Fisheries

Climate change can alter conditions that sustain food production and availability, with cascading consequences for food security and global economies. Here, we evaluate the vulnerability of societies to the simultaneous impacts of climate change on agriculture and marine fisheries at a global scale.

Our research contributes to understanding actionable knowledge for sustainability using a before-after intervention with fishing and farming community representatives in a situation of conflicting water, energy, food, and livelihoods priorities in rural Cambodia. We explain why reducing uncertainty and building consensus on action through participatory research could potentially catalyze new behavior that promotes sustainability and test how this happens in our intervention.

Efforts to confront the challenges of environmental change and uncertainty include attempts to adaptively manage social–ecological systems. However, critical questions remain about whether adaptive management can lead to sustainable outcomes for both ecosystems and society. Here, we make a contribution to these efforts by presenting a 16-y analysis of ecological outcomes and perceived livelihood impacts from adaptive coral reef management in Papua New Guinea.

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development, this project is led by WorldFish in collaboration with the Fisheries & Animal Resources Development Department of the Indian state of Odisha, along with several private sector companies. Its aim is to improve food and nutrition security in Odisha by increasing the supply of and access to affordable, safe, nutrient-rich fish and fish products for greater consumption.

On June 28, 2016, WorldFish headquarters in Malaysia signed a memorandum of agreement with the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department (F&ARD) of the Government of Odisha, India, in the august presence of Sri Naveen Patnaik, Honourable Chief Minister of Odisha to implement a project called Technical Collaboration for Implementation of the Odisha Fisheries Policy 2015. It runs from July 2016 to March 2022 (5 years and 9 months).

Micronutrient deficiencies account for an estimated one million premature deaths annually, and for some nations can reduce gross domestic product by up to 11%, highlighting the need for food policies that focus on improving nutrition rather than simply increasing the volume of food produced3. People gain nutrients from a varied diet, although fish—which are a rich source of bioavailable micronutrients that are essential to human health—are often overlooked.

India is a scaling country for WorldFish and the CGIAR Research Program on FISH. This growing program assists the government and private sector to scale various fisheries and aquaculture technologies in India.