Many of the world’s fisheries have been pushed to the brink of their productive capacity by over-harvesting. Pollution, rapid development, and other forces compound the stress, with climate change posing a potentially enormous threat.
The 2004 tsunami in Asia showed, tragically, how vulnerable poor coastal communities are in the face of natural disasters. From post-tsunami research in Indonesia’s Aceh province, WorldFish and a coalition of partners developed a “Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods Framework” to guide rehabilitation of devastated communities. It calls for integrated, multi-sectoral reconstruction, rather than just replacing lost boats and fishing gear, to discourage over-fishing and build a more diversified base for providing an array of socioeconomic benefits.
Initiatives to promote more sustainable fishing practices and improve fisheries management are strongly supported by a number of powerful tools. The online FishBase, offers a broad range of information on 30,000 known species of fish. Its millions of records are enhanced by interactive and analytical features, and the information is accessible in several languages. |
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A similar online resource, ReefBase, is indispensable for monitoring and management of the world’s coral reefs. It features a comprehensive database of coral-related publications, full-resolution maps of all the world’s coral reefs derived from Landsat images, data on coral bleaching, and an award-winning interactive GIS-based mapping tool.
Concentrated most heavily in developing countries, coral reefs offer a variety of goods and services valued at US$375 million a year worldwide. Besides providing food (up to a quarter of all the fish and other organisms that people in some coastal areas consume for a major portion of their dietary protein), environmental protection, tourism-related income, and other economic opportunities, reefs host one of the planet’s richest treasure boxes of biodiversity. But, more than half (58 percent) of all the world’s coral reefs face a major threat to their survival, according to a 2004 report by the IUCN. In Southeast Asia alone, 90 percent of all reefs are heavily damaged or endangered.
Another unique tool that aids fishery management is the Asia Fish model, developed with funding from the Asian Development Bank. It provides a comprehensive picture of fish supply, demand, and trade across the region —for both wild and farmed fish— up to 2020. Nine Asian countries are using the sophisticated software model and a related analytical feature to determine what polices and practices are most appropriate to meet their respective goals for increased fish production, poverty reduction, and economic development.
In the Greater Mekong region, scientists and policy-makers are using a modeling tool called BayFish to acquire a better understanding of the trade-offs involved in different planning options. In Cambodia, for example, WorldFish researchers and their colleagues recently looked at how the building of dams, irrigation systems, and other infrastructure will affect fish production in the Tonle Sap area.
WorldFish’s efforts to maintain and increase sustainable production of fish and other aquatic resources include the development of novel mariculture technologies. One approach shows strong promise for reviving depleted sea cucumber populations in the Asia-Pacific region. Highly prized for Chinese traditional medicines and other uses, sea cucumbers live in shallow coastal waters and have been harvested so heavily they have all but disappeared in many areas.
Other sustainable hatchery methods are being developed to raise ornamental fish and other high-value aquatic products, including cleaner shrimp, spiny lobsters, angelfish, giant clams, and black pearls for export markets. In several rainforest communities of Cameroon, for example, villagers are using sustainable production methods to raise colorful fish from local rivers for the international aquarium industry; a single specimen brings as much as US$25. Similar projects in the Solomon Islands and other parts of the Pacific are giving poor coastal dwellers of remote island-nations critically needed livelihood options that avert damage to local reefs and other fish habitats. |
