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p. 6 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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D. Major Developments Affecting the Fisheries Sector

Expanded National Jurisdiction for Resource Management

The most important international initiative contributing to the transition of the fisheries sector worldwide was the adoption in 1982 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) granting coastal states the legal rights to regulate and manage fish resources up to 200 nautical miles from the coast. Although this law came formally into effect only in November 1994, its earlier adoption by many countries has had a number of profound effects. First, the extension of jurisdiction has redistributed fisheries resources away from distant industrialized fishing states to the coastal states, enabling them to extract benefits from developed nations through license fees and joint ventures. It also encouraged the development of the coastal states' own industrial fishing fleets, thereby increasing the contribution to the country's economic, social, and nutritional objectives. Second, it allowed coastal states to exercise greater management control over their fishery resources. A clear outcome of the extension of jurisdiction is that structural changes in the industry have occurred globally, resulting in the transfer of boat titles; investments in new boats; and proliferation of joint ventures between countries with fisheries resources but limited capacity to exploit these resources, and other countries with fishing fleets. However, a major difficulty that many developing countries have in realizing benefits from these developments is that of monitoring and controlling the activities of the foreign or local fleets to ensure compliance with agreements and country regulations. Most countries have yet to develop the capacity and knowledge to manage the fishery resources sustainably.

Enhanced Environmental Stress

The second group of factors that has affected fisheries over the last decade is related to the high population and economic growth that the Region has experienced. Increasing population, urbanization, intensive agriculture, industrialization, shipping traffic, coastal settlements, and a range of other human activities including offshore mining exploration and exploitation, tourism, coastal reclamation, and loss of mangroves and wetlands are all exerting increasing pressures on the marine and coastal environments. An Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) study⁷ in 1992 identified the main marine environmental problems in the region as (i) pollution and/or siltation of coastal waters from industrial effluents, domestic sewage, and agricultural and surface runoff; (ii) pollution of some regional seas and straits from sea traffic operations, and from mining and oil exploration and exploitation; (iii) destruction of sensitive coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves and coral reefs, through cutting, reclamation, conversion, exploitation, and pollution; and (iv) overexploitation of fishery resources and destructive fishing practices. All these factors have deleterious, and sometimes irreversible, negative impacts on fisheries and aquaculture and thereby endanger the integrity of the production system and the sustainability of aquatic resources utilization.

Growth of Inland and Coastal Aquaculture

The third major development that has reshaped the fisheries sector in many DMCs is the dramatic growth in inland and coastal aquaculture in response to declining fish supplies from marine resources, and increasing demand in local and international markets for specialty products. Aquaculture production provides an alternative source of fish and has attracted substantial increases in entrepreneurship and investments in the sector. Globally, aquaculture production expanded during 1984-1993 at an average annual compounded rate of 9 percent; in Asia, it increased by an average of 11 percent during the same period. Aquaculture contributed 24 percent of total fish production in Asia in 1993, and continues to have potential to support substantial increases in fish supply. The rapid expansion of aquaculture brought about a restructuring of the fisheries sector with significant implications for employment, income, and environmental consequences.

International Initiatives

Several international initiatives also have a significant impact on the fisheries sector. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) defined a global framework for environmental action, also applicable to the fisheries sector, and called for "protection of the oceans, all kinds of seas and coastal areas, and the protection, rational use and development of their living resources." Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 of UNCED⁸ addressed issues of sustainable use and conservation of marine living resources, and highlighted the importance of integrated management and sustainable development of coastal and marine areas including EEZs. A Convention on Biological Diversity was also signed at UNCED, committing the signatories to conserving and sustainably using their biological resources, and the Bank has been active in biodiversity conservation in the spirit of the Convention.⁹ The second meeting of the parties to the Convention, in Jakarta in November 1995, focused on the marine and coastal environment and took decisions collectively referred to as the Jakarta Mandate on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity, recommending a series of actions to promote the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity. A number of other recent United Nations initiatives to foster international awareness and cooperation in addressing the emerging challenges of dwindling fisheries resources have focused on practices that degrade fisheries resources through unsustainable utilization, and have called for specific action by member nations.¹⁰

