishing pressure, potentially leading to over-exploitation and wasteful use of some fish stocks.

Last year FAO prepared a set of Guidelines for Responsible Fish Trade, which contain best practices and technical advice on how to maximize the poverty reduction, food security and nutrition benefits of fish trade while minimizing potential negative aspects.

Impacts of economic crisis

International trade in fish grew through most of 2008, but the global economic downturn led a drop in imports in almost all markets in 2009. Fish exports grew 8.7 percent in 2008 to $102 billion; data for 2009 are stilling coming in, but estimates point to falling values and volumes both.

The EU is the largest market for imported fish. The value of imports to the EU-27 from non-European suppliers reaching $24.6 billion in 2008. Figures for 2009 show a 6 percent fall in Euro terms.

In 2009, with $13.2 billion, Japan was the largest single-country import market, followed by the USA with $13.1 billion.

Note to editors: click here to download a fact sheet on the global fish trade

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/41427/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/41427/icode/ Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:00:00 GMT The case of the mysterious seafood Illegal fishing damages fisheries and undermines the livelihoods of the communities that depend on them. Fraudulent product substitution and false documentation are often used to get illegally caught fish to market. An unknown percentage of seafood on the shelves simply isn't what's it's purported to be. FAO recently held a workshop to look at how forensic science can be used in fisheries enforcement. 1 February 2010, Rome - The first victim was a Caucasian male in his late 30s. He popped down to the pub for lunch and ordered fish and chips. As he enjoyed his meal alongside a pint, he thought to himself that he'd never tasted haddock so fresh. But he was wrong. What he was eating wasn't haddock at all.

The second victim was a young Japanese woman in her early twenties. On a business trip to the U.S., she ordered tuna sashimi for lunch. It seemed fishy to her—and she was dead right.

The third was a South African fisherman we'll call "Nate." He never ate a thing, but as he plied the waters of the new fishery he'd recently started working, elsewhere poachers harvested protected spiny lobster and exported them with false documents—further damaging recovering fishing grounds Nate hoped to one day fish again.

Seafood identity theft?

In each of these three hypothetical cases the culprit was mistaken or misrepresented identity—of seafood.

"Identifying unprocessed fish is usually fairly easy," says Michele Kuruc of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. "But today seafood is transported far abroad, to places where it may not be well known. Plus, as the industry has globalized, it is common that fish products are processed on floating factories before they come to shore. What inspectors see often doesn't look much like a fish in the wild."

In some instances, accurately identifying fish may be beyond the abilities of inspectors. Innocent clerical errors can end up turning one type of fish into another.

Or unscrupulous fishers and traders game the system to avoid restrictions or taxes.

According to Kuruc, those involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing use many methods to conceal their illegal activities and get their ill-gotten goods to market. "Fraudulent product substitution and use of false labels and documentation are frequently employed to transport and market products illicitly," she says.

The result? An unknown percentage of seafood on the shelves simply isn't what's it's purported to be.

Big stakes

This is a problem. Today's more conscious consumers are aware of the multiple health benefits of eating seafood—but are also keen to be sure they're eating fish that has been caught or farmed responsibly and is safe to eat.

And there's much more at stake.

In recent years a number of major food retailers have committed to stocking only seafood certified as sustainable. As of January 1, 2010, the world's biggest seafood market, the European Union, has put in place regulations aimed at blocking imports of fish not harvested legally.

With 110 million tonnes of seafood consumed globally per year, international trade in fish is valued at a record high of $86 billion annually and is a major source of employment and government revenue for developing countries, where many of the fishing grounds that feed the first world are found.

Additionally, concerns about the wellbeing of many fish stocks necessitates diligent oversight of what fish are being taken and where.

Forensic science can help

Forensic technologies based on genetics and chemistry are already being used by some countries to monitor and control trade in produce, animals and timber. So FAO recently convened a workshop of experts, inspectors, law enforcement officials, scientists and academics to discuss how they might be more widely deployed in fisheries enforcement.

"We're interested in promoting wider use of available forensic techniques, in particular by developing countries, Kuruc says."Some countries have successfully used various forensic methods in investigations and court cases, but many fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance personnel still remain unaware of their existence."

DNA analysis can reveal the species of a suspect white fillet. Chemical tests on fish earbones reveal absorbed nutrients and pinpoint the region where they were caught.

"We need to push the envelope, because we can be sure that those involved in IUU fishing are doing so," Kuruc added. "One workshop participant related how a group convicted of illegally trading abalone confessed that they learned techniques for destroying evidence by watching CSI: Miami."

In addition to surveying the state of the art and brainstorming how forensics might be used in fisheries and identifying needs—especially for capacity building in developing countries—the meeting also looked at best practices in handling evidence, how inspectors should be trained, and identifying laboratories capable of handling testing. (In many cases, labs in developing countries currently testing for food quality could be upgraded to conduct forensic work.)

The group also agreed to operate as an ad hoc FAO reference network that can be tapped by authorities around the world for guidance and advice.

"Fish can be properly identified if samples are handled properly, get to the right labs, and checked using forensic techniques," said Kuruc. "So the idea is to help countries that don't have such facilities and know-how access so them, so they can identify and prosecute cases of malfeasance."

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/38957/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/38957/icode/ Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:00:00 GMT Fisheries advisory panel offers recommendations on CITES proposals A panel of independent experts convened by FAO has issued recommendations regarding proposals to limit international trade in several commercially exploited aquatic animals under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The proposals relate to several shark and coral species and Atlantic bluefin tuna. Rome, 14 December 2009 - An advisory panel of independent experts convened by FAO has issued recommendations regarding six proposals to limit international trade in a number of commercially exploited aquatic animals under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The CITES Convention was established to protect wild species whose status is being directly affected by international trade. It is not designed to protect species that are endangered for other reasons. Once a species is listed by CITES, its international trade is subject to varying degrees of control depending on its status, ranging from controlled trading (if listed on CITES Appendix II) to outright bans (Appendix I).

The proposals, submitted by various CITES parties, request the Convention to control international trade in certain shark and coral species and to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna. They will be considered for listing at the 15^th Conference of CITES parties (Doha, Qatar, 13-25 March 2010).

The advisory panel consisted of 22 international fishery experts from 15 different countries. It was convened to evaluate the proposals according to criteria established by CITES and to give independent and impartial recommendations based on the experts' knowledge and on the scientific evidence presented in each proposal. This follows a formal process through which FAO channels advice from external fishery scientists to CITES. The CITES Conference of Parties will take the final decision regarding listing of proposed species.

Panel outcomes

Following a thorough six-day review and using the CITES criteria, the panel determined that sufficient evidence exists to warrant placing the following species on CITES Appendix II: Oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus), Porbeagle (Lamna nasus), and Scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini). In addition, the proposed listing of "look-alike" shark species to help enforcement for Scalloped hammerhead shark was found to be justified in two of the four cases, Great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran) and Smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena).

The panel did not reach consensus regarding the proposed listing under CITES Appendix I of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), however a majority of the panel agreed that the available evidence supports the proposal. There was consensus that the evidence available supports the inclusion of Atlantic bluefin tuna on Appendix II.

For the remaining species under consideration, Spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) and all species of the coral family Coralliidae, the panel assessed that they did not meet the criteria required by CITES for listing on Appendix II. However, the panel did note that inadequate management in many areas of distribution of these species represents a cause for "serious concern". It urged that these shortcomings be remedied by relevant fishing nations and regional organizations in order to prevent rates of exploitation for these animals from exceeding acceptable levels.

The full report of the advisory panel will be available within the next month and accessible on the website of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/38195/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/38195/icode/ Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:00:00 GMT Fisheries and aquaculture: multiple risks from climate change Marine capture fisheries already facing multiple challenges due to overfishing, habitat loss and weak management are poorly positioned to cope with new problems stemming from climate change, a new FAO study suggests. Small island developing states-which depend on fisheries and aquaculture for at least 50% of their animal protein intake-are in a particularly vulnerable position. 11 December 2009, Rome - Marine capture fisheries already facing multiple challenges due to overfishing, habitat loss and weak management are poorly positioned to cope with new problems stemming from climate change, a new FAO study suggests.

Small island developing states—which depend on fisheries and aquaculture for at least 50 percent of their animal protein intake—are in a particularly vulnerable position.

Inland fisheries—90 percent of which are found in Africa and Asia—are also at risk, FAO's study found, threatening the food supply and livelihoods of some of the world's poorest populations. Warming in Africa and central Asia is expected to be above the global mean, and predictions suggest that by 2100 significant negative impacts will be felt across 25 percent of Africa's inland aquatic ecosystems.

And fish farming stands to be affected as well. Nearly 65 percent of aquaculture is inland and concentrated mostly in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, often in the delta areas of major rivers at the mid- to upper levels of tidal ranges. Sea level rise over the next decades will increase upstream salinity, affecting fish farms.

The study, "Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture," which includes contributions from experts from around the world, including from the Worldfish Centre, Globec, NACA, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the University of East Anglia, is one of the most comprehensive surveys to date of existing scientific knowledge on the impacts of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture.

Covering some 500 scientific papers, the picture FAO's review paints is one of an already-vulnerable sector facing widespread and often profound changes.

"High confidence" scenarios

According to the FAO study, certain general impacts on marine and aquatic systems as a result of large-scale changes related to temperature, winds and acidification can be predicted "with a high degree of confidence."

At "rapid time scales" of a few years increasing temperatures will have impacts on the physiology of fish due to limited oxygen transport to tissues at higher temperatures. This will result in changes in distributions of both freshwater and marine species, with most marine species ranges being driven toward the poles, expanding the range of warmer-water species and contracting that of colder-water species.

