International Fish Trade and Food Security: Some Issues and Perspectives

Abstract

"Trade and food security are tow of the most pressing and controversial themes of our time. Never before have these themes been discussed singly and jointly with such fervour by states and civil society. This is the direct result of recent globalization and the greater and quicker flow of information arising from it. Interestingly, fish has played a historically important role in early globalization which is not adequately recognized. Fish can be considered the single most important food which helped foster the early trade mark links between nations. Fish in its fresh, dried and canned form was the most crucial component in the diet of the sailors. Without this they would have unlikely braved the high seas to get goods across from one part of the world to another. Fish therefore played an indispensable role in the first phase of the emergence of a global economy-much before it became an internationally traded commodity in its own right! Let's set the historical record straight. It was the plentiful supply of fish which assured the direct food security of the brave sailors and the indirect food security of the hard working women who processed it, that contributed significantly to the real foundation of the globalised world today."