Asia-Pacific Fishery CommissionRegional overview of capture fisheries in Asia and the Pacific (2012)

1. Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission
Regional overview of capture
fisheries in Asia and the Pacific
2012
Simon Funge-Smith
Secretary, Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission

2. “Regional Overview of Fisheries and
Aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific 2012”
• APFIC resource book
– promote ecosystem thinking
• Organize information into meaningful
geographical, biological and governance
units
– ecoregion/LME/SME, not FAO statistical area
– higher level of detail than aggregated national
catches
• Capture fisheries review divided into three
sub-regions
– South China sea
– Bay of Bengal
– Sulu-Sulawesi/Timor Arafura
• Aquaculture overview covers different
commodity groupings across the region.
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3. Marine capture fisheries
• The principal fishery indicators:
• Resource related:
– Catch composition; catch trends; status of
species groups; fishmeal; surimi
• Effort related:
– CPUE - gears and target species groups;
vessel numbers & types
• Socio-economic related indicator:
– employment
• Management related:
– Zoning; management measures;
classifications of small-scale and commercial
fisheries; protected areas; closed
seasons/areas
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4. General trend in capture fisheries
• Asia-Pacific region continues to be
the world’s largest producer of fish.
– >50% of world production since 2006
– 48.7 million tonnes
– declined slightly from 2004 to 2006
– >2007 started to increase
–  3.5% 2009 to 2010
• 5 APFIC members are in top 10
world producers
• China largest production in region
– 15.7 million tonnes
– 32 % of total regional production
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0
10,000,000
20,000,000
30,000,000
40,000,000
50,000,000
60,000,000
70,000,000
80,000,000
90,000,000
100,000,000
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
World Total
APFIC Total

5. Stable or declining production
• China
– very stable, rising and falling by only
one or two percent over the past
decade
– total decadal rise of 4%.
• Other Asia
– relatively stable with an overall
decline of 16% over the decade.
• Oceania
– rather large decreases in production
over the past 5 years
– decadal trend still an increase of 9%.
5
0
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
16,000,000
18,000,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
China
Other Asia

6. Rising production in South Asia & South East Asia
• Consistent increases in capture
fishery production
• Southeast Asia 29% past decade
– consistent slight annual increases of
2 to 4%,
• South Asia 28% past decade
– fluctuations more dramatic
increasing and decreasing by 5 to 8%
• Several effects
– increase in fishing effort and capacity
– expansion of the geographical range
of fishing activities
– Increase in biomass by fishing down
effects
– removing larger longer lived species
– higher biomass of short-lived small
fast recruiting species
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0
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
16,000,000
18,000,000
20,000,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 201
SouthEast Asia
South Asia

7. DO WE REALLY KNOW THE STATUS
OF OUR FISHERIES?
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8. Nature of fishing is constantly
changing
• Fishing operations are highly mobile
– expansion into new areas
– transhipment of fish between fishing
areas
– IUU catches
• complicates trend reporting by area
and the determination of the status of
stocks in specific localities
• this may also lead to the false
assumption that there remains
significant potential for further
expansion of fishing
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9. Aggregated reporting hides
underlying effects
• 32% of the region’s capture production not
identified at the species level
– 15.8 million tonnes
– >2008 (30% , 14.3 million tonnes)
• APFIC region ~30% nei past six years
– South East Asia 42%
– South Asia 36%
– China 32%
– China has improved its reporting
• High reporting of nei marine fish
– 9.6 million tonnes (~20% total regional
production)
– strong trend towards capture of small low-value
species?
– hides impact of overfishing on capture of juveniles
of higher value species
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10. SUB-REGIONS
South China Sea
Bay of Bengal
Arafura-Timor/Sulu-Sulawesi
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11. China Sea and Gulf of Thailand
• Ecosystem level effects
– Majority of impact between 1975 and 1985
– Large composition shifts of previous decades
– Loss of higher value larger species
– Settled down to favour an ecosystem
dominated by small species
– Lower value species utilized variously (surimi,
canned fish, fishmeal, aquaculture feeds),
• Fishing capacity increasing
– Expanding fishing area sustains production
level
• CPUE is low (and declining)
– working harder for lower value catch

12. Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea
• Total catches steadily increasing
– reaching 6.86 million tonnes.
• Resources more diverse than South China
Sea
– less shelf area, more pelagic resources
• Until recently catch of large/valuable spp.
– resources still subject to overfishing and
depletion in some areas
– last 5-10 years increasingly been composed of
lower value and smaller fish
– especially coastal trawl fisheries
– pelagic resources generally in good shape
• CPUE
– Overall CPUE is declining with few exceptions
– Coastal over-capacity
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13. Sulu-Sulawesi/Timor Arafura Seas
• Majority of area within EEZ
– Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Timor Leste
• Resources
– generally fully fished
– declining catches of larger species
– Increasing catches of small pelagics, anchovies
• CPUE is generally stable
– Increasing in well-managed Australian Prawn
fishery
• Vessel numbers
– ~160,000 + artisanal (~250 000?)
– Catches landed all over sub-region, plus
transhipment outside
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14. Recommendation
• Routine assessments are required
– % catch composition
– landings
– Vessels/gears numbers
• Must assess ecosystem changes in
species compositions
– shifting trophic levels in response to fishing
pressure
• Will allow determinations of
appropriate fishing effort/capacity
levels in both nearshore and offshore
fisheries.
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15. FISHERY MANAGEMENT
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16. Can we say our fisheries are managed?
• Across the whole region
• Management of individual stocks is rare
– Mixed gear fisheries
– range of vessel size & type
– Many species targeted, all utilized
– Some resources have specific measures applied –
enforcement?
• If no stock focus, then what?
– Separate the scales of fishery
– Limit the habitat impacts
– Close seasons or areas
– Area focus , not stock focus
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17. Spatial measures most common
• All countries have zoning of their EEZ
– two or more zones, some have up to four zones
– closed areas and closed seasons common in the
near shore zone
– Gear restriction and licensing,
– Size limits (e.g. fish length) and quotas are not
used, or poorly enforced
• Closed areas & MPAs
– many forms
– (MPAs) are the most common – almost never
actually protect fishery resources
– artificial reefs popular intervention
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18. Recommendation
• Better assessment of spatial and
seasonal measures in terms of their
fishery effect
• More science-based establishment of
protected areas, artificial reefs
• Science and local knowledge used to
determine key habitats or areas that
should be protected/closed etc
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19. RESOURCE GROUPS
Trash fish/low value fish
Surimi species
Fish meal
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20. Low value/trash fish production
• China Sea and Gulf of Thailand
– ~20 % of total catch (~1.7 million tonnes )
– Trawl fisheries ~40 to 60 % of catch
– Nearly 65% reduction in past 2-4 years
– improved reporting of small demersals, anchovies,
sardines and small pelagic species?
– increased preservation/utilization for human food?
• Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea
– total production of trash/low value fish < 941 000 tonnes
– overall 4 to 65% of catch
– typical range of 14-64%.
– principal source of this is reported from trawlers.
• Sulu-Sulawesi/Timor Arafura Seas
– relative catches are increasing in the region, except
Timor Arafura sea.
– ~1-9 % of the total catch in some areas…
– ….but 26-35% of catch in Indonesia FMAs: 714, 573 &
718
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21. Recommendation
• Report the composition (species) and
locations of capture of the low value
and trash fish component
• Important where used for fish meal or
feeds
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22. Production of surimi species
• Dramatic increase in production of surimi in
the region over the past decade
– reached >321 250 tonnes in the South China Sea
– APFIC figure has not recently updated
• Several drivers
– improved processing techniques
– increasing use of species previously regarded low
value trash fish category.
• China Sea and Gulf of Thailand
– overfished in all areas of SCS
• Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea
– Surimi species are overfished or fully fished in
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand
– Relatively little surimi production in South Asia
• Sulu-Sulawesi/Timor Arafura Seas
– surimi species fully or moderately fished
– overfished in Indonesia FMA 718,713
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23. Recommendation
• Surimi production is reported both in
terms of final product and the raw fish
equivalent.
• Sources of fish for surimi should be
clearly identified to assist with food
safety, traceability and catch
documentation.
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24. Fish meal production
• China Sea and Gulf of Thailand
– ~576 000 tonnes
– assuming IFFO estimate of only 5 000 tonnes for south
China provinces
• Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea
– ~152 000 tonnes (excl. Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand
• Concern over fishmeal in aquaculture feeds
– All trawl fisheries will generate some low value or trash fish
– Impacts on fishery and ecosystem.
• Concern over increased targeting of trash low value
fish
– how to minimize catch commercial value species?
• Production of fishmeal from processing wastes from
capture fisheries and aquaculture
– significant in the region.
– ~56 percent of the East Asian fishmeal from trimmings?
– globally this figure is only 25%…..
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25. Recommendation
• Fish species composition of fishmeal is
identified according the fishery/ area
of production
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26. CAPACITY & EMPLOYMENT
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27. Vessel numbers and employment
China Sea and Gulf of Thailand
• Total vessel numbers are over 1.74
million in the South China Sea,
• Mainly (86%) of small scale vessels
• Mostly confined to shallower nearshore
coastal fishing
• 3.73 million people employed
Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea
• 460 000 vessels operating in the Bay of
Bengal,
• 67% small scale, no engine/using
outboard
• 1.93 million fishers
Sulu-Sulawesi/Timor Arafura Seas
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Asia
Pacific/Oceania
N. America
Near East
Europe
Africa
Latin America
Caribbean
World mechanized
fishing fleet

28. Recommendation
• Investigate the relative
fishing effort in coastal and
other waters
• Harmonize the recording of
fishing vessel employment
to reflect employment in
large and small scale fishing
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29. Inland fisheries
• APFIC region contributes 68 % of global
inland fisheries production
• 7.6 million tonnes in 2010
• Inland capture fisheries production in the
region continues to increase
– 13.7% more than 2008
– excluding China, region rose 19.7% over the 2008
level
• 10 countries produce 97% of the region’s
inland capture of inland fish
• South Asia 37% , South East Asia 30%, China
30%
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30. Overall rapid increase in
inland fisheries
• No large increase in catch per fisher
• Increasing population/effort in
SouthEast Asia and South Asia
• More enhancement of inland waters
• Significant re-evaluation of the
contribution of inland fisheries
• upward revision of previous
underestimates
• Some inland fisheries declining?
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31. Recommendation
• Assess household
consumption of inland
fishery products as a
proxy estimate of
production
• Better valuation of role in
food security/rural
economies
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32. Some closing thoughts
• Aquaculture now produces more fish for
food than capture fisheries in the region
– Significant % of the regions capture fishery is
directed to feed/fishmeal
– 50% or more fish meal comes from trimmings
– Most fish meal is directed to coastal
aquaculture (freshwater species use relatively
little)
• The success of coastal aquaculture and
mariculture, is driven by the failure to
manage marine trawl fisheries
• Can we develop a vision for more
effective management of the trawl
sector in Asia?
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33. Some other closing thoughts
• Freshwater aquaculture is huge
success and delivers directly to
rural/domestic food security
• Inland fisheries are another major
contributor to food security in the
region
– Especially in rural areas
• Can we develop visions for how to
sustain the production and
contribution of these two sub-
sectors?
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