0.19 Natural capital: fisheries

Introduction

Portions of this book were finished in 2015. Had this chapter been written five years earlier, the general tone regarding fisheries would have been decidedly pessimistic: fisheries worldwide were being rapidly depleted, in spite of conservation efforts discussed below.

However, thus far into the 21st century the world has benefitted from very rapid growth of fish farming in the U.S., Nordic Nations, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Chile. Modern fish farming includes saltwater varieties popular in the diets of people in both developed and emerging nations. If the fish farming industry continues to mature and spread to more countries, future editions of this book may contain a very short chapter on fisheries. Then, what we now view as natural capital will be essentially manufactured capital. It is still too early to celebrate this achievement. Farmed fish may prove to be susceptible to diseases not common to fish in the wild. Fish farming also involves some environmental risks. And some farmed fish do not satisfy human palates as well as the same fish caught in the wild. For example, this was apparently the case for much of farmed salmon from the U.S. and the Nordic countries early on: the farmed fish carried a distinctly different taste. However, the industry seems to believe that this problem will disappear as time passes.

For the time being, at least, the rapid rise of fish farming has materially helped in reduced depletion and stress on natural fisheries. In any case, the world’s natural fisheries remain as an important source of natural capital for emerging and developed nations and will be treated as such. (Details on the farmed fish industry are provided later on in this Chapter).

Significance of fisheries

Fisheries involve issues of resource sustainability that have been largely overlooked for far too long. Abuse of this source of natural capital has worldwide implications, especially as fish pertain to the diet and employment opportunities of poor people in poor nations.

World trade in seafood of all kinds totaled $136 billion in 2013 excluding farm-grown fish. "Unchartered Waters”, Financial Times, Nov. 21, 2014. Worldwide, in 2006 200 million people were employed in fisheries. In poor countries almost 95% are employed in small scale fishing. Worldwide, 2.9 billion people depended on fish for more than 14% of their protein. 20% of the world’s people, mostly in the poorest nations rely on fish as their primary source of protein.

As has been the case for water resources, awareness of fishery resources issues only began to become widespread after 1950. Why? In 1950 only 50% of the world’s fisheries were fully exploited. By 1980, this figure rose to 60%, and by 2008, 80% of fish stocks had been fully exploited. The population of certain highly prized fish species has fallen precipitously. For example the number of Pacific Bluefin tuna in 2012 was but one fourth that of 1995, and one seventh that of the mid-sixties. By 2010 the situation for bluefins had become serious.