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15 - Challenges and Concerns Revisited
- Edited by Jan Kooiman, Svein Jentoft, Roger Pullin, Maarten Bavinck
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- Book:
- Fish for Life
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 10 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2005, pp 303-324
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
In chapter 2, the challenges facing fisheries and aquaculture were briefly described. The crucial issue pointed out is that the drivers for increasing fish production are ubiquitous, multifarious, and strong and that they surpass the capacity of available management systems. The result is a consistent over-demand on natural and social systems and a crisis in fisheries as well as in fisheries governance.
We connected the drivers in fisheries to the globalisation that has been accelerating since 1950.With the sharp rise in the international demand for fish products and the growing connection between local producers and global markets, the pressure to increase production has also grown and new market players have emerged in response. This has resulted in investments and industrialisation in capture fisheries in the North and South alike, and in the growth of aquaculture.
We then identified four concerns that have emerged from the societal debate on fisheries across the globe. Concerns differ from principles in that they do not materialise from systematic top-to-bottom analyses but from political discussions from the bottom up – they constitute fields of attention as well as measuring devices for the results of governance effort. The concerns we presented are 1) ecosystem health, 2) social justice, 3) livelihood and employment, and 4) food security and safety. Each is important to large categories of people now and in the future. Significantly, most of the people affected by the failure to address these concerns live in the South. It is important to note that concerns are related to different population categories in time as well as in space. Ecosystem health is of special importance to future generations, but livelihood and employment and food security are relevant to present ones. Livelihood and employment pertain to people who work in and obtain their income from the fish chain, and food security and safety to the much broader category of the rural and urban poor. Social justice has implications for people at all scale levels, both present and future alike.
We have examined fisheries governance in this volume from many perspectives, dividing the analysis into three parts. The first addresses the constitution and workings of the fish chain, the second the regulatory institutions at various levels from local to international, and the third the principles that actually and those that should underlie fisheries governance.
2 - Challenges and Concerns in Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture
- Edited by Jan Kooiman, Svein Jentoft, Roger Pullin, Maarten Bavinck
-
- Book:
- Fish for Life
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 10 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2005, pp 25-38
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
Introduction
Fish, taken here to mean all living aquatic products harvested by humans, are a critical source of protein, lipids and micro-nutrients in people's diets in the North and South alike. Fish are often part of the staple diet in developing and less-developed countries, and consumption of fish in developed countries has increased with its heavy promotion as healthy food and upmarket food sources. Global concerns about fish harvests, fish stocks, and the health of aquatic ecosystems are directly related to the increasing demand for fish as food and to the potentially short supply, due largely to overfishing and unsustainable fishing practices. Because fish are such an important part of the human diet, these concerns intertwine with social concerns such as fair allocation, improved livelihood and social well-being, and secure access to a safe food supply.
Fish are not only food for human consumption – they also serve ecosystem functions. From an anthropocentric point of view, fish as food for people is the central concern, reflecting management actions and goals. Recently, the importance of fish in their natural ecosystems has been recognised, resulting in the adoption of a more comprehensive approach to fisheries management. Challenges are thus based on acknowledgement of the interconnectivity of concerns for ecosystem health, social justice, livelihoods and food security and food safety.
The health of ecosystems determines their productivity. In capture fisheries, target species are often overexploited to the point where other parts of the aquatic ecosystem are affected. In the past, this problem was mainly addressed from the perspective of the overexploitation of single fish stocks. However, there is increasing awareness that the productivity of capture fisheries should be seen in the context of the overall health of the ecosystem and that ecosystem-based management of fisheries should be employed. Such a management approach aims also to address the problems of bycatch (including incidental catches and discards), and habitat damage caused by fishing gear.
Social justice is a key issue in fisheries, since the distribution of power and income and the allocation of rights change in relation to access to re- sources.