Introduction

Continental view of capture fisheries and culture production by environment in 2001

Asia dominates production both from capture fisheries and culture viewpoints (Figure 1.2.5). Inland capture fisheries production from Asia was 5.8 million tonnes; Africa ranked second with 2.1 million tonnes. Inland capture fisheries production from Europe and South America was 0.3 million tonnes, each, and in North America 0.2 million tonnes. Inland capture fisheries from Oceania produced 22 thousand tonnes in 2001.

In Asia, China dominates fish production accounting for 83 percent of mariculture, 78 percent of freshwater culture, 37 percent each of marine and inland capture fisheries, and 17 percent of brackishwater culture (Figure 1.2.6).

Fish production from inland waters - inland capture fisheries and freshwater and brackishwater aquaculture production

In inland waters fish and other other aquatic animal production can come from capture fisheries, or from brackishwater or freshwater aquaculture. It is important to partition production from inland capture fisheries from production from inland aquaculture because the former is potentially the most immediate source of high quality protein for the populace. Much of inland capture fisheries production is available for consumption domestically whereas at least part of inland aquaculture production is for export, or too expensive to be available to the low-income stratum of the population.

There were 32 countries among the 150 inland fisheries countries with production from inland capture fisheries as the sole source of fish from inland waters. Additionally, there were 34 other countries in which inland capture fisheries were extremely important, accounting for at least 81 to 99 percent of the freshwater and brackishwater production from all sources, and an additional ten countries where inland capture fisheries were very important, accounting for at least 61 to 80 percent of total inland fish production (Map2). These 76 countries produced 3.0 million tonnes in 2001, equivalent to 35 percent of the total inland capture fisheries output.

The most important species and groups in inland fisheries production

The most important species and groups in inland production have been aggregated to provide a global overview (Figure 1.4.5), and views by continents (Figure 1.4.6 to Figure 1.4.11). Globally, only two species, the Nile perch and the Nile tilapia, can be distinguished among the top ten species and groups in production. This is because the remainder is "not elsewhere indicated" (NEI) indicating that many countries have not reported their capture to the species level. Among the NEI groups, tilapias, cyprinids, freshwater siluroids, characins and snakeheads are important.

 

 

 

 

Figure 1.4.6: Asia - most important species and groups 2001

 

 

 

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[1] Inland fisheries are "fisheries which are carried out in freshwater or estuaries and whose target species are those that spend all or part of their life-cycle therein". FAO Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service, Fishery Resources and Environment Division. 1992. Review of the state of world fishery resources. Part 2: Inland fisheries and aquaculture. FAO Fisheries Circular (FAO), no. 710 (rev.8). Rome, FAO. 26 pp. [2] The capture fishery and aquaculture production data are from the FAO Fisheries Department, and were extracted using FISHSTAT+. The data sets were Aquaculture Production: Quantities 1950 to 2001, and Capture Production 1950-2001. The data are available at: http://www.fao.org/fi/statist/FISOFT/FISHPLUS.asp#DownloadData. [3] 3 Population estimates are from GeoHive Global Statistics Populations of all of the Countries of the World and are for July, 2002. http://www.geohive.com/global/pop_data2.php. [4] Weighted by inland production in each country. The unweighted mean is 1.5 kg. [5] Overview of fish production, utilization, consumption and trade by STEFANIAVANNUCCINI, Fishery Statistician (Commodities), FAO, Fishery Information, Data and Statistics Unit: http://www.globefish.org/presentations/2001%20Fishery%20Overview/2001fisheryoverview.htm [6] SOFIA2002, Part 1, pp. 28 and 30. [7] Explanation and data from "876 (LIFDC) - Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries" at http://apps.fao.org/notes/876-e.htm. [8] SOFIA2002, Part 1, p.31. [9] Trend values generated by FISHSTAT+ can range from +1 (rapid increase) to -1 (rapid decrease) while values at or near zero indicate relative stability. [10] Trend values for the 150 inland fisheries countries range from 0.81 to -0.46. Trend values were cast into ranges of 20 units each with the mid range centred on zero (-0.09 to 0.09) and taken as being indicative of stable conditions in inland fisheries output. The other 20-unit ranges were categorized in a logical positive and negative progression that can be viewed as the legend to map 6, and the frequency distributions of the values in each range are evident in Figure 1.4.1. [11] Marked Improvement, 0.010 <Slope <0.043; Moderate Improvement, 0.001<Slope <0.010; No Change, Slope = 0; Moderate Deterioration, -0.001<Slope <-0.010; Marked Deterioration, -0.010<Slope <-0.031.