The Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have expressed their thanks at a meeting discussing challenges of world fish trade. It is said that over the past years there have been many developments in the world of fish trade, which is the theme of this Fourth International Fishery Congress “Strategies for Sustainable Fishery Management and Maintaining Stable Fishery Markets”.
It is told that world fish trade continues to set new records. Production has risen to new levels thanks to aquaculture, which is fast approaching 50 percent in its contribution of fish for human consumption. World fish consumption has reached a new record of 17.4 kg per capita and trade is approaching US$100 billion. The EU, USA and Japan are the main fish importers, however, the importance of the Russian Federation as a fish importing country is growing impressively.
Despite all these achievements world fish trade has some big problems in fisheries which remain largely the same, namely: ineffective mechanisms to manage capture fisheries; negative environmental effects of fishing and aquaculture; and IUU fishing. Considerable work is being done on many fronts to address these problems with positive results, inter alia in the Sub-Committee on Fish Trade.
The complexity of fish trade is increasing, with more and more issues becoming linked to trade in one way or another. And in response to perceived consumer demands, retailers are setting new environmental goals and standards for their suppliers. One such example is ecolabels. In addition, the World Trade Organization is important for ensuring fair fish trade, however the discussion seems to be dormant at present.
