February 12, 2010

 

Sustainable fisheries needed for global food security

 

 

Increased aid from developed countries, earmarked specifically for sustainable seafood infrastructure in developing countries, could improve global food security, according to a policy paper by an international working group of 20 economists, marine scientists and seafood experts.

 

Seafood is a significant source of protein for nearly three billion people and is the planet's most highly-traded food commodity, contributing to the livelihoods of more than 560 million people. But a lack of coordinated policy threatens global seafood supplies.

 

To help safeguard future supply, the price of seafood needs to reflect the cost of maintaining ecosystem health in the countries that capture or farm most of it, according to Martin D. Smith, lead author of the paper and associate professor of environmental economics at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment.

 

The report examines the complex environmental, political and economic factors that jeopardisze global seafood supplies and livelihoods.

 

According to Smith, aquaculture (farming seafood) has great promise for enhancing food security but is also threatened when regulations fail to protect the supporting ecosystems.

 

Trade policies such as import bans and tariffs could be used to punish countries that fail to meet sustainability standards, "but these are rather blunt instruments," Smith said.

 

Private incentives, such as eco-labelling that raise the price of seafood to help pay for sustainable practices, are another option. But it is not clear from existing studies if enough consumers will voluntarily pay more for seafood.

 

And raising the price of high-valued products such as shrimp or tuna, which are mostly exported to developed countries, could backfire. Consumers might then seek out less expensive alternatives that people in poor, developing countries depend on. This may raise prices of low-valued products and put products with high nutritional value out of reach of the poorest of the poor.

 

A third option - allocating more foreign aid for sustainable infrastructure in developing countries - provides clear advantages, Smith believes. By specifically earmarking aid for things like sustainable fishing gear, improved management, sustainable aquaculture facilities, or systems to verify sustainability compliance, developed countries will foster food security and ecosystem health, and strengthen seafood trade, without causing short-term hardships to consumers or producers.

 

"We're not suggesting that foreign aid for sustainability should replace other aid that contributes to food security," Smith notes. "We're just saying this is an option that is often overlooked."