At the mercy of temperature

Since most aquatic animals are cold-blooded, their metabolic rates are strongly affected by environmental conditions, especially temperature. Changes in temperature can have significant influences on the reproductive cycles of fish, including the speed at which they reach sexual maturity, the timing of spawning and the size of the eggs they lay.

So in addition to changing where fish are found, there is "high confidence" that climate change will cause changes in abundance as well as in "recruitment," the life cycle processes through which young fish enter the fertile and exploitable adult population as they reach maturity.

Populations at the poleward extents of their ranges will likely increase in abundance with warmer temperatures, whereas populations in more equatorial parts of their range will decline.

For fish farming, temperature increases in temperate zones could exceed the optimal range for many of the organisms that are being cultured today.

Trouble spots

Cod in the North Atlantic, for decades a troubled fishery, will likely be hard hit. Temperature-related fluctuations in plankton populations there are already impacting the survival rates of young cod. Cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank are at the species' southern-most limit and are particularly vulnerable. Models project that cod survival in the Gulf of Maine will decline. Similarly, simulations suggest that in the Northeast Atlantic increasing temperatures will lead to declines in North Sea cod populations.

Species adapted to cool and narrow temperature conditions, such as Atlantic salmon, "may be extirpated from their present habitats because of the combined impacts of warming, changing habitats, introduced competitors and predators and increased parasitism," the report found.

Antarctic krill have already declined between 38-75 percent per decade since 1976 probably as a result of the reduction in winter sea ice around the western Antarctic Peninsula. This has significant implications for the Southern Ocean food web, where krill are the primary food for penguins, seals, and whales.

Coral reefs have long been identified as being at particular risk from climate change impacts related to increasing temperatures, acidity, storm intensity and sea levels. They provide habitat for one-quarter of all marine species and are important sources of protein and income for many developing countries.

Sector crucial for millions of the world's poorest people

Some 520 million depend on fisheries and aquaculture as a source of protein and income. For 400 million of the poorest of these, fish provides half or more of their animal protein and dietary minerals.

Many fishing and coastal communities already subsist in precarious and vulnerable conditions because of poverty and rural underdevelopment, with their wellbeing often undermined by overexploitation of fishery resources and degraded ecosystems.

One crucial issue, the report notes, relates to how well such communities will be able to adapt to change. For example, while many African coastal fisheries are not likely to face huge impacts, the region's "adaptive capacity" to respond to climate change is low, rendering communities there highly vulnerable even to minor changes in climate and temperature.

"Urgent adaptation measures are required in response to opportunities and threats to food and livelihood provision due to climatic variations," FAO's report concluded.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/38060/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/38060/icode/ Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:00:00 GMT A better future for coastal fishers in South and Southeast Asia Driven largely by awareness of marine resource depletion and vulnerability of their coastal communities, six countries today signed on to a Spanish grant of $19.5 million aimed at improving livelihoods and the future of millions of small-scale fishers. 9 December 2009, Bangkok/Madrid - Driven largely by awareness of marine resource depletion and vulnerability of their coastal communities, six

south and south-east Asian countries today signed on to a Spanish grant of US$19.5 million aimed at improving livelihoods and the future of millions of small-scale fishers.

The Spanish grant will allow FAO to implement over the next four years a Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme in six participating countries.

This is the most important programme in fisheries Spain is supporting in Asia in terms of the vast number of people to benefit from the assistance, remarked the Ambassador of Spain to Thailand, Ignacio Sagaz, during the signing ceremony today.

There are an estimated 7 million fishers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam, of which approximately 80 percent are small-scale fishers. The total number of people directly or indirectly employed in small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in these countries is on the order of 25 million.

Coastal fisheries make a significant contribution to food security and animal protein intake in particular, foreign exchange earnings, employment and poverty alleviation.

"We see mounting constraints including rising Asian populations, greater numbers of fishing vessels, fishing gear and fishing pressure, declining and threatened aquatic stocks, and environmental degradation. These issues trigger conflicts both within the fishery sector and between other sectors for use of finite resources, both within countries and even between them", remarked He Changchui, Asia-Pacific chief of FAO.

Moreover, recent events in the region including flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons have caused havoc demonstrating the vulnerability of small-scale fisher communities and their livelihoods, Dr He added.

The assistance has been designed to assist government responses to complex political issues.

"The project symbolizes Spain's commitment to the UN Millennium Development goals for the eradication of poverty and hunger," stressed Mr Sagaz.

The FAO programme manager, Jose Parajua, indicated that past national polices and plans for small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in the region have focused primarily on increasing production, exports and value addition, and resource management.

The Spanish funded programme will address poverty issues and the promotion of alternative livelihoods to reduce dependence on fishing and encouraging fishers to exit the sector - both resulting in reduced fishing pressure on limited resources.

The main stakeholders and target beneficiaries are coastal fishers, processors, traders and their families, their organizations and their communities, including the local authorities; and government organizations and institutions responsible for the administration, management and development of the coastal fisheries at local, district/province and national levels. Also a wide coalition of regional organizations and non-governmental groups will be closely involved.

"Spain wishes to further expand its presence and cooperation in Asia, and is glad to be associated with FAO for providing assistance to the fishery sector, since Spain is recognized as a world leader in the fishing industry," concluded the Spanish Ambassador.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/38138/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/38138/icode/ Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:00:00 GMT Groundbreaking treaty on illegal fishing approved A new treaty that aims to close fishing ports to ships involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has been approved by FAO's governing Conference. Once it enters into force, it will be the first ever legally binding international treaty focused specifically on this problem. 25 November 2009, Rome - The text of a new treaty that aims to close fishing ports to ships involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has been approved by FAO's governing Conference. Once it enters into force, it will be the first ever legally binding international treaty focused specifically on this problem. It will also be the only one to enlist so-called "non-flag states" in the fight against IUU fishing, alongside flag states that are primarily responsible for the conduct of vessels flying their flags on the high seas.

The "Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing" is set to enter into force once 25 countries have ratified it.

The first eleven FAO members—Angola, Brazil, Chile, the European Community, Indonesia, Iceland, Norway, Samoa, Sierra Leone, the United States and Uruguay—signed the treaty immediately following its approval by the Conference.

Signatures represent a signal of support for the Agreement and are a first step in the process, followed by ratification at the national level and then official notification of ratification to FAO. Governments who ratify the treaty will commit themselves to prevent, deter and eventually eliminate IUU fishing including by taking steps to guard their ports against vessels engaged in IUU fishing, thereby preventing fish from such vessels from entering international markets.

Milestone achievement

"This is the most significant international treaty dealing with fisheries since the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement," said Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director-General of FAO's Fisheries Department.

"It's a milestone achievement—no longer will we solely rely on the ability of fishing nations to monitor behaviour by vessels flying their flags on the open waters of the oceans—now countries are committing to taking steps to identify, report and deny entry to offenders at ports where fishing fleets are received. That's a key back-door that will be slammed shut with the new international treaty," he added.

An insidious problem with far reaching consequences

By frustrating responsible management, IUU fishing damages the productivity of fisheries and could lead to their collapse. That's a serious problem for the people who depend on these resources for food and income.

Operating without proper authorization, catching protected species, using outlawed types of gear or disregarding catch quotas are among the most common IUU fishing activities.

While there are ways to combat IUU fishing at sea, they are often expensive and for developing countries, they can be difficult to implement, given the large ocean spaces that need to be monitored and the costs of the required technology.

As a result, port State measures are widely viewed as one of the best and most efficient ways to fight IUU fishing.

Key measures that port States signing the treaty will commit to include:

Foreign fishing vessels wishing to dock will be required to request permission from designated ports ahead of time, transmitting information on their activities and the fish they have on board. This will give authorities an opportunity to spot any red flags in advance.

Port States will conduct regular inspections of ships according to a common set of standards. Reviews of ship papers, surveys of fishing gear, examining catches and checking a ship's records can often reveal if it has engaged in IUU fishing.

They also must ensure that ports are adequately equipped and inspectors properly trained.

When a vessel is denied access, port states must communicate that information publicly and national authorities of the country whose flag the vessel is flying must take follow-up action.

These measures apply to foreign fishing vessels not flying the flag of port states, however countries can apply them to their own fishing fleets as well.

Parties to the agreement are obliged to undertake regular monitoring of compliance, with a major review scheduled to occur four years after the Agreement first takes effect.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/37627/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/37627/icode/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:00:00 GMT New fisheries commission for Central Asia and the Caucasus FAO's governing Council has unanimously approved the creation of a new regional fisheries management body for the Central Asia and Caucasus region. 23 October 2009, Rome - FAO's governing Council has unanimously approved the creation of a new regional fisheries management body for the Central Asia and Caucasus region.

Its mission will be to work regionally to promote the development, conservation, rational management and best utilization of living aquatic resources and the sustainable development of aquaculture in its member countries.

The FAO-affiliated commission will become active as soon as three countries formally accept it at the national level. Potential members include Armenia, Azerbaijan, People's Republic China, Georgia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The first three national-level ratifications are expected to come quickly, and the first preparatory meeting of the Commission is already scheduled to take place in September 2010, in Kyrgyzstan.

FAO's Sub-regional Office for Central Asia in Ankara, Turkey, will act as secretariat until the Commission becomes fully operational.

Response to a crisis

The collapse of the Soviet Union had a tremendous negative effect on fish production in Central Asia and the Caucasus, with fisheries production plummeting dramatically, sometimes but as much as 98 percent (Read this article for more information).

This had a negative impact not only on the livelihoods of families involved in fisheries, but had dietary impacts as well. Fish consumption in the region shrank from five to less than one kilogram per capita per year. (Global average fish consumption today is around 16 kg/pc/yr.)

"Over the past several years there's been a growing awareness that reversing these trends and re-establishing a strong and sustainable fisheries sector in Central Asia and the Caucus will require a joint effort based on strong collaboration between countries in the region," said Mustapha Sinaceur, FAO Sub regional Coordinator for Central Asia.

