12/14/2023 0 Comments Blueharvest thaiThe importance of fish, and in particular small fish, for sustainable and healthy livelihoods in Africa, as well as their strong relationship with climate driven water dynamics are generally undervalued and little understood as most are consumed locally and go unrecorded in catch statistics. Through these approaches, inland fisheries can be better evaluated and be more fully recognized in broader water resource and aquatic ecosystem planning and decision-making frameworks, enhancing their value and sustainability for the future. Moreover, if inland fisheries are recognized as important to food security, livelihoods, and human well-being, they can be more easily incorporated in regional, national, and global policies and agreements on water issues. The following three key recommendations are necessary for action if inland fisheries are to become a part of the food-water-energy discussion: invest in improved valuation and assessment methods, build better methods to effectively govern inland fisheries (requires capacity building and incentives), and develop approaches to managing waters across sectors and scales. In some regions, inland recreational fisheries are important, generating much wealth and supporting livelihoods. The role of inland fisheries goes beyond just kilocalories fish provide important micronutrients and essentially fatty acids. Developing countries in Africa and Asia produce about 11 million tonnes of inland fish annually, 90 % of the global total. This ignorance is particularly salient given that the current emphasis on the food-water-energy nexus often fails to include the important role that inland fish and fisheries play in food security and supporting livelihoods in low-income food deficit countries. The general public and policy makers are largely ignorant of the plight of freshwater ecosystems and the fish they support, as well as the ecosystem services generated by inland fisheries. Indeed, due to lack of reliable data, inland fisheries have never been part of any high profile global fisheries assessment and are notably absent from the Sustainable Development Goals. As such they are threatened in both developing and developed countries. Based upon the presentations and discussions of the conference, a set of recommendations were developed, " The Rome Declaration: Ten Steps to Responsible Inland Fisheries, " which will provide a foundation for a new international approach to ensure that the true value of inland fisheries is recognized in resource allocation decisions.Īt present, inland fisheries are not often a national or regional governance priority and as a result, inland capture fisheries are undervalued and largely overlooked. It represents a unique output on inland fisheries from a global perspective that addresses biological and sociocultural assessments, drivers, and governance issues. The purpose of this book, and the global conference is to elevate the significance of freshwater fisheries throughout the world so that fishery managers and the people that depend on freshwater fisheries will have a voice when policy-makers make decisions that impact their viability and productivity. It aims to describe the current state of the knowledge and future information needs that will allow for fisheries sustainability, which in turn directly or indirectly provides for the health, well-being, and prosperity of human communities throughout the world. The information in this book highlights this importance of freshwater fish, their habitats, and their fisheries to society. All too often, the critical role of inland fisheries in food security and livelihoods is inappropriately valued, over even overlooked, when policymakers decide on the use, allocation, and alteration of freshwater resources in their communities and nations. This diverse group was essential because the challenges facing inland fisheries require new cross-sectoral approaches and the involvement of all stakeholders in freshwater resources. This conference on the function and importance of inland fisheries brought together experts from various sectors and more than 40 nations, including a large number of early career scientists and women. This publication is a compilation of presentations and recommendations resulting from the Global Conference on Inland Fisheries: Freshwater, Fish and the Future, convened at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy in January 2015.
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