Global overview of marine fisheries

by S.M. Garciaand I. De Leiva Moreno

(FAO Fisheries Department)

Prepared for the Reykjavic Conference on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem, 1-4 October 2001

Global overview of marine fisheries

by S.M. Garciaand I. De Leiva Moreno

(FAO Fisheries Department)

Prepared for the Reykjavic Conference on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem, 1-4 October 2001

Outline

• The State of the Resources: • The Fishing Industry:• The Governance Approaches:• Conclusions

1. The State of the Resources

• Global Situation• Global trends• Regional perspective

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Fully exploited

Moderately exploited

Overexploited

Depleted

Recovering

Undeveloped

Prod

uctio

n (mill

ion

tonn

es)

50

100

1800 1840 1880 1920 1960 2000Year

Upper limit ( FAO, 1971)

EE

Zs C

laim

s

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Fully Fished

Moderately fished: U+M

Overfished: O+D+R

Phase I - Undeveloped

Phase II - Developing

Phase III - Mature

Phase IV - Senescent

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1951

1953

1955

1957

1959

1961

1963

1965

1967

1969

1971

1973

1975

1977

1979

1981

1983

1985

1987

1989

1991

1993

Perc

enta

ge o

f res

ourc

es

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

0.94

0.92

0.87

0.86

0.83

0.81

0.73

0.71

0.44

0.43

0.39

0.14

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

IE

PNW

PSW

PCW

IW

ANE

AEC

ASW

PNE

MBS

PEC

ACW

ANW

PSE

ASE

ANT1. Antarctic2. Atlantic, Southeast3. Pacific, Southeast4. Atlantic, Northwest5. Atlantic, Western Central6. Pacific, Eastern Central7. Medit . & Black Sea8. Pacific, Northeast9. Atlantic Southwest10. Atlantic Eastern Central11. Atlantic Northeast12. Indian Western13. Pacific Central Western14. Pacific Southwest15. Pacific Northwest16. Indian Eastern

0%

10%

20%

30%

50%

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

40%

North Pacific

North Atlantic

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Antarctic

TropicalPacific

Tropical Atlantic

0%

20%

40%

60%80%

100%1970

19741976

1978

1982

1986

1990

1994

1998

80%

2. The Fishing Industry

• The fishing fleet• The fishers• The technology• Production and trade• Contribution to food security

0

1970

1990

1980

2000

10

20

30

40

Gro

ss R

egis

tere

d T

onna

ge (

106 to

ns)

1960

Non corrected

Corrected

40

20

30

10

1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Wor

ld fi

sher

s and

fish

farm

ers (

in m

illio

ns)

Fishing technology

• High technology adoption rate;• Improved fishing range and capacity;• Improved preservation and quality;• Improved safety on board• Reduced environmental impact;• Improved MCS

0

20

40

60

80

100

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Mill

ion

tonn

es

Capture

mariculture

-0.10

-0.05

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Ann

ual r

ate

of in

crea

se

ImportsExports

50

40

30

20

10

0

50

40

30

20

10

01993 1999 1993 1999

Developing countries Developed countries

US$

Billion

dollars

4.05.06.07.08.09.0

10.011.0

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Mar

ine

food

/ ca

pita

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.80

0.90

% used for hum

an food

2. The Governance

• Approaches• Performance• Implementation problems• Regional fishery bodies• Improved frameworks• Ecosystemic considerations• The FAO Code of Conduct

Management approaches

• No global inventory;• No universal approach;• Mainly free and open access;• Some limited-entry systems;• Few rights-based systems;• Abundance of “technical measures”;• New global focus: capacity control, MCS,

IUU, by-catch, vulnerable species, critical habitats, coral reefs, MPAs,.

Management performance

There is room for improvement!overfishing, collapses, endangered species; overcapacity, subsidies, economic inefficiencies;environmental variability; Forecasting; environmental impact of fishing; habitat, discards;environmental impact on fishery resources;compliance (IUU); Ineffective regional fishery bodies. Integration into coastal areas management

Implementation problems

There are enough principles and guidance, but:• Equity problems: allocation • lack of institutional capacity (e.g. decentralization)• declining capacity in conventional research and statistics• lack of capacity in the new research required• less than effective regional fishery bodies• impact of globalization• Broadening requirements (ecosystems, integration)• Mismatch between ecosystems and jurisdiction boundaries

Regional Fishery Bodies

Not effective enough. Not enough power.

• failure to accept and implement international instruments; • lack of willingness to delegate responsibility• ineffective enforcement of management measures;• lack of secretariat resources and capacity;• weak decision-making processes;• weak conflict-resolution mechanisms;• inadequate scientific support;• lax use of the scientific advice received.

Improved Frameworks

Significant improvement in a decade!

• Formal recognition of the overfishing/overcapacity issue• UNCED (1992)• Compliance Agreement (1993)• 1982 Convention intered into force (1994)• UN Fish Stock Agreement (1995)• FAO Code of Conduct (1995) and guidelines• FAO IPOAs• Formal recognition of the need for an ecosystem approach

Ecosystemic Considerations

Significant changes occurred in the decade!

• Conventional management : weakly ecosystemic• Awareness has raised since UNCED (1992)• New instruments are available (CBD)• New programmes are ongoing (ICRI, MPAs)• New collaborations build up: e.g. FAO-CITES, FAO-UNEP• Precautionary approach• Sustainability indicators

converging

FAO Code of Conduct

conservation of the aquatic ecosystems , monitoring & minimisation of environmental impacts of fishing and non-fishing activities;

protection and restoration of fishery resources, their environment, critical habitats, biodiversity, associated and dependent species, and endangered species;

prohibition of destructive fishing the precautionary approach; participatory management; risks related to climate change

Reflects consensus about :

Conclusions

The Resources

• Many resources require significant improvement in governance to recover or avoid being overfished

• The precautionary approach may help if fully applied, using MSY as a limit.

• Risk assessment and risk management need to become standard approaches;

• An ecosystem perspective is required

The Fishing Industry

• It achieved a lot in a difficult environment;• It provides significant benefits;• It benefited a lot from Governments;• It is confronted with increasing societal

requirements and a declining resource base;• Its role is fundamental.• It cannot afford not to face responsibilities.

The Governance

• Conventional governance has spread;• It faces large scale social, economic and

environmental problems;• It has improved its framework;...but• ...needs much stronger political will;• Its resources might be insufficient to face

broadening societal requirements;• More attention to small-scale fisheries is

needed.

• Fisheries have significantly contributed to human development and can still do so;

• There are problem areas and avenues for positive change;

• Change will never be at no cost; but

Global overview of marine fisheries