Coastal Aquaculture and Mariculture

Unit 2 - Marine Fishery resources of the world

2.2. World marine capture fisheries production
World marine capture fisheries production which was 85 mt in 1995 decreased to 79.5 mt in 1998 and then increased to 84.2 mt in 2005. During the same period, world aquaculture production steadily increased from 24.4 mt in 1995 to 47.8 mt in 2005, showing that the overall increase in world fish production was mainly contributed by aquaculture sector. During the past decade, the reported landings of marine capture fisheries fluctuated between 80 mt and 87 mt (avg 1993 -2003, 84 mt), a slight increase over the preceeding decade (avg., 77 mt). It should be noted that between the two periods, the quantity of marine fish caught and discarded has fallen by several million tonnes. The reasons attributed for this is improved gear selectivity and fishing practices, fisheries management that decreases access to some stocks, no discard policies in some countries and growing demand for fish combined with improved technologies and opportunities for utilizing by catch recently, significant changes have taken place in the offshore fisheries of the world. Large number of nations in the late seventies declared Exclusive economic zones (EEZ) up to 200 nautical miles (372 km) from their shores, claiming exclusive rights to exploit and manage the living and non-living resources in these zones. About 90% of the presently exploited fishery resources fall under EEZ of coastal states. This has reduced the area of operation of distant water vessels of major fishing nations and hence they are forced to operate under licensing system of chartering or joint agreement with the owner of these fisheries resources mainly the developing maritime states. Hence, with the declaration of EEZ, the catches from developing countries will improve in the coming years. The following table shows the contribution made by the marine capture fisheries sector to the total world capture fisheries production (in tonnes) during 1997 -
2005.

World marine Fishing areas
FAO divided the marine fishing areas of the world into 15 major marine fishing areas for statistical purposes. Of these 15 marine fishing areas, North West Pacific (25.S2%) continued to be the most productive in 2005. This was followed by South East Pacific (17.4%) and Western Central Pacific (12.89%) during the same period. South West Pacific used to be the second most productive area.

Fishing Areas for statistical purposes

Marine fishing area-wise fish production in 2005