INTRODUCTION

The international trade in marine fishery products is big business despite the global decline in marine fish landings. Nearly 40 percent of world fish production is traded globally – much more than for other food staples such as wheat (20 percent) and rice (5 percent) (FAO 2001). The implementation of United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the trend toward globalization of business, banking, and telecommunications, trade liberalization, and the expansion of fishing fleets over the past 50 years have increased the commerce of fish products with a net flow of fish from “the more needy to the less needy [countries]” (Kent 1983) or from the developing to the developed world (FAO 2002a). Traded fish products are important commodities for developing countries, including those facing food security issues. The trading of fish has not just extended spatially to cover most regions of the world; it has also expanded in volume and value. The earliest global estimate of fish trading in 1963 was 5.3 million tonnes (OECD 1989). Over the past 25 years, the total volume and value have increased steadily since 1976, when detailed fish trade statistics were first recorded (Fig. 2.1). In 1976, nearly 8 million tonnes of fish worth $8 billion were traded. This increased to more than 49 million tonnes (live weight equivalent) of exported fish products worth $56 billion traded globally in 2001 (FAO 2000).