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Abstract:
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"Fisheries and aquaculture have enormous potential to provide the poor with more food, better nutrition and increased incomes. Already many of the world’s poorest billion, particularly people in Asia and Africa, get a substantial portion of the animal protein in their diet from fish. For many of these people, fish also provides a major source of livelihood. With targeted investment to better manage fisheries and develop aquaculture we can substantially increase these benefits. Globally, aquaculture has expanded at an average annual rate of 8.9% since 1970, making it the fastest-growing food production sector. It now provides about half of all fish for human consumption. And with half of all wild fish stocks now harvested to full capacity and a quarter over-exploited, we can expect aquaculture’s share of fish production to increase further. This can benefit poor people by improving their food security and nutrition, creating jobs, stimulating economic growth and offering greater diversification of their livelihoods. Although we cannot greatly increase catches from capture fisheries, wild fish stocks remain vital to many national economies and to the day-to-day welfare of millions of people. So it is essential that we sustain current catches and grasp opportunities to use the fish we catch better and add to their value. Failure to sustain and make the most of the catch will have profound consequences for the health, income, livelihoods and well-being of poor people in many developing countries."
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