Talks began in 2008 among concerned governments regarding creating a new commission that would promote transboundary cooperation on fisheries and aquaculture development. FAO helped organize the discussions and provided technical advice and guidance to participating countries.

Fisheries bodies key players

More information on regional fisheries bodies and how they can promote sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, improve nutrition and food security, and fight poverty is available on the website of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department: http://www.fao.org/fishery/topic/16800/en

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/36626/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/36626/icode/ Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:00:00 GMT Healthy oceans new key to combating climate change A 'Blue Carbon' fund able to invest in the maintenance and rehabilitation of key marine ecosystems should be considered by governments keen to combat climate change, according to a report released today by three UN agencies, including FAO. 14 October 2009, Cape Town / Nairobi / Rome - A 'Blue Carbon' fund able to invest in the maintenance and rehabilitation of key marine ecosystems should be considered by governments keen to combat climate change.

A new Rapid Response Report released today estimates that carbon emissions--equal to half the annual emissions of the global transport sector--are being captured and stored by marine ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses.

A combination of reducing deforestation on land, allied to restoring the coverage and health of these marine ecosystems could deliver up to 25 percent of the emissions reductions needed to avoid ‘dangerous' climate change.

But the report, produced by three United Nations agencies and leading scientists and launched during National Marine Month in South Africa, warns that far from maintaining and enhancing these natural carbon sinks humanity is damaging and degrading them at an accelerating rate.

It estimates that up to seven per cent of these ‘blue carbon sinks' are being lost annually or seven times the rate of loss of 50 years ago.

"If more action is not taken to sustain these vital ecosystems, most may be lost within two decades," says the report Blue Carbon: the Role of Healthy Oceans in Binding Carbon launched by the UN Environment Programe (UNEP), the ÚN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of
UNESCO.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "We already know that marine ecosystems are multi-trillion dollar assets linked to sectors such as tourism, coastal defense, fisheries and water purification services-now it is emerging that they are natural allies against climate change".

"Indeed this report estimates that halting losses and catalyzing the recovery of marine ecosystems might contribute to offsetting up to seven per cent of current fossil fuel emissions and at a fraction of the costs of technologies to capture and store carbon at power stations," he added.

The new report comes less than 60 days before the crucial UN climate change convention meeting in Copenhagen where governments need to Seal the Deal on a comprehensive new agreement.

It is likely that nations will agree to pay developing economies to maintain the ‘green carbon' in forests under a partnership-Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD).

Mr Steiner added: "The links between deforestation and climate change are firmly on the political radar and there is optimism that REDD will form part of a new global climate partnership-but the role and the opportunity presented by other ecosystems are still overlooked".

"If the world is to decisively deal with climate change, every source of emissions and every option for reducing these should be scientifically evaluated and brought to the international community's attention-that should include all the colours of carbon including now blue carbon linked with the seas and oceans".

Dr Carlos Duarte, one of the chief scientists of the report based at the Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies in Spain, said:" We know that land use change is part of the climate change challenge. Perhaps less well known is that the global loss of what we could call our "Blue carbon sinks' such as mangroves and seagrasses are actually among the key components of the increase in greenhouse concentrations from all land use changes".

Christian Nellemann, Editor of the Rapid Response report, said." There is an urgency to act now to maintain and enhance these carbon sinks-since the 1940s, over 30 per cent of mangroves; close to 25 per cent of salt marshes and over 30 per cent of seagrass meadows have been lost. We are losing these crucial ecosystems much faster than rainforests and at the very time we need them - on current trends they may be all largely lost within a couple of decades".

"Fishing and aquaculture communities will be heavily impacted by climate change and have a key role to play in maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems in the face of change," said Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"An ecosystem approach to the management of ocean and coastal areas can not only enhance their natural carbon sink capacity, but also offers a way to safeguard and strengthen food and livelihood security for fisheries-dependent communities," he added.

Officials with UNESCO also underlined the important role the oceans are already playing in offsetting climate change and its impacts on humanity, but warn that this is having consequences too.

"Because the ocean has already absorbed 82 percent of the total additional energy accumulated in the planet due to global warming, it is fair to say that the ocean has already spared us from dangerous climate change," says Patricio Bernal, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, IOC Executive Secretary. "But each day we are essentially dumping 25 million tons of carbon into the ocean. As a consequence, the ocean is turning more acidic, posing a huge threat to organisms with calcareous structures."

Luciano Fonseca of UNESCO-IOC explains that the ocean's absorption of the planet's excess heat "is like a glass of whisky with ice. As long as the ice is there the whisky stays cool. The energy that is going into the glass, from your hand and room temperature, is working to convert the ice to liquid. As soon as the ice melts the whisky turns warm."

Key Findings from the Rapid Assessment Report

Of all the biological carbon, or green carbon captured in the world, over half (55%) is captured by marine-living organisms - not on land - hence the new term blue carbon.
Marine-living organisms range from plankton and bacteria to seagrasses, saltmarsh plants and mangrove forests.
The ocean's vegetative habitats, in particular, mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses, cover less than 1% of the seabed.
These form the planet's blue carbon sinks and account for over half of all carbon storage in ocean sediment and perhaps as much as over 70%.
They comprise only 0.05% of the plant biomass on land, but store a comparable amount of carbon per year, and thus rank among the most intense carbon sinks on the planet.
Blue carbon sinks and estuaries capture and store between 235-450 Teragrams (Tg C) or 870 to 1,650 million tons of CO2 every year - or the equivalent of up to near half of the emissions from the entire global transport sector which is estimated annually at around 1,000 Tg C, or around 3,700 million tons of CO2, and rising.
Preventing the further loss and degradation of these ecosystems and catalyzing their recovery can contribute to offsetting 3-7% of current fossil fuel emissions (totaling 7,200 Tg C a year or around 27,000 million tons) of CO2 in two decades - over half of that projected for reducing rainforest deforestation.
The effect would be equivalent to at least 10% of the reductions needed to keep concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere below 450 ppm needed to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.
Combined with action under REDD, halting the degradation and restoring lost marine ecosystems might deliver up to 25% of emission reductions needed to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.
Unlike carbon capture and storage on land, where the carbon may be locked away for decades or centuries, that stored in the oceans remains for millennia.

Currently, on average, between 2-7% of our blue carbon sinks are lost annually, a seven-fold increase compared to only half a century ago.

In parts of southeast Asia losses of mangroves since the 1940s are as high as 90%.
Large-scale restoration of mangroves has been successfully achieved in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and salt-marsh restoration in Europe and the United States.

Countries with extensive, shallow coastal areas that could consider enhancing marine carbon sinks include India; many countries in southeast Asia; those on the Black Sea; in West Africa, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, eastern United States and Russia.

Maintaining and Recovering Marine Ecosystems-the Wider Benefits

Coastal waters account for just seven percent of the total area of the ocean. However, the productivity of ecosystems such as coral reefs, and these blue carbon sinks mean that this small area forms the basis of the world's primary fishing grounds, supplying an estimated 50% of the world's fisheries.

They provide vital nutrition for close to three billion people, as well as 50% of animal protein and minerals to 400 million people of the least developed countries in the world.

The coastal zones, of which these blue carbon sinks are central for productivity, deliver a wide range of benefits to human society. These include filtering water, reducing effects of coastal pollution, nutrient loading, sedimentation, protecting the coast from erosion and buffering the effects of extreme weather events.

Coastal ecosystem services have been estimated to be worth over US$25,000 billion annually, ranking among the most economically valuable of all ecosystems.
Much of the degradation of these ecosystems not only comes from unsustainable natural resource use practices, but also from poor watershed management, poor coastal development practices and poor waste management.
The protection and restoration of coastal zones, through coordinated integrated management would also have significant and multiple benefits for health, labour productivity and food security of communities in these areas.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/36228/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/36228/icode/ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:00:00 GMT New treaty will leave ‘fish pirates’ without safe haven The final text of a new treaty that aims to close fishing ports to vessels involved in illegal fishing has been agreed upon by a group of 91 countries during talks brokered by FAO. Once it enters into force, the treaty will help block illegally caught fish from entering international markets, removing an important incentive for some fishermen to engage in illicit activities. 1 September 2009, Rome - The final text of a new treaty that aims to close fishing ports to vessels involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has been agreed upon by a group of 91 countries during talks brokered by FAO, the UN agency announced today.

The "Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing" will be the first ever global treaty focused specifically on the problem of IUU fishing. It is hoped that the agreement will help block IUU-caught fish from entering international markets, thereby removing an important incentive for some fishermen to engage in illicit fishing.

Countries ratifying the agreement will commit to take a number of steps to harden their ports against IUU fishers. Key points of the treaty include:

• Foreign fishing vessels wishing to dock will be required to request permission from specially designated ports ahead of time, transmitting information on their activities and the fish they have on board -- this will give authorities an opportunity to spot red flags in advance.

•The treaty commits countries to regular inspections and outlines a set of standards that will be used during those inspections. Reviews of ship papers, surveys of fishing gear, examining catches and checking a ship's records can often reveal if it has engaged in IUU fishing.

• Signatories must ensure that ports and inspectors are adequately equipped and trained;

• When a vessel is denied access, port states must communicate that information publicly and national authorities from the country whose flag the vessel is flying must take follow-up action;

• The treaty calls for the creation of information-sharing networks to let countries share details on IUU-associated vessels, and also contains provisions intended to assist resource-strapped developing countries meet their treaty obligations.

These measures apply to foreign fishing vessels not flying the flag of port states (see definitions at right), however countries can apply them to their own fishing fleets as well should they choose.

