FAO.org

The purpose of this review is to present a broad view of the state of inland capture fisheries. The review is organised in three main parts. The first part is an overview of inland capture. Overall, the trend is for an annual average increase in inland capture of about 138 000 t. The nominal inland capture amounted to about 7.7 million t in 1997. Actual inland capture is considerably greater than the amounts reported to FAO. The factor is at least two overall, but may be as high as three in some instances. There is an urgent need for better data on inland fisheries that can be interpreted in both economic and ecological terms. Although the cost of improving inland fishery data collection may be high, failure to fully account for inland capture also is costly in terms of lessened, or lost, opportunities to increase food security and other economic and social benefits from inland fishery resources. The second part deals with trends in capture organised by continental regions, sub-regions and countries for the period 1984 to 1997. Asia produces a disproportionately large share of the global inland capture in relation to its continental land area and the water surface available there. The 14-year trends are for increases in inland capture in Asia, Africa and Latin America and for decreases in the Former USSR Region, North America and Europe while Oceania is stable. The third part sets out major issues, of which the environment is the salient concern, and future directions of inland fisheries, mainly towards increased uses of enhancements to increase outputs. Enhancements are characterised on a global basis according to type, species and geographical distribution. Rehabilitation and mitigation of inland systems are highlighted as is the importance of recreational inland fisheries.