The importance of aquatic products

Some 200 million people, mostly in developing countries, earn their living in the fisheries sector and allied production segments. Globally about 2,8 billion humans depend on fish as an important source for protein. In developing countries 2.6 billion people are covering more than 20 per cent of their protein consumption with fish. Since the beginning of the nineties, fish production has stagnated worldwide at approximately 100 million tonnes a year. Added to this are about 45 million tonnes of aquaculture products, now the highest-growth sector in food production.

Challenges

The main problems facing the fisheries sector are

• unbridled exploitation of aquatic resources
• inadequate legislative framework
• disjointed utilisation strategies.

Some of the grave consequences are

• depletion of major fish stocks (FAO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, estimates that 75 percent of marine resources are exploited up to or beyond the maximum threshold)
• damage to ecosystems through over-fishing and destructive fishing methods resulting in economic losses
• detrimental effects on the fish trade (higher prices for fish products).

The mounting threat to fisheries and food security has reached alarming proportions - action needs to be taken now.
Aquaculture must make a progressive contribution to meeting the growing demand for fisheries products. At the moment, there is a widespread lack of know-how about ecologically sustainable strategies and production methods.

Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries

In various forums, the international community proposed drafting a code of conduct as a basis for concerted and coherent action to ensure the sustainable use of aquatic resources: 1991 in the Commission on Fisheries (COFI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), at the International Conference on Responsible Fisheries in 1992 in Cancún, Mexico and at the UN Conference for Environment and Development (UNCED) 1992 in Rio de Janeiro.

Coordinated by the FAO, the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) was agreed and officially adopted in 1995. The Code lays down principles and international practices for responsible fisheries in order to ensure the environmentally sound and sustainable use of aquatic resources. The Code of Conduct and the International Plans of Action (IPOA), introduced to support its implementation, oblige signatory states to meet prescribed standards and to assist developing countries with their implementation tasks.