"By frustrating responsible management, IUU fishing damages the productivity of fisheries — or leads to their collapse. That's a serious problem for the people who depend on them for food and income," said FAO Assistant-Director General for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ichiro Nomura. "This treaty represents a real, palpable advance in the ongoing effort to stamp it out."

Ratification process

The Agreement falls under Article XIV of the FAO Constitution, with FAO's Director-General acting as legal depository for countries' ratifications.

As such, it next will be reviewed by FAO's Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters at its next meeting (23-25 September 2009) and from there it will go to FAO's Council in September and the FAO Conference in November for final review and formal adoption. The substantive work on the treaty may be considered as having been finalized, however.

In order to enter into force the Agreement must then be OK'd at the national level. Once 25 States have done so, it will enter into force after 30 days.

Regular monitoring of compliance will take place, with a major review scheduled to occur four years after the Agreement takes effect.

Strategic bottleneck

So-called "Port state measures" like those prescribed in the new treaty are widely considered as one of the most effective and cost-effective weapons in the fight against illicit fishing.

"Of course, the effectiveness of port state measures depends in large part on how well countries implement them," said David Doulman, an expert on the issue at FAO. "So the focus now is to make sure that countries and other involved parties have the means and know-how to enforce it and are living up to their commitments. Importantly, the Agreement provides for assistance and support to developing countries to help them with implementation."

*FAO Members involved in the talks included: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Congo DR, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, European Community, Fiji, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, USA, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Zambia and FAO Associate Member, Faeroe Islands.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/29592/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/29592/icode/ Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:00:00 GMT Zambezi hit by killer fish disease A killer disease is decimating fish stocks in the Zambezi River Valley, threatening the food security and livelihoods of rural populations in an area shared by seven countries. 21 July 2009, Rome – A killer disease is decimating fish stocks in the Zambezi River Valley, threatening the food security and livelihoods of rural populations in an area shared by seven countries, FAO warned today.

An alert issued by FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) said the disease, known as Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome, or EUS, is caused by the fungus Aphanomyces invadans, which forms ugly lesions on fish and has a high rate of mortality. It is one of the most serious aquatic diseases affecting finfish.

“If not properly contained there is the risk of the disease spreading to other countries surrounding the Zambezi River as well as river systems in the region,” said Rohana Subasinghe, Senior Fishery Resources Officer. The 1,390,000 km² Zambezi River Basin is home to some 32 million people, of whom 80 percent are dependent on agriculture or fishing and fish farming.

Up and downstream

Indications are that EUS, which was first confirmed in Africa in 2007, is spreading both upstream and downstream of the Zambezi and risks taking hold in other parts of Africa. The GIEWS alert serves notice on the international donor community that a food security crisis is developing and that assistance and funding will likely be required.

The most affected country is Zambia, where two thirds of the Zambezi River Basin lies. Over 2000 villages and some 700,000 people are at risk of food insecurity because fish is not only a source of revenue in many rural districts but is also the cheapest available source of protein.

Fish infected with EUS do not normally pose health hazards to humans, although the deep ulcerations and tissue decay characteristic of the disease could harbour secondary, more threatening pathogens. It is therefore recommended not to eat EUS-contaminated fish unless it is thoroughly cooked.

Irreversible damage

EUS-affected fish is un-marketable, causing severe economic loss to fishers and fish farmers. Some 50 species of finfish are susceptible to the disease, with outbreaks often affecting younger fish in particular so that irreversible damage to fish populations and severe loss of biodiversity often occurs.

EUS first appeared in Japan in the early 1970s then spread to Australia and much of Asia, while the United States was hit in 1984. It is now present in at least 24 countries in the world.

FAO has since 2007 been helping build capacities for coping with the disease in the seven Zambezi River Basin countries – Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This includes basic EUS diagnosis, targeted EUS surveillance and basic aquatic animal health management.

Urgent requests

In response to urgent requests from a number of countries FAO, in close cooperation with the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), is helping develop and implement an aquatic biosecurity framework for Southern Africa and build capacity for the management of Zambezi River resources.

The programme will strengthen institutional and human capacity for managing aquatic animal health in the wild in the affected countries through appropriate policies and regulations.

Control of EUS in natural waters such as rivers is impossible but is relatively simpler in fish farming operations where a number of simple biosecurity measures can minimize or prevent its spread. They include preventing possible carriers or vectors getting into water bodies or fish ponds, removing dead fish and improving water quality.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/28978/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/28978/icode/ Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT Extending responsible fisheries management to the ocean deeps On the first-ever UN World Oceans Day FAO has published a set of technical guidelines aimed at helping the fisheries sector reduce its impacts on fragile deep-sea fish species and ecosystems. The guidelines provide a framework that countries can use to manage deep sea fisheries in high-seas areas outside of national jurisdictions. 8 June 2009, Rome - On the first-ever UN World Oceans Day FAO has published a set of technical guidelines aimed at helping the fisheries sector reduce its impacts on fragile deep-sea fish species and ecosystems.

The guidelines provide a framework that countries can use, individually and in the context of regional fisheries management organizations, to manage deep sea fisheries (DSF) in high-seas areas outside of national jurisdictions.

Many deepwater fish species grow slowly, reach sexual maturity late, and may not always reproduce every year. As a result they have low resilience to intensive fishing, and recovery from overfishing can take generations.

Stating that all fishing activity in deep sea areas should be "rigorously managed," the guidelines prescribe steps for identifying and protecting vulnerable ocean ecosystems and provide guidance on the sustainable use of marine living resources in deep-sea areas. They also outline ways that information on the location and status of vulnerable marine ecosystems, including vulnerable deep-sea fish stocks, should be improved.

Fishing nations should assess the deep-sea fishing being undertaken by their fleets in order to determine if any significant adverse impacts are involved. Deep sea fishing activity should cease in any area where significant adverse impacts to vulnerable marine ecosystems are taking place and remedial steps have to be taken if these are likely to occur. And where it is determined that DSF can be undertaken responsibly, appropriate fishing methods should be used to reduce impacts such as impacts on non-target species.

Much needed guidance

Because deep sea fishing is a relatively new activity and requires considerable resources in terms of investment and technology, few countries have developed policies and plans specifically related to managing it.

"These guidelines provide much-needed guidance on the responsible way to approach deep sea fishing, and are a breakthrough in that they address both environmental and fisheries management concerns in an integrated manner," said Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director General of FAO's Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

The guidelines published today were adopted by FAO members at a technical consultation held in Rome in September 2008.

Sensitive ocean ecosystems

Deep sea fishing in the high seas also raise serious concerns about vulnerable non-target species, such as delicate cold water corals and sponges, and also for fragile sea-bottom seep and vent habitats that contain species found nowhere else as well as for underwater seamounts that are often home to sensitive species.

The deep sea is the world's largest habitat, accounting for roughly 50% of the Earth's surface.

World Ocean Day

The idea of celebrating World Oceans Day on June 8^th started at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro as the result of a Canadian initiative to inspire awareness and action.

Growing numbers of countries, organizations and individuals used the day to promote awareness of the importance of oceans to all life on Earth. On 5 December 2008 the United Nations General Assembly resolved that starting in 2009 the UN would formally observe World Ocean Day on the 8^th of June each year.

UN observances of World Ocean Day are being coordinated by the UN Division of Oceans and the Law of the Sea in partnership UN Oceans, a broad consortium of various UN agencies that includes FAO.

The theme of this year's World Ocean Day is "Our oceans, our responsibility."]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/20392/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/20392/icode/ Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT Climate change talks mustn't forget fisheries Saying that vulnerable fishing and coastal communities around the world will bear the brunt of climate change's impacts, FAO and a group of 15 other international organizations today have urged climate negotiators to ensure that fisheries and aquaculture are not neglected in ongoing discussions regarding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. 1 June 2009, Penang/Rome - Saying that vulnerable fishing and coastal communities around the world will bear the brunt of climate change's impacts, a group of 16 international organizations today have urged climate negotiators to ensure that fisheries and aquaculture are not neglected in ongoing discussions regarding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

In a policy brief issued today in advance of UNFCC talks in Bonn, Germany, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank, the WorldFish Center and 11 other organizations* warned that millions of fishers, fish farmers and coastal inhabitants will experience less stable livelihoods, changes in the availability and quality of fish for food, and heightened risks to their health, safety and homes as a result of climate change.

Many fishing and coastal communities subsist in precarious and vulnerable conditions because of poverty and rural underdevelopment, and their wellbeing is being further undermined by overexploitation of fishery resources and degraded ecosystems.

This situation risks being drastically worsened by climate change if immediate adaptation and mitigation measures are not effectively put in place, the brief says.

"Our aim here is to ensure that climate change negotiators and decision makers in their deliberations don't forget our freshwaters, seas and oceans and those who depend on them," said Kevern Cochrane of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. "They must address these aquatic environments and the fishing, aquaculture and other coastal communities whose livelihoods and even survival will be threatened by climate change. Through their decisions and actions, they need to avoid policies that would damage already stressed aquatic resources and human lives and, instead, implement measures that take full advantage of the environmental and food security services that healthy aquatic resources offer."

About 520 million people - around 8 percent of the world's population - depend on fisheries and aquaculture as a source of protein, income or family stability. For 400 million of the poorest of these, fish provides half or more of their animal protein and dietary minerals.

Multiple impacts

The build-up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is known to be changing air and sea surface temperatures, rainfall and wind patterns, ocean acidity, sea levels and the intensity of tropical cyclones. Research has found that climate change is already modifying the distribution and productivity of marine and freshwater species, affecting biological processes, and altering food webs.

Aquatic ecosystems not only support fisheries by providing food, habitat and nursery grounds, the brief notes, but also protect communities from storms, which are predicted to become stronger and more frequent with climate change. Mangroves create barriers to destructive waves and hold sediments in place, reducing coastal erosion. Healthy coral reefs, sea grass beds and wetlands provide similar benefits.

