(Summary statement provided by ICLARM)
Introduction
Global-scale changes in the supply, demand, value, management and uses of living aquatic resources could threaten progress towards sustainable food security in many parts of the developing world, but they could also stimulate improved management and use of the resources. Users of the resource face a period of transition, akin to a cusp in catastrophe theory, in which actions, even small ones, can have great impact.
On the land, similar earlier expansions of hunting and gathering, and the later transition to cultivation and domestication, occurred when human populations were small, interactions between different human impacts were negligible, technology had much less power to transform practices and the environment, for better or for worse, and humans had little knowledge of the long term environmental effects.
Research, well-targeted to the strategic issues, can and must play a vital part to improve the outlook for low income-people in the developing world.
The Present Situation
The present transition follows four decades of rapid expansion of harvesting from the oceans, and a more recent upsurge in aquaculture. Overall, however, the supply of aquatic products from our oceans has now begun to decline and as populations continue to increase, per caput consumption is declining, after almost doubling over the last three decades.
In the developing world, 14 to 20 million people are directly involved in fisheries and aquaculture; 50 million people if postharvest handling and marketing are included; and about one billion people rely on protein from aquatic products as their main source of animal protein.
As a food commodity group, fish products far outweigh any of the 4 terrestrial animal commodity groups (beef and veal, sheep meat, pig meat and poultry meat). In the developing world, fish production of approximately 60 million tonnes even approaches the total of 4 animal commodities (approximately 70 million).
Sustainable food security is achieved through (i) sufficient, stable, predictable and sustainable food supply; (b) access to food; and (c) nutritional adequacy for all. The transition now occurring means that supply of vital aquatic food products is under threat, but better all round utilization could yield more value despite a decreasing supply and hence greater purchasing power and access to other foods, provided low-income users maintained their access to the use of the resource. Nutrition is threatened in low-income households during the transition, especially where aquatic products are currently important dietary items.
Five international initiatives will affect future management and use of living aquatic resources: negotiations of highly migratory and straddling stocks; the codes of practice on responsible fishing and aquaculture; the International Convention on Biological Diversity; the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; and the UN Conference on Population and Development.
Capture fisheries production (both marine and inland); representing 86% of total production, has reached its upper limit and is declining. In 1992, world marine production was 81.5 million tones (93% from capture fisheries). World aquaculture production doubled since 1984 and further growth is possible if care is taken in the expansion. Nevertheless, aquaculture will require large research investments and adequate access to scarce water and space if it is to sustainably increase its contribution to world production.
Of the 200 main marine fisheries stocks worldwide, over a quarter are overexploited, depleted or recovering; 38% are fully exploited; and about a third are of unknown status, underexploited or moderately exploited.
Total aquatic production from the developing world has exceeded that from the developed world since the late 1980s. Worldwide, the top 20 countries produce 80% of total production. Fish consumption is also geographically concentrated, being highest in maritime countries with greatest access to supplies, greater purchasing power, and or fewer alternative sources of animal protein.
In economic terms, capture fisheries are overcapitalized and almost universally subject to economic as well as biological overfishing. World fleets do not even cover the costs of their operation.
Internationally, fisheries and aquaculture products are highly traded. Trade grew from 32% of world production in 1980 to 38% in 1990. As per caput supplies fall and as affluence and health concerns increase demand in some countries, there is a growing supply-demand gap which will increase pressure on trade and prices. About 30% of total production goes to animal feeds in aquaculture and agriculture and the demands for feed are increasing.
In most societies, small-scale fishers have low social status and little political influence, frequently losing resource access share to larger-scale fishers and other sectors of the economy. Fishers are predominantly men but women play vital but nearly invisible roles in the postharvest sector.
Most aquatic products are highly perishable and postharvest losses can be high. Many products command widely different values depending on the form in which they are sold. Prices can vary by three orders of magnitude for products from the same species.
The aquatic ecosystems which support fisheries and aquaculture production are generally less well understood than their terrestrial and atmospheric equivalents. These systems are also the eventual sinks for all terrestrial and atmospheric pollutants and they have major influences on global climate as well as being influenced by climate and climate change.
Issues for the Transition
During the transition facing users of living aquatic resources, five cross-cutting issues arise.
Utilization: Taking advantage of the great range of possible options for use of aquatic life, the best economic, social or cultural use of the resources should be sought. Increasingly, this will not be as animal feed or human food but as sources of ornamental, recreational, conservational and specialized high value products. Improved postharvest handling will deliver the most immediate gains in supply and value. By-catch, now estimated at about 27 million tonnes annually, should also be better used than at present when much of it is discarded.
Resource management: Natural fisheries resources are classed as commons, and therefore coordination and restraint are required to prevent individuals continuing to exploit them beyond sustainable limits. Many fisheries resource management arrangements have failed in their tasks of coordination and restraint, leading to increasing scarcity and conflict. A central cause is the lack of any restraint on access but, even when access is restrained, most fisheries now still have excess numbers of fishers who can claim legitimate access. There is a need to find alternative livelihoods for many of those now depending on the diminishing resources. Equity in access is also critical and in the developing world, small-scale fishers frequently lose out to large-scale operators because of their more obvious contributions to markets, exports and national economies. In many fisheries systems, resource conflicts may be diminished, management better implemented and resources better managed when user groups are more involved in management of resources together or as well as state-level authorities. Aquaculture also faces some common property resource issues through access to suitable space and the sharing of water.
Intensification: The limits to intensification are inelastic in capture fisheries and intensification only produces greater yields up to a limit, after which the resource base begins to decline. Production in some fisheries could be improved by relieving the intensity of use to allow recovery of the resources. Intensification holds considerable promise for increasing aquaculture production but only provided great care is taken to ensure it is environmentally sustainable. A large research investment and a cautious approach to intensification will be needed.
Integration: Greater recognition needs to be accorded to the integral nature of fisheries and aquaculture resources and their interlinked aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems; of fishers and farmers in economic, social and cultural systems; and of the effects of climate and climate change. Many of the problems (e.g., siltation, pollution, coastal construction, interactions with alternative sources of employment), and their solutions lie outside the sector.
Nationalization and Internationalization: More than most other food commodities, tension between national and international interests arises over issues such as trade, market competition for fish, access to fisheries resources, and management of shared stocks. On top of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, the International Convention on Biological Diversity strengthens national rights over living aquatic resources and increases national responsibilities. Countries will have to strengthen their resource management capabilities to discharge these rights and responsibilities.
Conclusions:
As human uses of living aquatic resources reach the limits which natural endowments can sustain, the world needs and seeks better ways of managing the resources and of boosting and protecting their productive capacity through culture, stock enhancement and habitat protection. However, the pressures on the resources are mounting as growing numbers of people want food and livelihoods from them and competing activities stress the supporting ecosystems. Every country faces this challenge: will the actions taken in the next few years go fast enough and far enough to halt the decline in aquatic resources? Or are we now witnessing the end of a period during which we have seen the peak contribution of aquatic resources to food security?
