The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN in it ‘The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report’ published recently has stated that despite more people than ever before relying on fisheries and aquaculture for food and source of income, harmful practices and poor management is threatening the sector’s sustainability.
According to the latest edition of the report, global fisheries and aquaculture production totaled 158 million tonnes in 2012 which is around 10 million tonnes more than 2010.
The report gotten from its website stated that the rapid expansion of aquaculture, including the activities of small-scale farmers, is driving this growth in production.
Fish farming holds tremendous promise in responding to surging demand for food which is taking place due to global population growth, the report says.
At the same time, the planet’s oceans – if sustainably managed – have an important role to play in providing jobs and feeding the world, according to FAO’s report.
The report also notes that illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing remains a major threat to marine ecosystems and also impacts negatively on livelihoods, local economies and food supplies.
Food chain traceability is increasingly a requirement in major fish markets, especially in the wake of recent scandals involving the mislabelling of food products. FAO provides technical guidelines on certification and ecolabelling which can help producers demonstrate that fish has been caught legally from a sustainably managed fishery or produced in properly run aquaculture facility.
In particular, the report stresses the importance of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries which, since its adoption almost two decades ago, remains key to achieving sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. The Code promotes the responsible use of aquatic resources and habitat conservation to help boost the sector’s contribution to food security, poverty alleviation and human well-being.
“The health of our planet as well as our own health and future food security all hinge on how we treat the blue world,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said.
“We need to ensure that environmental well-being is compatible with human well-being in order to make long-term sustainable prosperity a reality for all. For this reason, FAO is committed to promoting ‘Blue Growth,’ which is based on the sustainable and responsible management of our aquatic resources.”
The renewed focus on the so-called “blue world” comes as the share of fisheries production used by humans for food has increased from about 70 percent in the 1980s to a record high of more than 85 percent (136 million tonnes) in 2012.
However, the report warns that to continue to grow sustainably, aquaculture needs to become less dependent on wild fish for feeds and introduce greater diversity in farmed culture species and practices.
Fish it stated remains among the most traded food commodities worldwide, worth almost $130 billion in 2012 – a figure which likely will continue to increase.
FAO, through the 2014 International Year of Family Farming, is raising the profile of smallholder activities – including fisheries and aquaculture – with an emphasis on improving access to finance and markets, securing tenure rights and protecting the environment.
An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food are lost per year — to about one-third of all food produced. This figure includes post-harvest fish losses, which tend to be greater in small-scale fisheries.
