Fisheries Report: Mediterranean Sea, the most emptied

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09 June 2021 According to the latest

on the "state of world fisheries and aquaculture", in 2030 the total fish production is destined to exceed 200 million tons. Since 1961, the consumption of fish for food has increased at an average annual rate of 3.1%, almost double the growth of the world population (1.6%), and higher than the consumption of all other protein foods of animal origin. , increased by 2.1%. 

These data are highlighted by

that will be in

- after a conference in streaming on the occasion of

The association relaunches the message on the need to protect this resource. The seas most emptied from the point of view of fishing are the Mediterranean and the Black Sea with 62.5% of overfished stocks, the Southeast Pacific with 54.5% and the Southwest Atlantic with 53.3%. 

worldwide

, although practiced by a very small number of fishing vessels, it involves the annual capture of about 30 million tons of fish for human consumption, and about 35 million tons that are processed into feed, employing at most 1 or 2 million fishermen with an annual consumption of 37 million tons of fuel. On the contrary, small-scale fishing, the one to which Slow Fish dedicates resources and spaces to favor their protection and development, is practiced by 82% of boats, employing over 12 million people, who produce about 30 million tons of fish per year, which translates entirely into human food, with a fuel consumption of only 5 million tons. 

A worrying statistic, says Slow Fish, is also that relating to the exploitation of fish stocks: the percentage of species in health (by number of specimens) decreased from 90% in 1974 to 65.8% in 2017, while the percentage of stocks fish stocks made up of commercially interesting species at risk of extinction increased from 10% in 1974 to 34.2% in 2017. This trend towards

fishery

not only has negative impacts on biodiversity and the functioning of marine ecosystems, but also contributes to generate important economic and social critical situations. 

The message that emerged from the conference is that sea management is everyone's responsibility and artisanal and conscious fishing can be one of the answers to the problems of our seas according to "slow food".

"We must question what has happened in the last twenty years" said Antonio Garcia-Allut, professor at the

holder of the Unesco chair in sustainable coastal development at the University of Vigo. According to Garcia-Allut, "we need a co-management based on collaboration between decision makers and civil society, including small-scale fishermen and we need to review the modalities with to which fishing rights are assigned, a sector that is now increasingly privatized. We have witnessed the progressive expulsion of artisanal fishermen from their spaces and this has favored the grabbing of areas that were important for the balance of the marine ecosystem ".