{"id":15601,"date":"2011-01-31T07:00:11","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T15:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=15601"},"modified":"2011-01-31T07:00:11","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T15:00:11","slug":"increasing-demand-for-fish-failing-fisheries-huge-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/increasing-demand-for-fish-failing-fisheries-huge-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Increasing Demand for Fish + Failing Fisheries = Huge Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Rome, Italy:<\/strong> The conflict between increasing demand for fish and failing fisheries has enormous implications for world food security and the state of our oceans, lakes and rivers, WWF said today.<\/p>\n

The global environment organisation was welcoming the latest State of the World\u2019s Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report, issued today in Rome by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).<\/p>\n

SOFIA 2010 recorded a rise to 85% in the number of fisheries that are fully exploited (53%) or over exploited, depleted or recovering from depletion (32%) while noting a significant trend towards increased demand for fish \u2013 setting a new record in 2008 of 17 kg live weight equivalent of fish from all sources per person.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, says the report, the proportion of under or moderately exploited fisheries able to produce higher catches is \u2013 at just 15 per cent \u2013 the lowest level recorded since the mid 1970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a world likely to face a future of increasing food prices and decreasing food security it is becoming more and more apparent that running down one fishery after another is a disaster in the making,\u201d said Alfred Schumm, leader of WWF\u2019s global Smart Fishing Initiative.<\/p>\n

Mr Schumm is in Vancouver, Canada for the annual Seafood Summit, where WWF is lobbying seafood producers, distributors and retailers to continue to improve an array of measures to increase seafood sustainability \u2013 including the ability to trace fish products from capture to plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many promising initiatives and it is important to give recognition to the fisheries and fish farms that have achieved or are working towards operating sustainably. What this report show us is that we cannot relax our efforts to bring long term sustainability to a key element of global food security,\u201d Mr Schumm said.<\/p>\n

The SOFIA report shows employment in the primary and secondary fish sector supports the livelihoods of about 540 million people, or eight per cent of the world\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a lot of people relying on a sector dependent on a declining resource, at least as far as fisheries are concerned,\u201d said Dr Robin Davies, WWF Smart Fishing Initiative deputy leader, who is attending a key fisheries meeting at the FAO\u2019s Rome headquarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t properly manage our oceans, we face not only an environmental disaster, but a social one too,\u201d Dr Davies said.<\/p>\n

WWF also welcomed the SOFIA report\u2019s emphasis on the need to cut down on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIUU represents the ugly underbelly of global fisheries and we must all rally to eliminate the loud minority that stains the silent majority,\u201d Dr Davies said. \u201cWe hope the SOFIA 2010 report will stimulate nations and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations to clamp down and lend support to emerging trade measures such as the EU IUU regulation .\u201d<\/p>\n

The SOFIA report recommends better use of technological advances to aid fisheries management. Combating IUU, for example, can be done with video surveillance, something already proving effective in trials and providing an opportunity for the good players to prove their credentials, whilst exposing the bad.<\/p>\n

The report also highlights the need to enhance biosecurity in aquaculture, which is supplying most of the increased supply of fish.<\/p>\n

In 2009, WWF and IDH (Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative) established the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) which aims to be the world’s leading certification and labelling programme for responsibly farmed seafood \u2013 following a course pioneered for wild caught fisheries by the Marine Stewardship Council.<\/p>\n

Related Story:\u00a0Fishing 17 Times Harder Than 1880s<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Pieter Musterd<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rome, Italy: The conflict between increasing demand for fish and failing fisheries has enormous implications for world food security and the state of our oceans, lakes and rivers, WWF said today. The global environment organisation was welcoming the latest State of the World\u2019s Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report, issued today in Rome by the UN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,20,29],"tags":[1194,13084,13482,13509,40958,13741,30205,31114,31915,32133,36218,38685],"spectra_custom_meta":{"dsq_thread_id":["306998059"],"_oembed_f14913bdfe741d3a3b7c287fcf68d7a8":["