Adaptation strategies, research and action needed

Adaptation and mitigation measures are needed to improve the management of fisheries and aquaculture and the integrity of aquatic ecosystems, respond to the threats to food and livelihood security posed by climate change, seize possible opportunities that arise with change, and help fisheries and aquaculture emit less greenhouse gas, according to the brief.

Research is required to understand the complex biological and chemical processes of aquatic ecosystems that, for example, determine the ocean carbon cycle and the currents and eddies that generate cyclones. Equally important is understanding how people adapt to living in a changing climate and how their institutions and livelihoods have evolved, and can further evolve, to maintain resilience in the face of future change.

The brief identifies a number of steps that should be taken to protect aquatic ecosystems, fisheries and aquaculture:

Adopt environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient fishing and aquaculture practices.
Eliminate subsidies that promote overfishing and excess fishing capacity.
Undertake assessments of local vulnerability and risk.
Build local-level ocean climate models.
Strengthen knowledge of the dynamics of biogeochemical cycles in aquatic ecosystems, especially of carbon and nitrogen.
Encourage sustainable, environmentally friendly biofuel production from algae and seaweed.
Explore carbon sequestration in aquatic ecosystems.
Implement comprehensive and integrated ecosystem approaches to managing oceans, coastal zones, fisheries and aquaculture; to adapting to climate change; and to reducing risk from natural disasters.

The partnership is working together to get these messages to climate policy opinion-formers and decision-makers. The Secretariat of the Pacific Community has urged government delegates to next week's UNFCCC meeting in Bonn to highlight the threats of climate change to the regions' important fisheries .

And in an article recently published in Nature Reports: Climate Change two of the policy brief's authors, Edward Allison of the World Fish Centre and Nicolas Dulvy of Simon Fraser University, further discussed the policy and research priorities that will help the fisheries sector to adapt to climate change as well as contribute to mitigation.

*Organizations making up the partnership that issued the policy brief:

Benguela Current Commission
European Bureau for Conservation and Development (EBCD)
Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC)
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organization (UNESCO-IOC)
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
Network of Aquaculture Centres in Central-Eastern Europe (NACEE)
Organización del Sector Pesquero y Acuícola del Istmo Centroamericano (OSPESCA)
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC)
Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC)
The Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA)
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN ISDR)
World Bank
WorldFish Center]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/20188/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/20188/icode/ Sun, 31 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT Helping Myanmar after Nargis A three-year Italian-funded FAO programme to improve the long-term food security of 32 000 poor fishing and farming families in Myanmar has been agreed. The programme will assist Myanmar to develop sustainable small-scale fisheries and aquaculture livelihoods in coastal mangrove ecosystems and improve rice production. 28 May 2009, Rome - A three-year Italian-funded FAO programme to improve the long-term food security of 32 000 poor fishing and farming families in Myanmar has been agreed, FAO said today.

The programme will assist Myanmar to develop sustainable small-scale fisheries and aquaculture livelihoods in coastal mangrove ecosystems and improve rice production. Many of the beneficiaries are victims of last year’s devastating cyclone Nargis that killed around 150 000 people.

"All together, the livelihoods of over 32 000 households will be improved through these three projects,” said Shin Imao, FAO’s Representative in Myanmar.

“These households join the over 112 000 households that FAO assisted between June 2008 and May 2009, as part of its $17 million cyclone Nargis assistance project and the hundreds of thousands of other families in various parts of Myanmar that FAO is working with and has worked with during its thirty years in this country."

Giuseppe Cinti, Italy’s Ambassador in Myanmar, said Italy had already contributed $8 million to Myanmar’s recovery effort, with $6 million going to FAO-implemented projects. He said the new programme “will be implemented, with the aim of giving the people of Myanmar the tools for their empowerment.”

Under the three projects, small-scale farmers and fishers will be helped to improve production through the introduction of modern technology. In addition, new employment should be generated and incomes improved by increasing the availability of quality seeds and community-based water management and reviving ecosystems.

The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Yangon last weekend attended by Htay Oo, Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation of Myanmar and Giuseppe Cinti, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy in Myanmar.

The Minister commended FAO for its leadership in coordinating agriculture livelihood recovery activities of many partners in the post-Cyclone Nargis period, which contributed to the development of the transition programme funded by Italy.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/20064/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/20064/icode/ Wed, 27 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT Ghost nets hurting marine environment Large amounts of fishing gear lost at sea or abandoned by fishers are hurting the marine environment, impacting fish stocks through "ghost fishing" and posing a hazard to ships, according to a new report jointly produced FAO and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). 6 May 2009, Rome - Large amounts of fishing gear lost at sea or abandoned by fishers are hurting the marine environment, impacting fish stocks through "ghost fishing" and posing a hazard to ships, according to a new report jointly produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

According to the study, the problem of abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) is getting worse due to the increased scale of global fishing operations and the introduction of highly durable fishing gear made of long-lasting synthetic materials.

The report estimates that abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear in the oceans makes up around 10 percent (640 000 tonnes) of all marine litter. Merchant shipping is the primary source on the open sea, land-based sources are the predominate cause of marine debris in coastal areas.

Most fishing gear is not deliberately discarded but is lost in storms or strong currents or results from "gear conflicts," for example, fishing with nets in areas where bottom-traps that can entangle them are already deployed.

The main impacts of abandoned or lost fishing gear are:

continued catches of fish -- known as "ghost fishing" -- and other animals such as turtles, seabirds, and marine mammals, who are trapped and die;
alterations of the sea-floor environment; and
the creation of navigation hazards that can cause accidents at sea and damage boats.

Gill nets, fishing pots and traps are most likely to "ghost fish," while longlines, are more likely to ensnare other marine organisms and trawls most likely to damage sub-sea habitats.

Ghost fishing

In the past, poorly operated drift nets were the prime culprits, but a 1992 ban on their use in many areas has reduced their contribution to ghost fishing.

Today, bottom set gill nets are more often-cited as a problem. The bottom edge of these nets is anchored to the sea floor and floats are attached to their top, so that they form a vertical undersea wall of netting that can run anywhere from 600 to 10 000 meters in length. If a gillnet is abandoned or lost, it can continue to fish on its own for months - and sometimes years - indiscriminately killing fish and other animals.

Traps and pots are another major ghost fisher. In the Chesapeake Bay of the United States, an estimated 150 000 crab traps are lost each year out of an estimated 500 000 total deployed. On just the single Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, about 20 000 of all traps set each year are lost each hurricane season - a loss rate of 50 percent. Like gill nets, these traps can continue to fish on their own for long periods of time.

Solutions

"The amount of fishing gear remaining in the marine environment will continue to accumulate and the impacts on marine ecosystems will continue to get worse if the international community doesn't take effective steps to deal with the problem of marine debris as a whole. Strategies for addressing the problem must occur on multiple fronts, including prevention, mitigation, and curative measures," said Ichiro Nomura, FAO Assistant Director-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture. He also noted that FAO is working closely with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in its ongoing review of Annex V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) as regards fishing gear and shore side reception facilities.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said:" There are many ‘ghosts in the marine environment machine' from overfishing and acidification linked with greenhouse gases to the rise in de-oxygenated ‘dead zones' as a result of run off and land-based source of pollution. Abandoned and lost fishing is part of this suite of challenges that must be urgently addressed collectively if the productivity of our oceans and seas is to be maintained for this and future generations, not least for achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals".

The FAO/UNEP report makes a number of recommendations for tackling the problem of ghost nets:

Financial incentives. Economic incentives could encourage fishers to report lost gear or bring to port old and damaged gear, as well as any ghost nets they might recover accidentally while fishing.

Marking gear. Not all trash gear is deliberately dumped, so marking should not be used to "identify offenders" but rather better understand the reasons for gear loss and identify appropriate, fishery-specific preventative measures.

New technologies. New technologies offer new possibilities for reducing the probability of ghost fishing. Sea-bed imaging can be used to avoid undersea snags and obstacles. Fishing equipment can be expensive, and many fishers often go to great lengths to retrieve lost gear. Technology that makes doing so easier can help. Using GPS, vessels can mark locations where gear has been lost, facilitating retrieval, and transponders can be fitted to gear in order to do the same. Similarly, improvements in weather monitoring technology can be used to help skippers avoid deploying nets when very bad weather is imminent.

Just as new synthetic and other materials used in fishing gears have contributed to the ADLFG problem, they can also help solve it. Work is underway to speed up the commercial adoption of durable gear components that incorporate bio-degradable elements. For example, in some countries fish traps and pots are constructed with a biodegradable "escape hatch" that disintegrates when left under water too long, rendering the trap harmless. As this would not necessarily reduce the levels of debris, a reporting and retrieval system should also be adopted.

Improving collection, disposal and recycling schemes. It is necessary to facilitate proper disposal of all old, damaged and retrieved fishing gears, according to the report. Most ports do not have facilities on site that allow for this. Putting disposal bins on docks and providing boats with oversized, high-strength disposal bags for old fishing gear or parts thereof can help remedy this.

Better reporting of lost gear. A key recommendation of the report is that vessels should be required to log gear losses as a matter of course. However a "no-blame" approach should be followed with respect to liability for losses, their impacts, and any recovery efforts, it says. The goal should be to improve awareness of potential hazards and increase the opportunity for gear recovery.

The report discusses a number of other measures that could help, as well.

"Clearly solutions to this problem do exist, and our hope is that this report will prompt industry and governments to take action to significantly reduce the amount of lost or abandoned fishing gear in the marine environment," said Nomura.