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) continues to play an important role in disseminating information on fisheries, promoting cooperation in fisheries management, and research and development. A number of regional bodies, committees, and commissions under the auspices of FAO provide an elaborate framework for international cooperation in resource management, and transfer of technology among governments and private industry. The first FAO World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development in 1984 drew up a strategy for fishery management and development under the new legal regime following UNCLOS in 1982; it included 116 principles and guidelines to improve the contribution of fisheries to the social, economic, and nutritional goals of member nations. As a follow-up to UNCED and Agenda 21, FAO has recently finalized the International Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and prepared an agreement to promote compliance with international conservation and management measures by fishing vessels on the high seas. Upon their acceptance by FAO member states, the Code and the agreement are likely to have far-reaching effects on fishery practices. A major theme running through the recent agreements is the application of the "precautionary principle", which holds that the absence of adequate scientific information should not be used as a reason for postponing or failing to take measures to conserve target (or other) species and their environment. Conservation and management measures need to be adopted that reduce the risk of damage to living aquatic resources and the environment, taking full account of scientific and technical uncertainty, as well as the best scientific evidence available. In other words, fishing targets must be set with caution wherever there is uncertainty, even in the absence of scientific proof of damaging consequences.

A number of international bodies and organizations are active in fisheries management and in promoting international cooperation. Under the aegis of FAO, several intergovernmental commissions are concerned with fisheries in the DMCs: the Indian Ocean Fishery Commission, established in 1967; the Indo-Pacific Fishery Commission, established in 1945 and now renamed the Asia Pacific Fishery Commission; and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the Agreement for the establishment of which was adopted in 1995. The South Pacific Commission has, since 1956, provided scientific advice to its 22 island member states, 12 of which are also members of the Bank, in support of management initiatives. The South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency was set up in 1979 as an intergovernmental body and has promoted regional cooperation among its 16 member states in the management of fisheries of common interest, focusing on oceanic species, predominantly tunas. The Forum Fisheries Agency and the South Pacific Commission have fostered harmonized regional initiatives in fisheries management and are addressing issues with respect to the rationalization of domestic fishing activities and the regulation of foreign fishing activities within EEZs.

A few regional bodies and organizations are concerned with research on tropical or subtropical fisheries. The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), with headquarters in Bangkok, undertakes applied research and provides training in isheries, aquaculture, and postharvest technology. An intergovernmental Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), established under the auspices of FAO/United Nations Development Programme in Bangkok, Thailand in 1990, carries out applied research of regional relevance and provides training, functioning within the framework of technical cooperation among developing countries. The intergovernmental organization INFOFISH, was set up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with the assistance of FAO to disseminate information to the fishery industry in Asia. The only CGIAR center involved in research in aquatic resources, ICLARM, is based in Manila, Philippines.

Major developments in fisheries and international initiatives have led to some significant sectoral consequences in the Bank's DMCs, which include the following:

1. A few coastal nations (including some DMCs) have substantially increased their investments in fishing, in effect contributing to the overcapacity of the world's fishing fleets.

2. Extensive technological advances were achieved in fishing vessels, fish-finding devices and gear (e.g., modified seines and trawls), and onboard processing, enabling fishing fleets to exploit fish stocks far away from home ports. Vessels from the region have been successful in increasing the catch of cephalopods and tuna.

3. DMCs whose zones contained valuable resources (such as the Pacific island states) enhanced their foreign exchange earnings from distant water fishing nations which purchased rights to fish in their waters.

4. All of the above, often in the absence of a sufficient knowledge of sustainable levels of exploitation, led to near depletion or overexploitation of fisheries in the nearshore continental shelf of coastal states as well as certain offshore commercial species.

5. The number of disputes, both international and local, has risen, in particular with regard to the use of EEZ waters by distant water fleets in the waters of coastal nations. Disputes between the industrial and artisanal subsectors within coastal waters, on matters related to use of specific fishing gear and damage to or interference with small-scale fishing operations, have also occurred.

6. Because of the problems of resource scarcity and to enhance profitability, technical innovations in the postharvest sector have emerged allowing better utilization of small pelagic species, and improved fish handling and processing. In some instances this has also facilitated the capture of the younger stages of traditional species, with negative effects on the populations of those species.

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