13. The Commission considered this agenda item on the basis of document APFIC/04/3 which had been abstracted from a draft report on the status and potential of fisheries and aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific region. This is currently in preparation by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (document APFIC/04/Inf.8). The Commission congratulated the Secretariat for the production of this comprehensive review and affirmed that fisheries and aquaculture are vital to the Asia-Pacific region, providing food security, revenue and employment to millions of people. In several member countries, fisheries and aquaculture make notable contributions to the GDPs and the region also contains some of the highest per capita fish consumption in the world.
Production trends
14. The Commission reaffirmed that the Asia-Pacific region continued to be the largest producer of fish and fishery products in the world, totaling approximately 92 million tonnes or approximately 69 percent of global production in 2002. Of the top ten producers in the world, five countries are in the region (China, Indonesia, Japan, India, and Thailand). The Commission noted that despite the significance of fisheries and aquaculture in the region, this sector is often overlooked during national policy development and often given lesser priority relative to other agriculture production sectors.
15. For marine capture fisheries, there was rapid growth in production between 1950-1990, but this has slowed down over the last decade. The Commission was informed that over the past 30 years there has been a trend from larger sized demersal fish towards smaller pelagic fish species. It was particularly noted that an increasing proportion of these catches are being used directly or indirectly as fish meal in aquaculture and livestock feeds. It further noted that the demand for these low-value 'trash fish' for this purpose had fuelled increasing pressure on the fish stocks.
16. The production from inland capture fisheries was observed to have increased significantly in the 1990's. The Commission noted that this could be the result of improved estimation and reporting of inland catches, because the earlier reported production from inland waters is known to have been underestimated in many sub-regions of Asia and the Pacific, especially production from artisanal small-scale fisheries in rural areas.
17. Growth in aquaculture has been noticeably strong over the past ten years with aquaculture production from the region doubling since 1990. The contribution of China to the region's aquaculture production is particularly significant. Carps and barbs continue to be the dominant freshwater species and marine Penaeids continued to dominate crustacean culture. Recently, the culture of white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei, introduced from South America) has increased, especially in China, and South and Southeast Asia. It was noted that with the increasing production of this species, there have been price instabilities and trade disagreements over allegations of dumping. Production of aquatic plants and molluscs continued to increase, although site limitations were expected to constrain this in the future.
State of the fishery resources
18. The Commission noted with concern evidence from studies conducted by the WorldFish Center (Trawlbase project) indicating declining demersal fish resources from a number of fisheries in the region. The study also revealed changes in the composition of the trawl catches with a significant increase in the amount of smaller fish, indicating the effect known as 'fishing down the food chain'. It was noted that accompanying socio-economic studies indicated that fishing was still profitable for semi-commercial or commercial trawl fisheries but not for small-scale fisheries. The evidence of large rent dissipation and excess capacity in the fisheries was noted and pointed to the urgency of reducing the overall fishing effort. The Commission concurred with the studies and recommended that there was an urgent need for implementation of better and more effective fisheries management plans.
19. The Commission was appraised of the status of a number of large marine ecosystems (LMEs) in the region. It noted that in a number of heavily fished LMEs, such as the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand and to a lesser extent the Sulu-Celebes Sea, there was evidence of 'fishing down the food chain', with the fisheries becoming more dependent on smaller low-value 'trash fish'.
20. The Commission agreed that a more holistic approach to fishery management was needed that balanced the needs of the different parts of the fishery sector, as well as balanced the human well-being against ecological well-being.
21. The delegate of Republic of Korea drew the Commission's attention to the use of the term 'Sea of Japan' in document APFIC/04/Inf.8 and stated that it should be referred to as the 'East Sea/Sea of Japan'. The delegate of Japan stated that the APFIC session was not the appropriate forum for discussion of this matter and reserved its comments. The Secretariat agreed that it would seek legal advice on this matter.
22. The Commission observed that reported production from inland fishery resources continued to rise, but noted that many of the inland water habitats had been degraded due to pollution and activities under agricultural and/or economic development initiatives. It acknowledged the importance of inland fisheries in sustaining rural livelihoods in many countries of the region. In particular, it noted that the lack of accurate information on small-scale capture fisheries in inland waters, such as the impact of water management infrastructure, agriculture and industrial development, as well as increasing fishing pressure had led to difficulty in properly assessing the status of inland fisheries resources.
23. The Commission emphasized the need for more focused efforts at improved information and assessment of the status of inland fisheries resources in the region, and requested assistance to implement this. The Commission pointed out that this was particularly important for effective management decision making but also for effectively informing national policy and development processes.
Outlook
24. The Secretariat informed the Commission of the conclusions of recent study on "Fish to 2020" (International Food Policy Research Institute and WorldFish Centre). The Commission noted the forecast revealed by the study that fish production and consumption would continue to rise in developing States, but slow down in developed States. The effect would be increasing prices for fish, fish meal and fish oil and increased demand over supply. This contrasted with the forecast for the livestock sector which suggests that prices for meat would decrease over the next 15 years. It was further noted that development in South- South trade in fish and fishery products, including seafood, would most likely be greater than North-South trade, with developing States remaining net exporters. The Commission acknowledged that the longer term implication of this would be that fish would become less affordable for the poor and increasingly become a luxury food item.
25. The commission was informed that with the overall increase in global demand, it is expected that the abundance of coastal fishery resources in the region would continue to decline unless excess fishing capacity and fishing effort were greatly reduced. The Commission concurred with the study that parallel to the reduction of the capacity and fishing effort in commercial or industrial fisheries, there was a need to introduce improved management of small-scale fisheries. The latter could be effected through co-management, whereby relevant government agencies devolved some of the responsibilities to local communities together with the adoption of a holistic approach, balancing human needs with ecological well-being. The Commission reiterated its recommendations from previous sessions regarding the continuing need for capacity building and technology transfer for fisheries administrators and technicians as well as other stakeholders in the sector by the developing member countries of APFIC.
26. The Secretariat informed the Commission that the abundance of offshore resources would probably be considerably less than those found in coastal waters. The Commission cautioned that if these limited off-shore resources became uneconomical, commercial fleets would return to the coastal fisheries, further aggravating existing problems of near-shore overfishing.
27. The Commission noted that continued aquaculture expansion was possible, but the land or water resources required for this would be increasingly constrained. In particular, the Commission emphasized the need to identify and develop alternatives to fish meal as aquaculture feeds since this resource was finite and possibly already at a point where it could not increase further.
28. The Commission agreed that the dominance of low value 'trash fish' in the catches was a major issue of concern, noting that 'trash fish' now exceeds 60 percent of capture fisheries in the South China Sea. It was observed that there is emerging evidence of high rates of discards in some fisheries as day boat fisheries with limited storage capacity change to multi-day fisheries. The Commission unanimously agreed that the 'trash fish' and discard issues should be properly addressed to effect sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture in the region.
29. The Commission felt that the rising trend of live-fish trade for ornamental aquariums or food was driving unsustainable fishing methods in the region. It was suggested that the Commission contribute to raising awareness amongst consumers regarding the impact that these practices were having on marine resources.
30. The Commission, in discussing these two issues as highlighted by the Secretariat, also suggested that future reports should include other issues such as food safety and post-harvest practices, especially as they relate to small-scale fisheries and rural aquaculture.
