Fishing industry
The fishing industry includes any industry or activity that takes, cultures, processes, preserves, stores, transports, markets or sells fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including recreational, subsistence and commercial fishing, as well as the related harvesting, processing, and marketing sectors.[1] The commercial activity is aimed at the delivery of fish and other seafood products for human consumption or as input factors in other industrial processes. The livelihood of over 500 million people in developing countries depends directly or indirectly on fisheries and aquaculture.[2]
The fishing industry is struggling with environmental and welfare issues, including overfishing and occupational safety.[3] Additionally, the combined pressures of climate change, biodiversity loss and overfishing endanger the livelihoods and food security of a substantial portion of the global population.[4]
Contribution of fish to animal protein supply, average 2013–2015
Fish are harvested by commercial fishing and aquaculture.
The world harvest increased over the 20th century and, by 1986, had stabilized around 85–95 million metric tons (94×106–105×106 short tons) per year.[11] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world harvest in 2005 consisted of 93.3 million metric tons (102.8×106 short tons) captured by commercial fishing in wild fisheries, plus 48.1 million metric tons (53.0×106 short tons) produced by fish farms. In addition, 1.3 million metric tons (1.4×106 short tons) of aquatic plants (seaweed etc.) were captured in wild fisheries and 14.8 million metric tons (16.3×106 short tons) were produced by aquaculture.[12] The number of individual fish caught in the wild has been estimated at 0.97–2.7 trillion per year (not counting fish farms or marine invertebrates).[13]
Following is a table of the 2011 world fishing industry harvest in tonnes (metric tons) by capture and by aquaculture.[12]
Society and culture[edit]
Global goals[edit]
International policy to attempt to address these issues is captured in Sustainable Development Goal 14 ("Life below water") and its Target 14.4 on "Sustainable fishing":[41] "By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics".
Standards and labelling[edit]
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an independent non-profit organization which sets a standard for sustainable fishing. Fisheries that wish to demonstrate they are well-managed and sustainable compared to the MSC's standards are assessed by a team of experts or Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) who are independent of both the fishery and the MSC.[42][43]