Fisheries – Africa and Australia

Africa

Importance A huge part of both nutrition and employment in Africa. Fish are the most important source of animal protein in Africa. Fisheries are often overlooked in development planning.

Decline The demand for fish in Africa has risen over the past decade, causing a dramatic decrease in fish population. The value of exports to Nigeria has increased in the last years from about 3.1 billion ISK (EUR 35 million) to the current level of 10.2 billion ISK (EUR 59 million / USD 80 million.

Australia

Australia’s fifth most valuable rural resource is fishing and aquaculture. It offers great potential for continuing growth and development but one major challenge is to develop the industry while maintaining the sustainability of Australia’s marine ecosystems.

Bycatch Australia created National and Commonwealth bycatch policies to ensure that fisheries are economically sustainable through bycatch reduction, improved protection for threatened species and minimising adverse impacts of fishing on the marine ecosystem.

IUU IUU stands for illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing. In 1999, the UN secretary general said that IUU fishing is “one of the most severe problems currently affecting world fisheries”.

In 2003, Australia came up with a strategy to get rid of IUU fishing in their northern waters, and it is by: ~better coordination and use of information ~enhancing on the water surveillance and enforcement

Climate Fish are very easily affected by climate change. A one degree change in water temperature can dramatically affect the population.

Bibliography Date published: November 2005, ag.info/focus/on.php?a=1195http:// ag.info/focus/on.php?a= african-fisheries-hit-hardest-by-climate-change.html african-fisheries-hit-hardest-by-climate-change.html