The State Of World Fisheries And Aquaculture

Fisheries continue to receive increasing attention not only because they represent an important source of livelihoods and food but also because of their contribution to increasing our understanding of the vast aquatic ecosystem - a strong concern of civil society at large. "The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004" concludes that developments in world fisheries and aquaculture during recent years have continued to follow the trends that were already becoming apparent at the end of the 1990s: capture fisheries production is stagnating, aquaculture output is expanding and there are growing concerns with regard to safeguarding the livelihoods of fishers and the sustainability of both commercial catches and the aquatic ecosystem from which they are extracted. The report provides a comprehensive overview of these developments and discusses several issues that confront fishers and fish farmers worldwide: the recovery of marine fish stocks, the management of deep-water fisheries and the sustainability of capture-based aquaculture. Other questions of global significance are raised in the report, inter alia, the impact of trawling on benthic habitats, the amount of fish discarded in marine fisheries globally, and the measurement of fishing capacity. Consideration is also give to how freshwater fisheries in southern Africa could be managed sustainably while respecting the social and economic importance of these fisheries. "The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004" concludes with some views on the potential for fisheries and aquaculture as a source of food in the coming three decades. Includes the third edition of the "FAO World Fisheries and Aquaculture Atlas" CD-ROM, a comprehensive and global view of both capture fisheries and aquaculture.