Book Description

The importance of seafood in global food security and economy cannot be overemphasized. Capture fisheries and aquaculture supply about 154 million tons of fish annually, with a total value of US$217.5 billion. Aquaculture’s contribution to this production and value is 90.4 million tons and US$144.4 billion, respectively. Billions of people depend to varying degrees on seafood for dietary protein. Development of these two sectors has not happened without environmental problems and, therefore, adaptive management is required to ensure sustainability. A major conservation intervention and measures for mitigating the effects of climate change are needed for sustaining the ability of marine ecosystems to withstand the fishing pressure. Likewise, new approaches and technological adaptations will contribute greatly to sustainability of aquaculture. These are the issue which deserve serious attention since, in terms of human nutrition and economy, the role of seafood sector is growing rapidly. This book delves upon the three seafood production systems – capture fisheries, aquaculture and sea ranching, elaborates the pertinent issues and presents scientific reasons for integrating ecological perspectives in management to address some of the major problems constraining their growth. The significance of a paradigm shift by way of removing negatively interacting factors among these sectors with positive synergies with their inherent elements of sustainability is also discussed. Consistency of these approaches with the triple bottom line vision of development instead of exclusive focus on seafood production in isolation with environmental homeostasis is explicitly explained.