Saving Seafood

New FAO boss was key China emissary on fisheries deals

June 28, 2019 — The new head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has played a central role in expanding China’s global seafood reach and will now get to shape key global policies on agriculture, aquaculture, and fisheries.

China Vice Minister for Agriculture Qu Dongyu won the support of a majority of FAO nation-states, defeating France’s Catherine Geslain-Laneelle 107-71 in an election during the 41st session of the FAO Conference, which took place 22 to 29 June.  Qu becomes the ninth director-general of the Rome, Italy-based organization.

Qu will replace Brazilian Jose Graziano da Silva, who reportedly lobbied Latin American nations for Qu. Qu’s election is a clear indication of China’s power as a purchaser and investor in agriculture and fisheries commodities globally. According to French news reports, China used its role as a key customer of Latin American commodities such as soy, seafood, and meat to deliver votes for Qu.

The new FAO director has become familiar with many of the world’s agriculture and fisheries ministers during his many trips around the world as a Chinese minister. As China’s vice minister for agriculture, Qu represented China in World Trade Organization talks on fishery subsidies (which were held up in part over objections from India and China over the scale and timing of subsidy cuts by developing nations).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

UN report: People around the world are eating more fish

July 8, 2016 — UNITED NATIONS — People around the world are eating more fish and global per capita fish consumption topped 20 kilograms (44 pounds) a year for the first time in 2014, according to preliminary estimates in a U.N. report released Thursday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization report said the record consumption, which appears to have continued in 2015, is the result of increased supplies from fish farming, growing demand linked to population growth, reduced wastage, rising incomes and urbanization, and a slight improvement in some fish stocks.

According to The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016, world per capita fish consumption increased from an average of 9.9 kilograms (21.8 pounds) in the 1960s to 14.4 kilograms (31.7 pounds) in the 1990s, 19.7 kilograms (43.3 pounds) in 2013 and 20.1 kilograms (44.2 pounds) in 2014.

FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said fish farming or aquaculture — using coastal net pens or ponds to raise freshwater and saltwater species — now provides half of all fish for human consumption.

China has played a major role in the growth of fish farming, accounting for 60 percent of world aquaculture production, the report said.

On a negative note, the report said “the state of the world’s marine fish stocks has not improved” despite notable progress in some areas.

It said almost a third of commercial fish stocks are now fished at biologically unsustainable levels, triple the level of 1974.

Global total production from fishing in 2014 was 93.4 million tons — 81.5 million tons from marine waters and 11.9 million tons from inland waters, the report said. China was the largest marine producer followed by Indonesia, the United States and Russia.

For the first time since 1998, anchovy was not the top-ranked catch in 2014, falling below Alaska pollock, the report said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald