Fishers and fish-farmers should, given
the dependence of their businesses and
livelihoods on ecosystem services, be
stewards of the marine environment.
Greening the isheries and aquaculture
sectors requires the overall recognition of
their wider societal roles in particular that
of small-scale operations for local economic
growth, poverty reduction and food security
through a comprehensive governance
framework managing externalities from and
on the sector, implementing an ecosystem
approach to fisheries and aquaculture with
fair and responsible tenure systems that foster
stewardship and greater social inclusiveness,
and integrating isheries and aquaculture into
watershed and coastal area management,
including through spatial planning.
The potential economic gain from reducing
ishing capacity to an optimal level and
restoring fish stocks is on the order of $50 billion per annum. Approximately 32 per
cent of the global stocks are estimated to be
overexploited, depleted or recovering from
depletion and a further 50 per cent to be fully
exploited. Severe overishing, the loss of yield
due to over-exploitation, is worsening food
security and poverty.
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector and future development
prospects appear promising. While playing
an important and not yet fully exploited role in
supplementing capture production and creating
new livelihood opportunities, aquaculture has
in some instances caused socio-economic
conlicts and added additional pressures on
already sufering marine and coastal ecosystems.
Investment to reduce fossil energy use and
thus the carbon footprint of fisheries and
aquaculture has potential gains in terms
of improved economic performance and in
contributing to mitigating climate change.
The needed reductions in fishing capacity and
efort in capture fisheries along with the adoption
of green technologies can drastically lower fuel
consumption and GHG emissions while greatly
enhancing the fisheries sectors contribution to
economic growth, food and nutrition security
and poverty reduction. Well-managed coastal
aquaculture and mariculture ofer signiicant
scope for green growth and employment
opportunities for coastal communities at low
levels of CO2 emissions when compared to other
protein production systems.
Supporting development and investment in
green technology and raising industry and
consumer awareness on the sustainability of
fisheries and aquaculture are key approaches to
behavioural change and transition to green growth
in fisheries and aquaculture.
Green technologies
include low impact, fuel-eicient ishing methods;
innovative multi-trophic aquaculture production
systems using environmentally friendly feeds;
reduced energy use and greener refrigeration
technologies; and improved waste management
in fish handling, processing and transportation.
The reduction of fishing efort and the
use of non-destructive ishing techniques
will reduce the negative impacts on
biodiversity, including on larger, longer-lived
marine organisms that are more vulnerable to
depletion and structurally complex habitats
such as coral reefs, which are easily damaged by
indiscriminate ishing methods.
Strengthening regional isheries bodies,
national fisheries management agencies,
fishing community and fishworkers
organisations and private sector associations
is critical to sustainable and equitable use
of marine resources. A strong international
legislative and policy framework for fisheries is
already in place with the FAO Code of Conduct
for Responsible Fisheries and its related international agreements and plans of action.
The
social, economic and cultural dimensions of this
framework will be further strengthened through
the development of international guidelines on
securing small-scale fisheries to complement
the Code as called for by FAOs Committee on
Fisheries. The challenge is to provide incentives
and adequate resources to implement this
framework at the local, national and regional level.
Fishermen/Fish Farmers as Stewards of the Marine Environment
Fishers and fish-farmers should, given the dependence of their businesses and livelihoods on ecosystem services, be stewards of the marine environment, according to the Green Economy report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
by Lucy Towers