Catalog

	Table of Contents
p. 3 of 20 BACK | NEXT I. Introduction II. The Context: Fisheries in the Asian and Pacific Region A. The Role of Fisheries B. A Profile of the Fisheries Sector in the Region C. Fisheries Production and Trade D. Major Developments Affecting the Fisheries Sector E. ADB’s Policy on Fisheries III. The Bank's Experience in the Fisheries Sector IV. The Issues: Challenges and Opportunities V. The Recommended Strategy for the Bank

Policy on Fisheries : II. The Context: Fisheries in the Asian and Pacific Region

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A. The Role of Fisheries

Fish—including finfish; crustaceans (e.g., shrimp, lobsters, prawns); mollusks (e.g., oysters, mussels, scallops, squid, and octopus); and (for the purposes of this discussion) seaweeds—is the world's fifth largest agricultural resource, after rice, forest products, milk, and wheat, and accounts for 7.5 percent of total world food production.³ In terms of volume, fish products far outweigh any one of the four main terrestrial animal commodity groups—beef, sheep, pig, and poultry meat. In fact, fish production in the developing world, totaling about 60 million metric tons (t), is close to the total of all the four animal commodities combined (about 70 million t). More than one billion people around the world depend upon fish as their primary source of animal protein. About 50 million people rely on small-scale fisheries, through catching, processing, trading, or marketing, for their livelihoods.

In addition to its role as a basic food commodity, fish is an input for other useful ends such as for ornamental purposes (aquarium fishes); for recreation (e.g., game fishing); and for conservation (as integral parts of freshwater and marine ecosystems). In addition to human foods and food additives, fisheries yield products that are used in animal and crop feeds, cosmetics, detergents, jewelry, and a wide range of industrial and pharmaceutical products.

The Asian and Pacific Region is the major producer and consumer of world fish supplies. Most people in the Region are by tradition fish consumers. On average, fish provides about 28 percent of the total animal protein consumed in Asia, compared with 21 percent in Africa, 8 percent in Latin America, 7 percent in North America, and 10 percent in Western Europe.⁴ In some countries, e.g., Bangladesh, Maldives, Philippines, and the Pacific Islands, fish supplies over 75 percent of the total animal protein consumed by the human population.

The importance of the sector is even more pronounced in the small island developing states, where fisheries play a dominant role as a source of food, employment, and export earnings. Much of the nutrition, welfare, culture, recreation, and government revenue of these countries is based on their living marine resources. The continuation of current lifestyles, opportunities for future development, and food security in the small island developing states are all highly dependent on fisheries.

At least 10 million families are employed in fisheries in the DMCs, mostly in artisanal fisheries. Within Southeast Asia alone, more than 5 million people fish full-time. Because of the open access nature of fisheries resources, and became fishing typically does not require land ownership, it often becomes the employer of last resort, attracting people who have no other means of subsistence. To the Region's population, fish is important as a source of nutrition, employment, and income; to governments, the fisheries sector is vital for national food security, for foreign exchange earnings, and as a means to address the problem of poverty. The importance of fisheries, hence, emanates from its contribution to the economy and its relevance to the social and physical environment. This introduces an important social dimension that links governments' policy of poverty reduction with efforts to conserve fisheries resources.

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