Fishing could feed 20 million more if better managed: study

Yahoo News 15 Sep 10;

VANCOUVER (AFP) – A landmark study by scientists and economists has estimated that better management of the world's wild fisheries could feed 20 million more people, especially in impoverished countries.

Researchers at the Fisheries Centre in Vancouver released Tuesday the first global estimate of the value of the industry, set at 240 billion dollars, but warned that government subsidies encourage over-fishing that is destroying the resource.

The work is "the first big-picture analysis of the value fisheries have for people worldwide," said Rebecca Goldburg, a scientist with the Pew Environment Group, which funded the research. The reports were released via a telephone news conference Tuesday from the Pew Trusts in Washington.

Key findings of the series of four reports, published Tuesday in the Journal of Bioeconomics, include:

- Global wild fisheries are worth 240 billion dollars annually when multipliers such as processing are included.

- Fisheries could feed 20 million more people if over-fishing were eliminated.

- Ocean-related sports fishing, whale watching and diving, account for one million jobs, a value up to 47 billion dollars.

- Of 27 billion dollars in annual fishery subsidies, such as for cheap fuel, 16 billion dollars worsens over-fishing that destroys fish stocks.

"Maintaining healthy fisheries makes good economic sense," said Rashid Sumaila, director of the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia in western Canada, which led the research.

The value of fisheries was historically measured by the landed value at dockside, which in 2000 was 85 billion dollars worldwide, Sumaila told AFP in an interview.

The study was the first globally to put a figure on the industry taking into account the many economic spin-offs, he said.

"In terms of the global economy, this is not a big amount, you?re talking a small fraction of trillions," Sumaila acknowledged. But he said an accurate assessment of the ocean harvest -- as well as its food security worth -- will give governments an incentive to better manage stocks.

Sumaila told AFP up to half of all wild fish populations are now over-fished and in the process of "crashing" or have already crashed -- as did once-bountiful northern cod in the North Atlantic nearly 20 years ago.

"If we don?t do something now, we are likely to lose most of these benefits," said Sumaila. With better management, "we could have met the needs of 20 million people in malnourished countries."

He recommended governments start by redirecting industry subsidies from fuel and other areas that worsen over-fishing, to research and helping fishers adopt sustainable methods.

"Large developed countries are spending twice the amount of taxpayer money on global fisheries subsidies that encourage overfishing than they are on subsidies that protect oceans," said the report.

The researchers used data from international catches of wild fish in 2000, within the economic zones of all countries. Further research now under way using data up to 2008 will include an analysis of the corporate structure of the fishing industry, said Sumaila.

Global fisheries research finds promise and peril
While industry contributes $240B annually, overfishing takes toll on people and revenue
University of British Columbia EurekAlert 14 Sep 10;

Global fisheries, a vital source of food and revenue throughout the world, contribute between US$225-$240 billion per year to the worldwide economy, according to four new studies released today. Researchers also concluded that healthier fisheries could have prevented malnourishment in nearly 20 million people in poorer countries.

This first comprehensive, peer-reviewed estimate of the global economic contribution of fisheries was published online today in four papers as part of a special issue of the Journal of Bioeconomics.

This research, conducted by the University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre, with support from the Pew Environment Group, quantifies the social and economic value of fish around the world and also calculates the loss of both revenue and dependable protein sources from years of overfishing.

"We know fish play an important ecological role in the marine environment, but these studies assess their 'out-of-the-water' value to people across the globe," says lead economist Associate Professor Rashid Sumaila at the University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre. "Whether you are looking at fish as a financial resource or a source of protein, our research shows that the benefits of healthy, robust fisheries have enormous value far beyond the fishing dock."

Dr. Sumaila and his team of researchers also found that:

* Overfishing reduces revenue. Annually, estimated global catch losses from overfishing totaled up to seven to 36 per cent of the actual tonnage landed in a year, resulting in a landed value loss of between US$6.4-36 billion each year.
* Fishing has a multiplier effect. The fishing industry's economic impact on related businesses, such as boat building, international transport and bait suppliers, is roughly three times larger than the value of fish at first sale.
* Fisheries generate incomes. Wild fisheries generate more than US$63 billion in annual household incomes around the world.
* Non-industrial uses of the oceans are a net positive for economies and jobs. Recreational use of ocean ecosystems by sport divers, whale watchers and recreational fishermen contributes US$47 billion each year to national economies worldwide and generates nearly 1.1 million jobs.

One of the four papers focused on global fisheries subsidies, or financial incentives that countries offer to their fishing industries, which may contribute to depleted fish stocks. Large developed countries are spending twice the amount of tax-payer money on global fisheries subsidies that encourage overfishing than they are on subsidies that protect oceans.

"Many economies are paying doubly for continued overfishing of our oceans," says Sumaila. "First, tax-payer money is directly contributing to the decline of worldwide fisheries, and second, fishermen and undernourished people are hurting from a steadily declining resource. From a socioeconomic standpoint, subsidies that promote overfishing are doing far more harm than good."

World Pays High Price For Overfishing, Studies Say
Allan Dowd PlanetArk 15 Sep 10;

Decades of overfishing have deprived the food industry of billions of dollars in revenue and the world of fish that could have helped feed undernourished countries, according to a series of studies released on Tuesday.

The Canadian, U.S. and British researchers behind the studies also said that overfishing is often the result of government subsidies that would have been better spent conserving fish stocks.

Fisheries contribute $225 billion to $240 billion to the world economy annually, but if fishing practices were more sustainable, that amount would be up to $36 billion higher, according to the four papers published in the Journal of Bioeconomics.

The researchers said the data demonstrate that the reasons for protecting world's ocean fish stocks from unsustainable fishing are more than just biological.

"Maintaining healthy fisheries makes good economic sense, while overfishing is clearly bad business," said Rashid Sumaila, an economist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who led the research.

The researchers estimated that from 1950 to 2004, 36 to 53 percent of the fish stocks in more than half the exclusive economic zones in the world's oceans were overfished, with up to 10 million tonnes of fish catch now lost.

They said many governments underestimate the financial impact of overfishing, such as the affect on related industries, and, as a result, they have less incentive to protect fish stocks.

It is the poor in developing nations who are hurt the most by overfishing because they cannot replace through imports the nutrition and revenue that is lost, the researchers said.

Fish that would have been available had it not been for past overfishing could have helped feed nearly 20 million undernourished people a year in poorer counties, the researchers estimated.

The researchers used international data on ocean fish stocks in their studies, and did not include data from aquaculture and fresh water fisheries, although they said they hope to include that information in future studies.

Governments around the world provide up to $27 billion in subsidies annually to the fishing industry, but about 60 percent of that goes to supporting unsustainable fishing practices, the studies said.

"Taxpayer money is directly contributing to the decline of worldwide fish stocks," Sumaila said.

The researchers said counties are also missing economic opportunities by not promoting alternative uses of fisheries, such as whale watching and other marine recreational activities.

(Editing by Peter Galloway)