fisheries policy brief
Fisheries and aquaculture
December 2020
bout a quarter of fish stocks with known status are overfished and over a third of A government support to fisheries lowers the cost of fuel, vessels and gear — a type of support that frequently encourages overfishing. rgent action is needed to end overfishing and make fisheries and aquaculture production U more sustainable and coastal communities more resilient, particularly in the context of climate change. Priorities for reform include the re-targeting of government spending towards policies that help fishers operate their businesses more effectively and ensure resilient livelihoods to coastal communities as well as effectively controlling the quantity of fish being caught by enforcing comprehensive, evidence-based and transparent fishing regulation.
What’s the issue? Fisheries and aquaculture make an essential and growing contribution to the food security of millions of people worldwide. Led by the rapid development of aquaculture, especially in Asia, global seafood consumption has grown at twice the rate of the population since the early 1960s. In the OECD, over the last two decades, total seafood output value has increased by about a third, predominantly driven by strong aquaculture growth. Over the same period, the volume of wild fish harvests fell by about 30% because of declining stocks and fishing policies aimed at exploiting them more sustainably. In the future, seafood production from capture fisheries is expected to fall slightly at the global level, but aquaculture growth is foreseen to continue, albeit at a reduced pace, driven by global economic and population growth increasing the demand for food. Seafood value chains, from harvesting to processing, transport and distribution, provide a livelihood for many coastal communities. The sector also generates substantial government revenue and foreign currency, as seafood is among the most highly traded food commodities. However, overfishing, destructive fishing techniques and illegal fishing have contributed to the deterioration of many fish stocks. In countries participating in the OECD Review of Fisheries 2020, about a quarter of global fish stocks with known status are in a biologically unsustainable situation, and of the two thirds that are
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healthy, only half are know to be in a situation that allows producing maximum sustainable catch volume or value (Figure 1). Unsustainable fishing and aquaculture practices also damage the ocean ecosystem through pollution and destroy habitats, including seabeds, mangroves and coral reefs. This threatens ocean biodiversity, reduces seafood production capacity in the long term and challenges the development of a sustainable and resilient ocean economy for future generations.
What should policy makers do? Increased attention on resource and ecosystem health in OECD countries over the last decade has led to improved stock management, especially when total allowable catch limits (TACs) and scientifically-based harvest control rules are used. Progress is also being driven by a more integrated view of aquaculture growth in coastal ecosystems and growing demand for certified sustainable products. Several countries are reviewing how to allocate fishing and aquaculture rights fairly and more efficiently. This is a good start, but more can be done to put fisheries and aquaculture on a fully sustainable and resilient footing. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in 2015 recognized this need by including targets for effective science-based regulation of fishing, elimination of overfishing, illegal fishing and harmful subsidies by 2020. These targets
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Fisheries and aquaculture Status of assessed fish stocks as reported to the OECD Review of Fisheries 2020
will not be met. The anticipated impacts of climate change on the ocean ecosystem – which will degrade the production capacity of many fisheries and aquaculture sites worldwide – make an acceleration of reforms all the more urgent.
as investment in more frequent and strategic vessel inspections in port. •
To ensure the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture production: •
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Redirect financial support away from policies that subsidise fishing inputs (fuel, vessels, gear), which often encourage unsustainable fishing, towards those that help fishers operate their businesses more effectively. Adopt a whole-of-government approach to address the socio-economic issues affecting coastal communities, including with non-sectoral policies when they can be more effective and efficient.
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Enforce well-designed, science-based fisheries and coastal zone management plans that commit to achieve sustainability targets over a specific period.
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Use adaptive policies, which build-in mechanisms for adjustment in the face of change, especially in contexts of uncertainty, such as data-poor fisheries or areas deemed most vulnerable to climate change.
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Pay attention to the distributional effects of policies, especially rights allocation and financial support, as outcomes seen as unfair can eventually put pressure on the management system.
To reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing: •
Regulate fishing-related activities as thoroughly as fishing, in order to close seafood supply chains to IUU fishing operators.
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Better detect illegal activities through improved information sharing across branches of government, with the public and other countries (in particular vessel registries, lists of authorised vessels and vessels identified as engaging in IUU fishing), as well
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Make sanctions more dissuasive and facilitate prosecution of IUU fishing, notably by cutting access to public support for fishers who do not abide by the law and requiring information about the beneficial owners of vessels in registration systems.
To better motivate, prioritise and design needed reforms: •
Invest in data and set up inclusive mechanisms for producing and sharing scientific evidence, involving research institutions, stakeholders and policy makers from different policy and scientific domains, with transparent methods and financing.
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Encourage inclusive, open and transparent dialogues with stakeholders and across branches of the administration.
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Invest in reinforcing the human and technological capacity of the public entities in charge of fisheries management to help them deal with increasingly multifaceted problems.
Further reading • OECD (2020), OECD Review of Fisheries 2020, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi. org/10.1787/7946bc8a-en. • OECD (2020), Fisheries, aquaculture and COVID-19: Issues and policy responses, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policyresponses/fisheries-aquaculture-and-covid-19issues-and-policy-responses-a2aa15de/
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