The new report comes as nations are set to gather in for the World Oceans Conference in Manado, Indonesia (11-15 May 2009), where the issue of realizing healthy marine environments will figure high on the agenda.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/19353/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/19353/icode/ Tue, 05 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT The trouble with sea cucumbers Sea cucumber stocks are under intense fishing pressure throughout the world, according to a new FAO report. In a majority of countries reviewed and in the African and Indian Ocean regions, stocks are overfished. In the Asian Pacific region the most sought-after species are largely depleted. 1 April 2009, Rome - For many in the western world, they're a summer oddity — strange blobs we sometimes see bobbing about on the seafloor beneath us during a day at the beach.

But across Asia, sea cucumbers have long been a staple in peoples' diets, mainly in soups, stews and stir-fries, and demand for this homely undersea animal — cucumber is a misnomer, they're really echinoderms — is high.

That's why countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines export large quantities of them to China and other Asian markets each year.

And that's also why sea cucumber populations across the globe, from Asia to the Galapagos, are increasingly in trouble.

According to a new FAO report, sea cucumber stocks are under intense fishing pressure throughout the world. Most high value commercial species have been depleted. In a majority of countries reviewed and in the African and Indian Ocean regions, stocks are overfished. Likewise in the Asian Pacific region the most sought-after species are largely depleted.

"The fast pace of development of sea cucumber fisheries to supply growing international demand is placing most fisheries and many sea cucumber species at risk," according to the study "Sea Cucumbers: a global review of fisheries and trade."

Sea cucumber management plans specific to local circumstances need to be developed, it says. These could include such measures as establishing catch quotas and minimum size limits, closures during breeding seasons, and better monitoring of the status of stocks.

Economically important

Sea cucumbers make a substantial contribution to the economies of coastal communities, being in some places the most economically important fishery and non-finfish export — highlighting the need to improve management and fishing practices.

But effective management plans for sea cucumber fisheries are uncommon, making it difficult to limit overfishing, FAO's report says.

It also identifies additional threats for sea cucumber populations worldwide, including global warming, habitat destruction, and illegal fishing.

Asia and the Pacific are the top sea cucumber producing regions, with total regional production running between 20 000 and 40 000 tonnes per year. However, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, and Newfoundland in Canada are also hotspots for production.

Ancient delicacy, new age applications

In a complicated process of boiling and smoke-drying, the skin of sea cucumbers — also known by the more dulcet French sobriquet bêche-de-mer — is dried for preservation purposes and later rehydrated for use in cooking.

In Malaysia, they're called trepang, in Japan, namako, and in the Philippines, balatan. The Chinese poach the sea cukes, smother them in a thick sauce of garlic, ginger, onion and soy sauce and call them hai sum.

Whole bêche-de-mer can be stuffed with a filling of pork, cornstarch and chopped fried fish.

Like their terrestrial cousins, sea cucumbers can — unsurprisingly, perhaps — also be pickled.

Even in Spain, some folks have started to scarf these strange sea critters down. Up to ten years ago they were considered relatively worthless by Catalan fishermen, who had eaten them on boats for years but never brought them to shore. Then, a few top chefs in Barcelona got in on the act. Cooked fresh and quickly on a hot griddle, espardenyes are served with olive oil, sea salt and a squeeze of lemon.

Aside from their use in cooking, there's also an emerging market for the use of sea cucumbers in the pharmaceutical, nutriceutical and cosmetic industries.

Sometimes, internal organs such as gonads and intestines are fermented or dried to produce high priced specialty products used as dietary supplements.

Odds and ends

Sea cucumbers are by any measure, eastern or western, an interesting organism.

They can essentially liquefy their body mass on command, allowing them to "pour themselves" into narrow openings. Some species defend themselves by ripping a hole in the lining of their abdominal wall and expelling frondy parts of their breathing organs, which they use to entangle predators and then later regrow. Others have symbiotic relationships with small fish that live in their anuses.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/11225/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/11225/icode/ Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT World fisheries must prepare for climate change The fishing industry and national fisheries authorities must do more to understand and prepare for the impacts that climate change will have on world fisheries, says FAO's new "The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture" report. 2 March 2009, Rome - The fishing industry and national fisheries authorities must do more to understand and prepare for the impacts that climate change will have on world fisheries, says a new FAO report published today.

According to the latest edition of the UN agency's The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), existing responsible fishing practices need to be more widely implemented and current management plans should be expanded to include strategies for coping with climate change.

"Best practices that are already on the books but not always implemented offer clear, established tools towards making fisheries more resilient to climate change," said Kevern Cochrane, one of SOFIA's authors. "So the message to fishers and fisheries authorities is clear: get in line with current best practices, like those contained in FAO's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and you've already taken important strides towards mitigating the effects of climate change."

Vulnerable food systems and communities

Climate change is already modifying the distribution of both marine and freshwater species. Warmer-water species are being pushed towards the poles and experiencing changes in habitat size and productivity.

And climate change is affecting the seasonality of biological processes, altering marine and freshwater food webs, with unpredictable consequences for fish production.

For communities who heavily rely on fisheries, any decreases in the local availability of fish or increases in the instability in their livelihoods will pose serious problems.

“Many fisheries are being exploited at the top range of their productive capacity. When you look at the impacts that climate change might have on ocean ecosystems, that raises concerns as to how they'll hold up," said Cochrane.

Urgent efforts are needed to help fishery and aquaculture dependent communities to strengthen their resilience to climate change, especially those most vulnerable, he added.

Fishing's carbon footprint

Fisheries and aquaculture make a minor but significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions during fishing operations and transport, processing and storage of fish, according to today's report.

The average ratio of fuel to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for capture fisheries is estimated at about 3 teragrams of CO2 per million tonnes of fuel used. "That could be improved. Good fisheries management can substantially improve fuel efficiency for the sector," Cochrane said. "Overcapacity and excess fishing capacity mean fewer fish caught per vessel—that is, lower fuel efficiency—while competition for limited resources means fishers are always looking to increase engine power, which also lowers efficiency."

Compared to actual fishing operations, emissions per kilogram of post-harvest aquatic products transported by air are quite high, SOFIA adds. Intercontinental airfreight emits 8.5 kg of CO2 per kilogram of fish transported. This is about 3.5 times that for sea freight and more than 90 times that from local transportation of fish where it is consumed within 400 kilometres of catch.

New production figures

Total world fisheries production reached a new high of 143.6 million tonnes in 2006 (92 million tonnes capture fisheries, 51.7 million tonnes aquaculture). Of that, 110.4 million tonnes was used for human consumption, with the remainder going to non-food uses (livestock feed, fishmeal for aquaculture).

The production increases came from the aquaculture sector, which now accounts for 47 percent of all fish consumed by humans as food. Production in capture fisheries has levelled off and is not likely to increase beyond current levels.

Status of wild stocks

Nineteen percent of the major commercial marine fish stocks monitored by FAO are overexploited, 8 percent are depleted, and 1 percent is ranked as recovering from depletion, today's report indicates.

Around half (52%) rank as fully exploited and are producing catches that are at or close to their maximum sustainable limits.

Twenty percent of stocks fall into the moderately exploited or underexploited category.

Areas with the highest proportions of fully-exploited stocks are the Northeast Atlantic, the Western Indian Ocean and the Northwest Pacific.

SOFIA identifies overcapacity—a combination of too many boats and highly effective fishing technologies— as a key problem affecting fisheries today.

Progress in tackling this issue has been slow, it says, and "there has been only limited progress in mainstreaming precautionary and ecosystem approaches to fisheries, eliminating bycatch and discards, regulating bottom-trawl fisheries, managing shark fisheries and dealing with illegal fishing."

Other findings

SOFIA paints a clear picture of the importance of fishing and aquaculture in the developing world.

An estimated 43.5 million people are directly involved, either full or part time, in capture fisheries and aquaculture. Most (86%) live in Asia. An additional 4 million are engaged in the sector on an occasional basis. Factoring in employment in fish processing, marketing and service industries and including the families of all people employed directly or indirectly from fisheries and aquaculture, over half a billion people depend on the sector.

Fish provides more than 2.9 billion people with at least 15 percent of their average per capita animal protein intake. It contributes at least 50 percent of total animal protein intake in many small island developing states as well as in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, French Guiana, the Gambia, Ghana, Indonesia and Sierra Leone.

Both direct employment and jobs in related industries are likewise important for developing countries, while their revenues from fisheries exports earn have reached $24.6 billion annually.

The world's motorized fishing fleet totals around 2.1 million vessels. The vast majority (90%) measure under 12 meters in length. Some 23 000 are large-tonnage "industrialized" vessels. The nationality of several thousand of these is unknown—this “unknown” category has expanded in recent years in spite of global efforts to eliminate illegal fishing.

SOFIA also includes chapters on the occupational safety of fishers, seafood certification schemes, marine genetic resources, shrimp fishing, and the use of wild fish as seed and feed in aquaculture.

Discussions at FAO

Starting today, representatives of over 80 countries are gathering at FAO's Rome headquarters for the 28^th session of the UN agency's Committee on Fisheries (COFI), where they will discuss the issues raised in SOFIA and the program of work for FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department.

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/10270/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/10270/icode/ Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT Planned treaty will close ports to fish pirates Representatives of over 60 countries have made progress in laying the groundwork for a binding international agreement aimed at closing ports to ships involved in illegal fishing. 3 February 2009, Rome - Representatives of over 60 countries have made significant progress in negotiating a binding international agreement aimed at closing ports to ships involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Following five days of talks chaired by Brazil's Fabio Hazim last week at FAO's headquarters, the general outlines for an international agreement or treaty on "port State measures" that would deny vessels engaged in IUU fishing access to fishing ports are largely in place.

After the agreement becomes active, fishing vessels that wish to land will be required to request permission from specially designated ports ahead of time, transmitting information on their activities and the fish they have on board - this will give authorities an opportunity to assess and detect possible problems prior to docking.

