–4.3 State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture – FAO
The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2014
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and 2012 again showed shrinking catches. Trends in the Southwest and Southeast Atlantic have been variable in the last decade but in recent years both areas have been
recovering from the catch decreases of the late 2000s. About one-third of total capture production in the Western Central Atlantic comes
from United States’ catches of Gulf menhaden Brevoortia patronus, a clupeoid species that is processed into fishmeal and fish oil. In 2010, the menhaden fishery experienced
unprecedented closures of long-established fishing grounds owing to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. High catches in 2011 contributed to a recovery in the overall total for
the Western Central Atlantic to about 1.5 million tonnes, a level not achieved since 2004. In-depth analysis of catch trend in this area is hampered by the low quality of
data or non-submission of fishery statistics by several Caribbean and coastal States.
Similarly, for a real picture of the trend in the Eastern Central Atlantic, where the maximum was reached in 2010 at 4.4 million tonnes, catch data are needed for all
distant-water fleets fishing in the EEZs of West African countries Box 1 provides an estimate of the value of fisheries agreements with foreign nations fishing in these
EEZs. Some coastal countries e.g. Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania provide information on such catches to FAO. This information is cross-checked with data submitted by
the flag States, and the catches that had not been reported to FAO are added to the Box 1
The value of African fisheries
The contribution of fishery activities to national economies is multifaceted. In addition to supplying food, capture and aquaculture production contributes
to gross domestic product GDP, provides livelihoods for fishers and processors, is a source of hard currency from exports of fishery products,
and boosts government revenues through fisheries agreements and taxes.
The study “The value of African fisheries”
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was carried out in the framework of the NEPAD-FAO Fisheries Programme funded by the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency Sida. The aim was to estimate the contribution to national and agriculture GDPs and the
employment generated by the whole fisheries sector, defined as including fishing, processing, licensing of local fleets, and aquaculture.
Information was provided by 42 experts from the 23 countries more than 40 percent of all African States collaborating in the study. To obtain figures
for the entire continent, data from the sampled countries were analysed and calibrated to extrapolate values for the non-sampled countries, which
were classified into separate groups for marine fisheries, inland fisheries and aquaculture according to their geographical location or productivity.
The value added by the fisheries sector as a whole in 2011 was estimated at more than US24 billion, 1.26 percent of the GDP of all African countries
see table. Detailed figures by subsector highlight the relevance of marine artisanal fisheries and related processing, and also of inland fisheries, which
contribute one-third of the total catches in African countries. Aquaculture is still developing in Africa and is mostly concentrated in a few countries but
already produces an estimated value of almost US3 billion per year.
To calculate the contribution of the fisheries sector to agriculture GDPs, it is necessary to exclude the value generated by fish processing. This is because
agriculture GDPs published by the United Nations Statistics Division cover “agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry, and fishing” but exclude processing,
which comes under “manufacture of food products”. On this basis, fishing and aquaculture contribute 6 percent of the agriculture GDPs in Africa.