Planet

2022, international year of artisanal fisheries and aquaculture

January 3, 2022

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2022 as theInternational Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA), entrusting FAO to coordinate activities.

IYAFA 2022 aspires to draw attention to the key role of small-scale producers in ensuring food security. Providing healthy and nutritious food for the world’s people and preserving aquatic ecosystems, #SDG2 and #SDG14. (1)

Work and productions

Fisheries and aquaculture employ about 59.5 million people (of which 39 mln are fisheries, 20 mln aquaculture), globally. With an extraordinary concentration in Asia (85 percent), followed by Africa (9 percent). The Americas (4 percent), Europe (1 percent) and Oceania (1 percent) are down.

The record in fishing seems to have been reached in 2018, with 94.6 million tons of fish. Aquaculture, itself growing steadily, reached 46 percent of total fish production in 2016-18. Twice as much as in the year 2000 (25.7 percent). (2)

1) Small-Scale Fisheries (SSFs).

Small-scale fishing is an elusive concept, often associated only with the length of boats used. (3) Small-Scale Fisheries (SSFs) in each case absorb 90 percent of total employment in the fisheries sector, half of which is female. And they contribute importantly-though lacking exact estimates to date-on regional economies, the structure of maritime markets and local food supply, (4,5). SSFs therefore have the potential to contribute effectively to the Sustainable Development Goals, especially in rural areas. (6)

However, small-scale fishing communities, like peasant communities, receive little attention from politicians. Their access to fisheries resources is sometimes trampled by concessions to the giants that drain the seas, as the docufilm Seaspiracy shows well. The catch of SSFs on the other hand, in addition to being a means of subsistence and barter, is fed into regional markets and increasingly into the global trading system as well. (8)
It too therefore deserves consideration in policies to safeguard fisheries and marine ecosystems.

2) Aquaculture (and algaculture)

Aquaculture constitutes ‘the set of human activities, distinct from fishing, aimed at the controlled production of aquatic organisms‘ (9). It has experienced steady and unparalleled growth compared to other major food supply chains, globally, over the past three decades (see Fig. 1 and note 2). In fish farming but also the farming of shellfish and crustaceans, algae and microalgae. In marine, coastal and inland areas, with extraordinary prevalence in low-middle income countries (80 percent of production). (6)

Fig. 1 – Global production of aquatic animals and algae, 1990-2018 (FAO. See footnote 2)

2.1) Inland aquaculture

Inland aquaculture (inland aquaculture) expresses 62.5 percent of the world’s farmed fish production (FAO, 2018). It is practiced mainly in freshwater (lakes, ponds and terrestrial tanks, including using cages, channelization systems and enclosures). With innovative applications such as rice-fish culture, that is, the combination of rice and fish crops, already expanding rapidly on the Asian continent.

Resilience is also expressed in aquaculture, in China and Egypt, in the alkaline saline water of areas where soil and water conditions do not allow grain cultivation or grazing. In recent years, there has been the development of numerous experiments to increase productivity and resource use efficiency, in inland aquaculture systems, with reduced environmental impact.

2.2) Marine and coastal aquaculture

Marineaquaculture (marine aquaculture), or mariculture, is practiced in the marine environment, whilecoastal aquaculture(coastal aquaculture) is conducted in lagoon areas, adjacent to the sea, sometimes constructed or adapted by humans. The diversity of climatic and environmental conditions has the untapped potential to allow breeding and cultivation of a wide variety of fish species, algae and microalgae. Also in a logic of regeneration, as seen.

Shellfish still account for about 56.2 percent of total production, clearly outnumbering fish and shellfish, which instead dominate domestic aquaculture. In more general terms, despite the potential expressed above, aquaculture production is dominated by a small number of species. Moreover, fed species outnumbered non-fed species, rising from 30.5 percent of total production in 2018 to 43.9 percent in 2000.

2.3) Producing countries

Asia is a major player in aquaculture, accounting for 89 percent of total production over the past two decades. China alone has produced more farmed aquatic foods than the rest of the world since 1991. And introduced, in 2016, policies to guard good practices in aquaculture in the directions of sustainable development (improved product qualities and resource use efficiency, poverty reduction).
The other major producers are Egypt, Chile, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Norway.

2.4) Aquaculture in the European Union.

Aquaculture production in the EU has remained roughly stable, since 2000, bucking the trend of the sector’s continued growth globally. The top producers, by volume, are Spain, France, Italy and Greece.

In the Old Continent, aquaculture is mainly devoted to the farming of shellfish (>45%), sea fish (>30%) and lake fish (>20%). There continue to be few farmed species, of which the most common are mussels, salmon, sea bream, rainbow trout, sea bass, oysters, and carp. (10)

2.5) Sustainable aquaculture, the EU resources.

The sustainable development of aquaculture is supported by the EU through theEuropean Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), worth a total of €6 billion, effective from 2021 to 2027.

The European Commission-whether through the EMFAF fund or the Horizon 2020 research program (e.g., Horizon 2020. projects
ProFuture
, EcoeFISHent) – aspires to promote progress. (11)

Giulia Paganini and Dario Dongo

Notes

(1) FAO. International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022). https://www.fao.org/artisanal-fisheries-aquaculture-2022/about/en/

(2) FAO. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020. Sustainability in action. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9229en

(3) Smith H and Basurto X (2019). Defining Small-Scale Fisheries and Examining the Role of Science in Shaping Perceptions of Who and What Counts: A Systematic Review. Front. Mar. Sci. 6:236. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00236

(4) Jentoft, S., Chuenpagdee, R., Barragán-Paladines, M. J., and Franz, N. (2017). The Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines: Global Implementation. Springer, Amsterdam. ISBN: 978-3-319-55074-9

(5) World Bank (2012). Hidden Harvest: The Global Contribution of Capture Fisheries. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/11873

(6) Crona BI, Pomeroy RS and Purcell SW (2020). Small-Scale and Artisanal Fisheries: Insights and Approaches for Improved Governance and Management in a Globalized Context. Front. Mar. Sci. 7:455. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00455).

(7) Phillips, M. et al. (2016). Aquaculture big numbers. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper.; 601. Rome, Italy, https://bit.ly/3pYlKQh

(8) FAO (2018). The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 – Meeting The Sustainable Development Goals. Rome. ISBN: 978-92-5-130562-1. https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/I9540EN/

(9) https://www.politicheagricole.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/3555

(10) European Commission. Overview of EU aquaculture (fish farming). https://ec.europa.eu/oceans-and-fisheries/ocean/blue-economy/aquaculture/overview-eu-aquaculture-fish-farming_en

11) European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) . https://ec.europa.eu/oceans-and-fisheries/funding/emfaf_en.