Regional Review On Aquaculture Development: Latin America and the Caribbean 2005.

Regional Review On Aquaculture Development: Latin America and the Caribbean 2005 - By Paul G. Olin, University of California, Davis - The world population is on the rise, as is the demand for aquatic food products. Production from capture fisheries at the global level is levelling off and most of the main fishing areas have reached their maximum potential.

Foreword

Sustaining fish supplies from capture fisheries will, therefore, not be able to meet the growing global demand for aquatic food. At present, the aquaculture sector contributes a little over 40 million tonnes (excluding aquatic plants) to the world aquatic food production. According to recent FAO predictions, in order to maintain the current level of per capita consumption at the minimum, global aquaculture production should reach 80 million tonnes by 2050. Aquaculture has great potential to meet this increasing demand for aquatic food in most regions of the world. However, in order to achieve this, the sector (and aqua-farmers) will face significant challenges.

A major task ahead for sustainable aquaculture production will be to develop approaches that will increase the contribution of aquaculture to the global food supply. These approaches must be realistic and achievable within the context of current social, economic, environmental and political circumstances. Accurate and timely information on the aquaculture sector is essential in order to evaluate the efficacy of these approaches and how they can be improved.

Under the FAO Fisheries Departments current work programme, the Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service (FIRI) of the Fishery Resources Division, using a wide-ranging consultative process, regularly conducts reviews on the status and trends in aquaculture development (FAO Fisheries Circular No. 886 Review of the State of World Aquaculture and FAO Fisheries Circular No. 942 Review of the State of World Inland Fisheries).

The last review (both regional and global) was conducted in 1999/2000 and was published following the Global Conference on Aquaculture in the Third Millennium held in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2000 (NACA/FAO, 2001, Aquaculture in the Third Millennium). These reviews are seen as important milestones and the documents produced are recognized as significant reference materials for planning, implementing and managing responsible and sustainable aquaculture development worldwide.

As part of this continuing process and with the current objective of preparing a global aquaculture development status and trends review, FIRI had embarked on a series of activities. These are:

• National Aquaculture Sector Overviews NASOs in all major aquaculture producing countries in the world;

• five regional workshops to discuss the status and trends in aquaculture development in Asia and the Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Near East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa; and

• seven regional aquaculture development status and trends reviews in Asia and the Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Near East and North Africa, North America, sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe.

This document presents the Latin America and Caribbean regional synthesis of all the information collected from the above activities.

ABSTRACT

The FAO Fisheries Department conducts reviews of aquaculture development status and trends on a regular basis. This document is a result of such an exercise conducted during 2005 and 2006. The regional review is a synthesis of the National Aquaculture Sector Overview (NASO) of 22 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean. The production volume and value data have been derived from the latest FAO FISHSTAT Plus database for 2003. As part of the review process, a regional expert workshop was conducted in Panama, Republic of Panama, in 2005, to discuss the regional aquaculture development status and trends. The report of this expert workshop is also included in this review.

The regional review provides a description of how the aquaculture sector developed in Latin America and the Caribbean over the past decade. The review and analysis of data and information clearly show that the sector is growing exponentially with salmon, shrimp and tilapia as the leading species. However, according to data recorded by FAO it may be observed that during the last 10 years there are important increments in the production of other groups of species such as macroalgae, bivalves, caracids and catfish. Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador are the leading countries in terms of production for 2003.

Most countries are showing a rapid growth of the sector thus having important social and economic effects on regional and local economies mostly through medium to larger scale commercial aquaculture. Rural aquaculture in Latin America is still largely dependent on State or international technical and financial support schemes. Overall, aquaculture in this region continues to grow steadily but will need greater organization and coordination between the private sector and government particularly to achieve larger social effects.

Contents

PART I REGIONAL REVIEW ON AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT: LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN 2005

1. STRUCTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SECTOR
   1. Regional demographic/economic overview
   2. History and background of aquaculture practice
2. PRODUCTION, SPECIES AND VALUES
   1. Production
3. ECONOMY AND COMMERCE
   1. The contribution of aquaculture to regional food security
   2. The contribution of aquaculture to the regions economic development and to local/national economies
   3. Participation of wealth groups
   4. The impact of aquaculture as a component and as contributor to the means of life of poor households
   5. Tendencies in fish farming systems
   6. Important non-food aquatic species
   7. Main exported aquatic species
   8. Main aquaculture product importing countries
   9. Commercialization and supply chain
   10. Tagging and certification systems
   11. Estimates and forecasts on income generation
   12. Contribution of fishing and aquaculture to GNP and GDP
   13. Contribution to GDP of income from aquatic products compared to other animal land-based husbandry products
   14. Commerce (imports)
   15. Certification programmes
   16. Production costs
   17. Trends towards diversification of species
4. CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS FOOD SECURITY
   1. Relative contribution of fish
   2. Consumption trends
   3. Fish consumption compared to meat consumption
   4. Comparative fish prices
   5. Relevant demographic trends related to aquaculture
5. THE ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES
   1. Planning and management of land and water resources
   2. Environmental effects produced by aquaculture
   3. Surface areas for aquaculture
   4. Trends towards a growing development of mariculture
   5. Species introduced during the last decade
   6. Mangroves and aquaculture
   7. Mass mortalities due to diseases
   8. Use and origin of fish feeds
   9. Commercial production of fish feeds
   10. Fish feeds imports into the region
   11. Quality of fish feeds
   12. Species production for restocking
   13. Fishmeal imports and production
   14. Use of fresh fish as fish-feed
   15. Fishmeal used in other sectors
6. LEGAL ISSUES
   1. Aquaculture development for different types of environments
   2. Institutional and legal frameworks for aquaculture
   3. Relevant trends in aquaculture planning and management
   4. Sustainable aquaculture development
   5. Achievements of associations and organizations
   6. Financial resources for aquaculture
   7. Actions that warrant quality and innocuity of aquatic products for international markets
   8. Strategies or measures for the protection of small-scale producers from the effects of the implementation of international commerce practices
   9. Networks and collaboration agreements between countries
7. SOCIAL IMPACT, EMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION
   1. Trend towards the abandonment of small-scale aquaculture
   2. Typical property modalities of rural or small-scale aquaculture
   3. Property forms of aquatic farms: private, rental concessions, etc.
   4. Contribution of aquaculture towards employment
   5. Equity and distribution of the benefits of aquaculture
   6. Participation of women and children in aquaculture
   7. Strengths and weaknesses
8. TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENT
   1. Characteristics and structure of the sector
   2. Production and species
      1. Aquaculture growth
      2. Production systems in Latin America and the Caribbean
   3. Economy, commerce and food security
   4. Environment and resources
   5. Legal aspects
   6. Social effects, employment and poverty alleviation
9. REFERENCES

PART II REPORT OF THE FAO/OSPESCA EXPERT MEETING ON THE REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN PART III COUNTRY SUMMARIES

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Summer 2006