Small-scale fisheries make up 40% of the global fishing catch, with Asia contributing roughly 23 of 37 million tonnes caught between 2013 and 2017, according to a new report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the
United Nations.
Small-scale fisheries comprise low-tech and low-cost familyor community-level fishing along coastlines and rivers with the ha ul most often sold in local markets.
The report highlights the importance of such enterprises for livelihoods and nutrition, especially in Asia, and for women. It suggests that the value of the sector has been underestimated.
The report by FAO, Duke University and WorldFish is the most comprehensive look at small-scale fisheries based on data from 58 countries and territories and involved 800 researchers, government officials and consultants.
The average economic value of annual fishery landings from 2013 to 2017 was almost $77. 2 billion globally — or 49% higher than the first study in 2012, though different sources and methods wereused previously. Smallscale fisheries generated about 44% of the total economic value of fishing catches in the countries studied.
In India, the average annual landing value is between $1-4. 3 billion – compared with over $4. 3 billion in the US – and around 10-25% of the marine catch is thought to come from smallscale fisheries, the report estimates.
The sector also accounts for almost 90% of global fisheries employment with 60. 2 million people employed partor full-time along the value chain in 2016, compared with 7. 3 million people for large-scale fisheries. These estimates were extrapolated from 78 national household-based surveys.
Most of those employed in small-scale fishing, whether fullor part-time, live in 10 countries led by China, where 35. 5 million people are involved in the sector. India has the second highest figure at 13. 1 million. The sector is also an important employer for women. Globally, an estimated 44. 7 million women participate in the value chains or engage in subsistence activities related to the secto r, representing 40% of the people engaged in the sector.
Altogether, the report estimates that 113 million people were either employed along the value chain or engaged in harvesting or processing for subsi stence in 2016. Adding in their household members, small fisheries may be supporting almost half a billion people globally, the report estimates.
Small fisheries are also an important source of nutrition, the report said, noting that fish landings could provide 20% of the daily nutrition requirements of calcium, selenium and zinc to 137 million women in Africa and 271 million women in Asia.