Information-sharing networks will enable countries to deny port access to any vessel previously reported as involved in IUU fishing by other agreement participants or by regional fisheries management organizations.

And the designated landing ports will be equipped to undertake inspections of boats in order to monitor for evidence of IUU fishing activities.

However, final details of the agreement still need to be ironed out in a future round of talks, whose date has yet to be determined.

The current negotiations began following a March 2007 decision by 131 countries attending FAO's biennial Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture. FAO convened an Expert Consultation to consider the matter ahead of a first set of talks in June 2008.

An international plan of action to combat IUU fishing and a model scheme for better port State measures developed by FAO provided the basis for the draft agreement currently under discussion.

A key tool

Port State measures are widely viewed as one of the best and most efficient ways to fight IUU fishing. Operating without proper authorizations, catching protected species, using outlawed types of gear or disregarding catch quotas are among the most common IUU fishing offences.

While there are ways to combat IUU fishing at sea, they are often expensive and for developing countries in particular can be difficult to implement, given the large ocean spaces that need to be covered and the costs of the required technology.

"Strong oversight of fishing vessels at the ports where they land fish and refuel, take on supplies or make repairs will allow countries to cast a wider and more tightly woven anti-IUU net," said FAO's David Doulman.]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/9998/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/9998/icode/ Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:00:00 GMT Fisheries crisis in Central Asia Fisheries production in the Central Asian and Caucasus republics has plummeted dramatically in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union and today the region's fishing and aquaculture sectors are in a state of crisis. 10 November 2008, Dushanbe, Tajikistan/Rome - Fisheries production in the Central Asian and Caucasus republics has plummeted dramatically in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union and today the region's fishing and aquaculture sectors are in a state of crisis, FAO warned today.

Nine FAO member countries* from Central Asia and the Caucasus are meeting in Tajikistan today to discuss the situation and begin formulating a coordinated response.

Plummeting production and consumption

Between 1989 and 2006 annual inland fisheries and aquaculture production in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan fell from between 60 to 72 percent.

Tajikistan's production dropped 94 percent, and Kyrgyzstan's 98 percent, during the same period.

Azerbaijan Armenia and Georgia saw similar reductions in fisheries outputs (92%, 81%, and 98% respectively).

As a result, fish consumption in the entire region is down -- to less than 1 kilogramme per capita per year -- and fish and fisheries products have largely disappeared from the population's diet.

While historic data on fish consumption in the region is sparse, figures from Uzbekistan show that per capita consumption levels of 5 to 6 kg/pc/yr were not uncommon in the 1980s. Global average fish consumption is around 16 kg/pc/yr.

Combination of factors to blame

According to a background report prepared by FAO for this week's meeting, multiple factors have combined to produce the collapse. These include:

overfishing and poor management;
dramatic cuts to investment in research and production facilities;
decreased spending on maintenance of fleets and hatcheries;
weak management of water bodies and other ecological problems, including pollution of rivers;
a lack of investment in modern processing and marketing facilities and equipment.

Another FAO study from 2007 noted that privatization of fisheries and aquaculture following the end of the Soviet Union occurred too rapidly and was plagued by corruption, leading to poor management and oversight of the sectors.

The UN agency says that poaching is common in the region's inland waters and that illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a widespread problem that also affects the aquaculture sector.

Meeting in Tajikstan aims to formulate a response

The meeting of FAO member countries* from Central Asia and the Caucasus is set to conclude on the 12^th November. It could wrap up with initial steps being taken to establish an intergovernmental fisheries body that would lead efforts to rescue fisheries and aquaculture and promote their future sustainable development.

Regional cooperation key

Regional collaboration in fisheries has been missing in Central Asia for almost two decades, according to Ndiaga Gueye, Chief of FAO's International Institutions and Liaison Service. "In situations like in Central Asia and the Caucasus, the individual countries lack the capacity to develop their sectors on their own," he said. "But examples from other regions, such as the Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean show that regional collaboration can be highly effective, and provide a real boost to efforts to support sustainable development and management of the sector," he said.

This week's meeting is being convened at the invitation of the government of Tajikistan. FAO, with its extensive experience in supporting regional collaboration in fisheries and aquaculture, co-sponsored the meeting and is providing technical assistance and advice to the countries involved.

*Countries participating in the meeting include Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Turkey. ]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/8384/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/8384/icode/ Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:00:00 GMT US$50 billion lost by marine fishing each year 9 October 2008 - Economic losses in marine fisheries resulting from poor management, inefficiencies, and overfishing add up to a staggering US$50 billion per year, according to a new World Bank-FAO report released today. Taken over the last three decades, these losses total over $US2 trillion, a figure roughly equivalent to the GDP of Italy. 9 October 2008, Rome/Washington - Economic losses in marine fisheries resulting from poor management, inefficiencies, and overfishing add up to a staggering US$50 billion per year, according to a new World Bank-FAO report released today. Taken over the last three decades, these losses total over $US2 trillion, a figure roughly equivalent to the GDP of Italy.

But The Sunken Billions: The Economic Justification for Fisheries Reform, a joint study by the two agencies, also argues that well-managed marine fisheries could turn most of these losses into sustainable economic benefits for millions of fishers and coastal communities.

“Sustainable fisheries require political will to replace incentives for overfishing with incentives for responsible stewardship,” said Kieran Kelleher, Fisheries Team Leader for the World Bank. “It is not just about boats and fish. This report provides decision makers with the economic arguments for the reforms needed.”

Strengthened fishing rights can provide fishers and fishing communities with incentives to fish in an economically efficient and socially responsible manner. Phasing out subsidies that enhance redundant fishing capacity and harvesting effort will improve efficiency. Greater transparency in allocation of fish resources and greater public accountability for fisheries management and health of fish stocks will help ecolabelling initiatives to certify sustainable fisheries.

According to the report the bulk of losses occur in two main ways.

First, depleted fish stocks mean that there are fewer fish to catch, and therefore the cost of finding and catching them is greater than it might be. Second, fleet overcapacity means that the economic benefits of fishing are dissipated due to redundant investment and operating costs.

The report stresses that figure of US$50 billion represents a conservative estimate – it excludes losses to recreational fisheries and marine tourism as well as losses due to illegal fishing.

Excess fishing capacity

Long before the fuel price increases of 2008, the economic health of the world’s marine fisheries was in decline.

The build-up of fishing fleets, deployment of increasingly powerful fishing technologies and increasing pollution and habitat loss has depleted fish stocks worldwide. Global marine catches have been stagnant for over a decade, hovering at around 85 million tons per year. Meanwhile fisheries productivity -- measured in terms of catch per fisher, or per fishing vessel -- has declined, even though fishing technology has advanced and fishing effort increased.

“There is a massive overcapacity in the global fishing fleet,” said Kelleher. “The excess fleets competing for limited fish resources result in stagnant productivity and economic inefficiency.”

If world fish stocks were rebuilt, the current marine fisheries catch could be achieved with approximately half of the current global fishing effort, the report says.

Underperformance and hidden costs

According to FAO, over 75 percent of the world’s fish stocks are either fully exploited or overexploited.

But the focus on the state of stocks has tended to obscure the even more critical economic health of the fisheries. When fish stocks are fully exploited, the associated fisheries are almost invariably performing below their economic optimum, The Sunken Billions reports. In some cases, fisheries may be biologically sustainable but still operate at an economic loss.

And while many fisheries are profitable, the global picture is that fish catching operations are buoyed up by subsidies, the report finds. “At the global level, each ton of fish caught uses almost half a ton of fuel – much of it wasted in redundant harvesting effort,” it notes.

"Right now, no one is winning,” said Rolf Willmann, a Senior Fishery Planning Officer with FAO and one of the report’s authors. “The real income levels of fishers are depressed, much of the industry is unprofitable, fish stocks are depleted and other sectors of the economy foot the bill for an ailing fishing industry.”

“Recovery of ‘the sunken billions' can take place in two main ways,” according to the report.

First, a reduction in fishing effort would increase productivity, profitability, and net economic benefits. Second, rebuilding fish stocks would lead to increased sustainable yields and lower fishing costs.

Benefits for developing countries

Economically healthy fisheries are fundamental not only to the restoration of fish stocks but improved livelihoods, exports, fish food security and economic growth. Marine fishing operations are only part of the US$400 billion global seafood industry, but economically healthy catch operations underpin the sustainability of supply and profitability of processing and distribution activities, a major source of employment, particularly in developing countries.

“For each person employed at sea another three people are employed on shore,” noted Willmann. “Fish is the main animal protein for over 1 billion people. It provides livelihoods for over 200 million people and 90 percent of these people are in developing countries.”

Signs of progress

The good news is that governance reforms have turned the tide in some fisheries, The Sunken Billions notes.

“Strengthening fishing rights systems is fundamental to addressing the problems facing the sector,” said Ragnar Arnason, a fisheries economist at the University of Iceland and a co-author of the report, pointing to successful experiences in Iceland, New Zealand and Namibia.

Strengthening the use-, access- or ownership rights of fishers is supported by a growing number of organizations that see the need to create incentives for responsible stewardship. Promotion of ‘rights-based fisheries’ features in ASEAN’s Resolution on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security for the ASEAN Region. In Africa the Abuja Declaration on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa, adopted by the Heads of State Meeting of the NEPAD “Fish for All Summit” in Nigeria in 2005 also endorsed ‘rights-based fisheries’. The world’s largest fishery, Peru’s anchoveta fishery, is also moving towards a rights-based approach, where it is proposed to make the fishery pay for a social safety net for fishers.

“Governance reforms are often politically difficult, particularly if some reduction in fishing fleets or in the numbers of fishers may occur, says Kelleher, and the rights and livelihoods of fishers should be secured in any reform process.

