Abstract

World population is expected to grow from the present 6.8 billion people to about 9 billion by 2050. The growing need for nutritious and healthy food will increase the demand for fisheries products from marine sources, whose productivity is already highly stressed by excessive fishing pressure, growing organic pollution, toxic contamination, coastal degradation and climate change. Looking towards 2050, the question is how fisheries governance, and the national and international policy and legal frameworks within which it is nested, will ensure a sustainable harvest, maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and adapt to climate change. This paper looks at global fisheries production, the state of resources, contribution to food security and governance. It describes the main changes affecting the sector, including geographical expansion, fishing capacity-building, natural variability, environmental degradation and climate change. It identifies drivers and future challenges, while suggesting how new science, policies and interventions could best address those challenges.

Highlights

  • According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA 2009), the world population is expected to grow from the present 6.8 billion people to about 9 billion by 2050, mostly in developing countries (5.6 – 7.9 billion)

  • Fishery resources are an important source of proteins, vitamins and micronutrients, for many low-income populations in rural areas, and their sustainable use for future global food security has garnered significant public policy attention

  • Marine capture fisheries are a critical component of this picture

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

The first overview study of the state of marine fisheries resources by country (Garcia 2009a,b), using FAO statistics for 1950 – 2006, confirms that globally, the maximum average level of bottom fish and small pelagic fish production has been reached within the last decade. From the 144 million tonnes produced in 2006 by capture fisheries (53%) and aquaculture (47%), about 110 million tonnes were used for food directly and 33 million tonnes indirectly through fish meal used for aquaculture, cattle, pig and poultry farming This represented a record level of per capita supply of 16.7 kg (13.6 kg excluding China and 13.8 kg in low-income food-deficit countries). Impacts on poverty will be complementary to other sectors’ contributions in nationwide povertyreduction programmes (Beneet al. 2007)

MAIN DRIVERS AND CONSTRAINTS
Findings
CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK

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