Why Do Fisheries Matter
The Stakes for Restoring Fisheries
The world’s fisheries and fishers are trapped between growing global demand for fish protein and the collapsing viability of most commercial fisheries. According to a recent EcoWatch article, “nearly 90 percent of global fish stocks are either fully fished or overfished, based on a new analysis from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).” Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development forecasts a 17 percent rise in [demand for] fish production by 2025.”
(Lorraine Chow in EcoWatch)
The health of fisheries matters because the world needs fish protein. Fish protein amounts to 6% of all protein consumed worldwide. And for 3 billion of the world’s people, it amounts to up to 20% of all animal protein consumed. This figure of 3 billion includes many of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
The world also needs the economic and social stability that comes from sustainable fisheries. When fisheries are collapsing, a vicious spiral of ecological, economic, and social decline creates a sense of despair, desperation, and foreboding in communities dependent on fishing. These communities can then easily become the soil for drug trade and other illegal trade and all the resultant social and political instability that comes with it.
Lastly, the world needs such success stories, practically and symbolically. Not only do we need fish; we need hope that seemingly intractable ecological-economic declines can be reversed. Ironically, restoring collapsing fisheries represents one of the greatest opportunities for collective learning around systems change. Unlike their terrestrial counterparts, marine ecosystems can be remarkably resilient, making it possible, depending on the species involved, to reverse decades of deterioration in a matter of years. There are few settings where ecological, economic, and social well-being are so tightly coupled as occurs around local or artisanal fisheries. For this reason, we at the Academy for Systems Change have focused on stories like El Manglito to help address other issues of systems change around the world.