Production of The Sunken Billions: the Economic Justification for Fisheries Reform was supported by PROFISH, a World Bank partnership focused on policy initiatives for sustainable fisheries.

Contacts:

In Washington:

Fionna Douglas, World Bank
(+1) 202 473 8913
(+1) 240 505-2520
fdouglas@worldbank.org

Elizabeth Petheo, World Bank
(+1) 202 458 2209
(+1) 202 834 3853
epetheo@worldbank.org

In Rome:

George Kourous, FAO
(+39) 06 570 53168
(+39) 348 141 6802
george.kourous@fao.org]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/7972/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/7972/icode/ Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT Is the aquaculture boom starting to fade? 6 October 2008 - The aquaculture industry has reached an important crossroads, with new challenges emerging regarding the sector’s ability to meet future world demand for fish. Small-scale farmers in developing countries are facing difficulties in exporting their produce, and need help to become competitive and access global markets, according to FAO. 6 October 2008, Puerto Varas, Chile/Rome - The aquaculture industry has reached an important crossroads, with new challenges emerging regarding the sector’s ability to meet future world demand for fish. Small-scale farmers in developing countries are facing difficulties in exporting their produce, and need help to become competitive and access global markets, according to FAO.

In 2006, the world consumed 110.4 million tonnes of fish, with 51.7 million tonnes of that originating from aquaculture.

Production by traditional capture fisheries has reached a plateau, so to meet the projected demand for fish of an expanded world population, in 2030 aquaculture will need to produce an additional 28.8 million tonnes – 80.5 million tonnes overall -- each year just to maintain per capita fish consumption at current levels.

However FAO cautions in a paper to be presented this week to countries attending a meeting of the UN agency’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI), Sub-Committee on Aquaculture in Puerto Varas, Chile (6-10 October) that a series of emerging challenges need to be addressed if aquaculture is to live up to its potential.

“The question remains whether the aquaculture sector can grow fast enough to sustain projected demand for fish while ensuring consumer protection, maintaining environmental integrity, and achieving social responsibility,” the report said.

Already there are some signs that the sector’s rapid growth over the last three decades is starting to slow. The sector sustained a yearly growth rate of 11.8 percent from 1985 to 1995. That slowed to 7.1 percent during the following decade, and to 6.1 percent for the 2004-2006 period.

The feed bottleneck

Most farmed fish that are consumed in the developing world, such as carps and tilapia, are herbivores or omnivores.

But species like salmon or shrimp – often raised in developing countries and exported to wealthy consumer markets, providing jobs and income for millions of people -- need other fish, in the form of meal or oil, to eat.

In 2006 aquaculture consumed 3.06 million tonnes (56%) of world fishmeal production and 780,000 tonnes (87%) of total fish oil production. Over fifty percent of the sector’s use of fish oil occurs on salmon farms.

Fishmeal and fish oil production has remained stagnant over the last decade, and significant increases in their production are not anticipated, according to FAO. At the same time, the volume of fishmeal and fish oil used in formulated aquaculture feeds tripled between 1996 and 2006. This was made possible due to significant reduction of the poultry sector’s reliance on fishmeal in poultry feeds.

“It is probable that the livestock and poultry sectors will continue to use less and less fishmeal in their feeds, which is good for the future of feed-based aquaculture,” noted Rohana Subasinghe, an FAO expert on fish farming and Secretary of the COFI Subcommittee. “However, more and more formulated feeds are being used for non-filter feeding omnivorous fish like carps, thus the need for fishmeal is increasing. So we must make efficiency improvements in the use of feed and also some serious strides in terms of coming up with alternative protein supplements,” he said.

Small farmers at risk

Small-scale aquaculture farmers are benefiting from the US$79 billion a year international trade in fish, although they face a number of challenges in doing so

And FAO is now seeing that, for some commodities and in some producing countries, the overall number of fish farms is decreasing, while the size of individual farms is increasing, pointing to the concentration of fish farms into fewer hands.

“These trends need to be addressed, for example by establishing innovative producer networks so that small farmers can join forces, improve their operations, access markets, and remain competitive against bigger producers,” said Subasinghe.

Other challenges highlighted by FAO’s paper include the environmental impacts of fish farming, food safety and antibiotic use, and the impacts that climate change may have on aquaculture.

Guidelines for certification in the offing

One way to help aquaculture limits its environmental impacts and ensure that it benefits small farmers to the maximum extent possible is to certify products so that buyers and consumers can chose those that are produced in a sustainable, healthy, and socially responsible way.

The practice is being used in both capture fisheries and aquaculture with growing frequency, but is not without its problems.

As such programs proliferate, producers are struggling to meet the various standards being applied by different companies, countries or certifying organizations, which can differ significantly.

An overabundance of schemes also increases the likelihood that watered-down unreliable certification labels are used alongside credible ones.

To tackle these problems, FAO has been working with the Network of Aquaculture Centres in the Asia Pacific (NACA), holding consultations with various certification bodies, producer groups, processors and consumer organizations in order to draw up global guidelines on how aquaculture certification schemes ought to be established and applied.

A set of draft guidelines has been finalized and will be submitted to the COFI Subcommittee this week for discussion and decision.

The guidelines won't serve as certification standards in and of themselves but rather provide a common blueprint that will ensure that whoever is certifying farmed seafood -- be it a government, an NGO, or a private company -- is going about it in the same way, according to the same standards.

FAO has already developed similar guidelines for certification of fish products from marine and inland capture fisheries.

Contact:
Benjamín Labatut
Regional Information Officer (Puerto Varas, Chile)
benjamin.labatut@fao.org
(+56) 9 775 86261 (mobile)

FAO Media Office
Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (Santiago, Chile)
RLC-Prensa@fao.org
(+56) 2 923 2176

George Kourous
Media Relations, FAO (Rome, Italy)
george.kourous@fao.org
(+39) 06 570 53168
(+39) 348 141 6802]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/7877/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/7877/icode/ Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT Line fishers catching fewer ... birds 22 September 2008 - Safeguards introduced in recent years to protect seabirds from longline fishing activities are successfully reducing the number of accidental birds kills, and experts are now calling for similar measures to be used in other forms of industrial fishing in areas where seabirds are at greatest risk. 22 September 2008, Rome - Safeguards introduced in recent years to protect seabirds from longline fishing activities are successfully reducing the number of accidental birds kills, and experts are now calling for similar measures to be used in other forms of industrial fishing in areas where seabirds are at greatest risk.

According to figures reported to FAO, collateral damage to seabirds by Chilean longline fisheries dropped from 1600 kills – including 1500 Albatrosses -- in 2002 to zero in 2006. Significant progress was also reported in the southern Ocean around Antarctica, where bird kills went from 6500 in 1996 to zero in 2007 and in Australian waters, where unintentional seabird “bycatches” dropped from 2000 to 200.

Measures to lessen the impact of fishing on seabirds, particularly albatrosses and petrels are currently being implemented or in an advanced state of preparation in ten countries – South Africa, Australia, Chile, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Uruguay and the United States, Argentina and Namibia. The measures are contained in National Plans of Action, or NPOAs operated by individual countries under an International Plan of Action (IPOA) for Reducing the Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries developed by FAO and approved by member countries in 1999.

More effective

An expert consultation was organized by FAO in Bergen, Norway, earlier this month to help countries more effectively implement the IPOA-Seabirds. Among the key “best practices” guidelines suggested by the meeting was extending safeguards from longline to trawl and gillnet fisheries in areas of high seabird density.

In the absence of safeguards, the impacts of fishing on populations of already endangered seabirds may be significant. Particularly at risk are seabirds such as albatrosses, of which 18 of the 22 species are listed as endangered. However, says FAO Senior Fishery Officer Francis Chopin, “with industry and government working as partners, the impacts of fishing can be greatly reduced”.

In longline fishing, which targets fish such as tuna, swordfish and billfish, boats trail long lines bearing as many as 2500 baited hooks. Seabirds following the vessel dive for the bait and, in the absence of protection, become hooked and are drowned. In trawling, large birds such as petrels and albatrosses are unable to manoeuvre out of the way of the fishing wires while diving birds can become entangled in gillnets.

Umbrella system

One effective form of protection now being used in Chilean longline fishing for Patagonian toothfish is the so-called “umbrella system” in which the hooks are set in bunches shrouded by cone-shaped net sleeves that prevents birds from taking the bait when the longlines are dropped overboard.

Although originally designed to reduce whale predation, the umbrellas have been very effective at reducing bird kills. Other measures include trailing aerial streamer lines to discourage birds from diving for trailing bait.

Contact:
Christopher Matthews
Media Relations, FAO
christopher.matthews@fao.org
(+39) 06 570 53762
(+39) 349 5893 612 (mobile) ]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/7503/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/7503/icode/ Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT Older newsroom content As a result of upgrades to the FAO Media Centre, all news stories published prior to 11 September 2008 are located elsewhere on the FAO website. Below is a complete list of all historic FAO newsroom content.

As of September 2008, Newsroom stories are no longer separated into separate categories and can be found on the "News archive" page.

News releases & stories
2008 from 10 Sept. 2008 until 9 Sept. 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003	2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996

Focus on the issues (in-depth packages, discontinued 2007)
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004	2003 2002 1999-2001 1996-1998

Field stories (Reports from the field)
2008 2007 2006 2005	2004 2003 2002

News & highlights (discontinued in 2002)
2002 (until 15/04) 2001 2000 1999	1998 1997 1996

News briefs (discontinued in 2002)
2002 2001	2000 1999/1998

Global watch (discontinued in 2002)
2002 2001 2000 1999	1998 1997 1996

Fact File (discontinued in 2001)
1997-2001

]]> FAO-Newsroom@fao.org (FAO-Newsroom) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/7592/icode/http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/7592/icode/ Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT