September 10, 2012 — The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is predicting a huge rise in aquaculture and world fisheries production within the next decade.
In its annual report entitled "The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture" it says that output from both of these sectors is set to rise to about 172 million tonnes by 2021. This represents an increase of 15 per cent on the average for 2009-2011.
But it will be fish farming that is the main driving force behind this increase with production in this sector expected to rise by 33 per cent over the period and within six years it will have overtaken conventional trawler fishing.
The report says that capture fisheries and aquaculture supplied the world with 148 million tonnes of fish in 2010 representing a total value of (US) $217.5 billion which about 128-million tonnes was utilised for human consumption, averaging out at 18.4 kg person. Both sectors sustained the jobs of 55 million people around the world.
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said: "Fisheries and aquaculture play a vital role in the global, national and rural economy. The livelihoods of 12 per cent of the world's population depend directly or indirectly on them. Fisheries and aquaculture give an important contribution to food security and nutrition. They are the primary source of protein for 17 percent of the world's population and nearly a quarter in low-income food-deficit countries."
Árni M. Mathiesen, head of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, said: "Fisheries and aquaculture are making a vital contribution to global food security and economic growth. However, the sector faces an array of problems, including poor governance, weak fisheries management regimes, conflicts over the use of natural resources, the persistent use of poor fishery and aquaculture practices."