Executive Summary Introduction: Farming of the sea has a long history in many countries, essentially based on a range of modified low-input natural systems, including ponds, shellfish beds and simple enclosures or cages. In the last two decades the intensive farming of marine fish and the scaling up of shellfish culture has been a major trend, prompted by rising demand for aquatic food products precisely when traditional supplies from capture fisheries are in steep decline.
The predominant technology for marine fish culture grows stock intensively on compounded diets in floating cages in sheltered coastal waters. In Europe, marine fish farming grew from 724 to 786,082 tonnes between 1970 and 2000, around 50% of which is in Norway. As it has grown, environmental capacity has been an increasing concern, particularly within inshore waters. There are related concerns for nutrient enrichment and for food safety, in the accumulation of chemical contaminants or biological toxins.
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Foreword: Several decades ago, the efforts of public administrations were concentrated on developing fisheries and aquaculture and ensuring growth in production and consumption. Then, in the 1980s, as many resources became fully exploited or overexploited, the attention of policy-makers began to focus instead on fisheries management, in addition to development of aquaculture. Subsequent recognition of the many failures in management have now led FAO member countries and other relevant stakeholders to broaden the approach and governance; that is, the sum of the legal, social, economic and political arrangements used to manage fisheries and aquaculture in a sustainable manner is currently seen as a necessary context for management and is becoming the main concern.
In keeping with these developments, the issue of governance features in several places of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2006. Part 1 of the document – the World Review of Fisheries and Aquaculture – ends with a new section called “Governance and policy”. Governance issues and related concerns are addressed also in several places in the remainder of the text.
Aquaculture continues to expand, while marine capture fisheries – when summed together worldwide – seem to have reached a ceiling. This development was not unexpected. It has constituted a basic assumption in most discussions and studies concerned with the future of the fisheries sector. Past issues of the report have reported on projections for the sector. Although it may be early to evaluate the accuracy of such projections, it can be interesting to compare them with the developments that actually took place. A brief attempt in this respect is made in the last section, entitled “Outlook”. Reflecting the growing importance of aquaculture, the section ends with a discussion of the challenges that aquaculture is facing as well as of the opportunities that are open to the sector. The discussion is based on a prospective analysis of the aquaculture sector worldwide, which was undertaken by FAO in the past two years.
The format of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture remains unchanged. Like previous issues, this issue contains a CD-ROM with the World Fisheries and Aquaculture Atlas.
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Author(s): Directorate-General for Fisheries
Research and Scientific Analysis Unit
European Commission
Foreword: This report presents a general introduction and overview of aquaculture welfare issues, involved bodies, legislation and related EU funded research projects.
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Author(s): Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management Ltd (Uk)
Foreword: Report to DG FISH of the European Commission in investigating the impact of aquaculture in sensitive coastal areas. The reports categories these impacts and provides a framework for assessing their impact on key habitats and species in Europe.
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Author(s): Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Abstract: Capture-based Aquaculture defines and reviews certain practices that are shared between aquaculture and capture fisheries. It specifically considers the on-growing or fattening of four species groups – eels, groupers, tunas and yellowtails – which is based on the use of wild-caught “seed”. The report begins with an introduction on the overlap between aquaculture and fisheries and their global trends. Chapters on the four species groups follow and include information on species identification, fishery trends, the supply and transfer of “seed” for stocking purposes, aquaculture trends, culture systems, feeds and feeding regimes, fish health, harvesting and marketing. Further chapters examine the environmental and socio-economic impacts of capture-based aquaculture, together with the relevant fisheries and aquaculture management issues. Finally, the report looks at food safety issues, as well as identifies topics for future consideration.
Type of Document: Report
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