The World's Forgotten Fishes - 21

AT LEAST 85% OF
TANZANIA'S FISH
PRODUCTION COMES
FROM FRESHWATER
FISHERIES23; 65% IN
BANGLADESH AND 44%
IN MYANMAR24
AT LEAST 43% OF
WILD FRESHWATER
FISH HARVEST COMES
FROM 50 LOW-INCOME
FOOD DEFICIENT
COUNTRIES25

Read almost anything about the global
fish catch and you'll be left with the
distinct impression that people only
catch fish in the ocean - that the only
fish species that matter for societies and
economies are the ones that inhabit our
coastal waters or deep seas. Yet, wildcaught freshwater fisheries provide food
security and livelihoods for hundreds of
millions of people across the world.
Invariably overlooked, wild capture
freshwater fish officially make up
around 13 per cent of the world's
annual catch, totalling 12 million tonnes
each year20. This is, without a doubt, a
massive underestimate because global
statistics only show country level
documented catches, but freshwater
fish are hauled in by artisanal and
subsistence fishers in Asia, Africa
and Latin America and are rarely
documented. In fact, recent research
in local markets suggests the actual
freshwater catch is likely to be around
65 per cent higher than reported 21.
Including these unaccounted for 'hidden
harvests', freshwater fisheries are
estimated to be worth over US$38 billion
per year. However, they are worth far
more than this to the local communities
and indigenous people who rely on

them. Freshwater fisheries provide the
primary source of animal protein as
well as essential nutrients, like lysine
and calcium22, for at least 200 million
people globally, particularly in vulnerable
communities in Asia and Africa. In
developing countries, small-scale
fisheries produce more than half the
fish catch, and around 90 per cent of
this is consumed locally in rural settings
where poverty rates are high and goodquality nutrition is sorely needed.
Wild freshwater fisheries capture
is more concentrated than marine
capture and in 2018 just 16 countries
produced 80 per cent of the world's
reported wild freshwater catch. Asia
accounted for 2/3rd of the global
catch with China, India, Bangladesh,
Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia
reporting the largest hauls. Africa
accounted for 25 per cent with
Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Egypt,
DR Congo and Malawi leading the
way. Meanwhile, a team from Hull
International Fisheries Institute
and FAO found that 50 per cent of
global freshwater fish catch can be
attributed to just 7 river basins - the
Mekong, Nile, Irrawaddy, Yangtze,
Brahmaputra, Amazon and Ganges26.

Figure 4. Concentration of inland fish catch by major basins
and countries, expressed as percentage of total global catch in 2015.
Taken from Ainsworth, Cowx & Funge-Smith, 202127.

The World's Forgotten Fishes page 20

While overall catch size is lower, it's worth
noting that at 2.56kg, Africa's annual
catch per capita is significantly higher
than Asia's 1.99kg. This underlines the
particular importance of wild freshwater
fisheries in Africa, especially in landlocked and low-income countries. The
African Great Lakes fisheries (which
understandably have more reporting
than the thousands of smaller freshwater
fisheries in rivers, streams, ponds and
rice-paddies) alone produce more than a
million tonnes of fish each year, roughly
double the size of the next largest fishery
on the continent's west coast.

© Daniël Nelson

4. WILD FRESHWATER FISHES ARE PRICELESS

Baka villager with
the day's catch from
their local stream.
Freshwater fishes
are critical for many
indigenous people.

Freshwater fisheries also provide jobs
for around 60 million people across
the world - more than half of whom
are women. In total, jobs in freshwater
fisheries account for between 2.5-6 per
cent of the global agricultural workforce.
What's more: rivers, lakes and floodplains
support even more fishers, processors
and traders than marine sectors.
But these statistics do not tell the whole
story because freshwater fisheries are
extremely difficult to replace. Or rather,
being forced to replace wild fisheries
that have been destroyed or depleted
by short-sighted decisions will result in
considerable long-term costs - such as
increased deforestation to free up more
land for crops or livestock, which are
needed to replace lost sources of protein
and micronutrients. Losing freshwater
fisheries will also wreak havoc on
communities whose cultures have always
been deeply intertwined with them.
Just take Cambodia as an example.
Cambodians currently get around 16
per cent of their animal protein and 28
per cent of their lysine from freshwater
fish, particularly from the astonishingly
abundant, but increasingly threatened,
fishery of the Mekong river basin - one
of the world's most productive freshwater
fisheries. If Cambodia's freshwater
fishery failed (and dams and droughts
have led to historically low levels on
the Mekong in recent years), one study
found the nation would need to increase
its pasture lands by as much as 155 per
cent and its crop lands by 59 per cent to
continue to meet its nutritional needs28.
Change on such a monumental scale -
if it were possible at all - would
have massive social, economic and
environmental impacts.
The World's Forgotten Fishes page 21



The World's Forgotten Fishes

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The World's Forgotten Fishes

Contents
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 1
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 2
The World's Forgotten Fishes - Contents
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 4
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 5
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 6
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 7
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 8
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 9
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 10
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 11
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 12
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 13
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 14
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 15
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 16
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 17
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 18
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 19
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 20
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 21
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 22
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 23
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 24
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 25
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 26
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 27
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 28
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 29
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 30
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 31
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 32
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 33
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 34
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 35
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 36
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 37
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 38
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 39
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 40
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 41
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 42
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 43
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 44
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 45
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 46
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 47
The World's Forgotten Fishes - 48
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https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/60th_anniversary
https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2020
https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/freshwater_fishes_report
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http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2017
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http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2013
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/dalbergreport2013-de
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/dalbergreport2013-fr
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/dalbergreport2013
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