97
6 Food Security in the Context of Fisheries and Aquaculture…
million tonnes of aquatic food by 2030, an increase of 37 million tonnes over… 2005
(Subasinghe et al. 2009 , 7).
Contributions from aquaculture to fi sh supply have been increasing rapidly and
will have to increase further. FAO ( 2006b ) noted an increased contribution (1994–
2003) of aquaculture to fi sh supply in the Near East/North Africa as 4.5–18.7%, but
also forecast that fi sh supply in sub-Saharan Africa would have to increase by 28%
to maintain even its poor concurrent annual average fi sh consumption of 6.6 kg per
caput, and commented that aquaculture has much scope to provide more than its 2%
contribution.
Capture Fisheries
The historical and ongoing crisis in capture fi sheries is well documented in the
primary scienti fi c literature (e.g., Pauly et al. 1998 ; Jackson et al. 2001 ; Pauly et al.
2005 ) and in many books and other products that are accessible to the public (e.g.,
Pauly and Maclean 2003 ; Sadovy et al. 2003 ; Clover 2004 ; Roberts 2007 ; and, most
recently, the fi lm The End of the Line , www.endoftheline.com ). The picture is one
of rampant over fi shing and destruction of the ecosystems that produce fi sh, and of
massive institutional failures, including management based on lies (e.g., see Bromley
2009 ) . Marine and inland capture fi sheries are often typi fi ed by untruthful and
incomplete statistics. About 20% of the world fi sh catch is derived from what is
of fi cially called Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fi sheries. About 50% of the
fi shing by vessels off the West African coast is probably illegal. Open ocean catches,
such as tunas, are often transferred at sea to factory ships, without being landed and
properly recorded. Sometimes, the truth is told about how bad things are. For example, the European Commission has admitted that 88% of its fi sh stocks are over fi shed,
that 93% of North Sea cod are caught before they have any chance to spawn, and
that fi shing is becoming unpro fi table, despite large subsidies (European Commission
2009 ) . Even so, it remains politically dif fi cult or impossible to set sensible catch
quotas and fi shermen “exceed quotas with impunity” (Anon 2009 , 52).
What then are the prospects for turning at least some capture fi sheries around, so
as to restore or to increase their contributions to food security? Hutchings ( 2000 )
was generally pessimistic, especially in terms of the time needed, citing little or no
recovery in gadoid (cod family) and fl at fi sh stocks after 15 years. Enhanced or
culture-based fi sheries and fi sh ranching are also not likely to work well for most
open water fi sheries, except in some special cases such as: regular stocking and
harvesting of lakes and reservoirs; stocking rivers with highly migratory fi sh, such
as salmon; and stocking semi-enclosed coastal waters, such as bays and lagoons,
with species that have limited or no movements, especially molluscs.
The environmental impacts of stocking large numbers of captive-bred organisms, genetically different from wild types and feeding at one speci fi c level in the
trophic pyramids of an open water ecosystem are open to obvious criticisms. But the
more telling argument, against many operations that attempt to enhance capture by
6 Food Security in the Context of Fisheries and Aquaculture…
million tonnes of aquatic food by 2030, an increase of 37 million tonnes over… 2005
(Subasinghe et al. 2009 , 7).
Contributions from aquaculture to fi sh supply have been increasing rapidly and
will have to increase further. FAO ( 2006b ) noted an increased contribution (1994–
2003) of aquaculture to fi sh supply in the Near East/North Africa as 4.5–18.7%, but
also forecast that fi sh supply in sub-Saharan Africa would have to increase by 28%
to maintain even its poor concurrent annual average fi sh consumption of 6.6 kg per
caput, and commented that aquaculture has much scope to provide more than its 2%
contribution.
Capture Fisheries
The historical and ongoing crisis in capture fi sheries is well documented in the
primary scienti fi c literature (e.g., Pauly et al. 1998 ; Jackson et al. 2001 ; Pauly et al.
2005 ) and in many books and other products that are accessible to the public (e.g.,
Pauly and Maclean 2003 ; Sadovy et al. 2003 ; Clover 2004 ; Roberts 2007 ; and, most
recently, the fi lm The End of the Line , www.endoftheline.com ). The picture is one
of rampant over fi shing and destruction of the ecosystems that produce fi sh, and of
massive institutional failures, including management based on lies (e.g., see Bromley
2009 ) . Marine and inland capture fi sheries are often typi fi ed by untruthful and
incomplete statistics. About 20% of the world fi sh catch is derived from what is
of fi cially called Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fi sheries. About 50% of the
fi shing by vessels off the West African coast is probably illegal. Open ocean catches,
such as tunas, are often transferred at sea to factory ships, without being landed and
properly recorded. Sometimes, the truth is told about how bad things are. For example, the European Commission has admitted that 88% of its fi sh stocks are over fi shed,
that 93% of North Sea cod are caught before they have any chance to spawn, and
that fi shing is becoming unpro fi table, despite large subsidies (European Commission
2009 ) . Even so, it remains politically dif fi cult or impossible to set sensible catch
quotas and fi shermen “exceed quotas with impunity” (Anon 2009 , 52).
What then are the prospects for turning at least some capture fi sheries around, so
as to restore or to increase their contributions to food security? Hutchings ( 2000 )
was generally pessimistic, especially in terms of the time needed, citing little or no
recovery in gadoid (cod family) and fl at fi sh stocks after 15 years. Enhanced or
culture-based fi sheries and fi sh ranching are also not likely to work well for most
open water fi sheries, except in some special cases such as: regular stocking and
harvesting of lakes and reservoirs; stocking rivers with highly migratory fi sh, such
as salmon; and stocking semi-enclosed coastal waters, such as bays and lagoons,
with species that have limited or no movements, especially molluscs.
The environmental impacts of stocking large numbers of captive-bred organisms, genetically different from wild types and feeding at one speci fi c level in the
trophic pyramids of an open water ecosystem are open to obvious criticisms. But the
more telling argument, against many operations that attempt to enhance capture by