WORLD FISHERIES DAY

 People everywhere depend on food from the sea, not only for their essential daily protein requirements, but also for special occasions such as holiday feasts. Celebrations of the winter holidays traditionally feature fish and other seafood. Italian-Americans famously celebrate Christmas with seven or more courses of fish or other seafood (Festa dei sette pesci). Kwanzaa celebrations by African-Americans often feature seafood gumbo, and the eight days of Hanukkah offer many opportunities for Jews to serve salmon, gefilte fish or other seafood recipes.  But will the ocean always be able to provide the food that helps us survive and celebrate?

Feeding a world population of 9 billion people by 2050 is a daunting challenge. Fish can play a major food security role as long as fisheries and aquaculture are managed effectively and sustainably and with an eye to challenges like climate change and disease. This new report by the World Bank, FAO and IFPRI highlights the changes in global demand for fish and the extent to which that demand will be met by aquaculture versus wild capture fisheries.

The future of global food security hinges on the better management and sustainable development of the planet’s oceans and fisheries, a top United Nations official stressed today, adding that the world could not wait any longer to act on saving Earth’s marine environments.

Speaking at an event on the side-lines of the General Assembly in New York, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva urged faster action in implementing sustainable practices to protect the world’s “blue economy.”

“We have the know-how, we have the opportunity,” emphasized Mr. Graziano da Silva. “Now is the time to act.”

The event, “Our Ocean: Next Steps on Sustainable Fishing and Marine Protected Areas,” brought Mr. Graziano da Silva together with other leaders, including United States Secretary of State John Kerry, to discuss the importance of the world’s marine environments, both for the health of the planet and for the well-being of those who depend on them.

According to FAO, the livelihoods of 12 per cent of the world’s population depend on the fishing sector. On average, 17 per cent of global animal protein intake comes from fisheries and aquaculture, and demand for fish protein is expected to double in the next 20 years. Yet some 28 per cent of global stocks are already overfished.

In its latest report, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Rome-based organization warned that the fisheries and aquaculture sector was, in fact, facing major challenges, ranging from harmful fishing practices and weak governance to poor management and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

In response, Mr. Graziano da Silva pointed to FAO’s new “Blue Growth” initiative which, he said, had “the potential to be a leading programme on the major issues related to oceans and their resources.”

This new initiative would seek to provide technical and capacity-building support to governments, particularly those of vulnerable small island developing States, and farmers to develop national strategies for aquaculture development; disseminate and adopt better management and governance policies and best practices that increase productivity; and reduce environmental and disease risk to stimulate investment.