|Briefs for Food, Agriculture, and the Environment - 2020 Vision
: Brief 1 - 64 (IFPRI)| Meryl Williams is director general of
the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management
in Manila, the Philippines. The fishing industry's aggressive
and expanding search for fish from the sea reached a turning
point in 1990. After many years of increasing production, the
global marine and inland catch from natural stocks declined from
the 1989 peak of about 89 million tons to 85 million tons in
1993. Aquaculture production did not increase enough to meet the
shortfall, and total production also fell in 1990 and 1991
(Figure 1). It now appears doubtful that the global catch will
recover and resume the fairly steady production increases that
marked the period from the 1940s through the 1980s. Of the 200
fished stocks in all parts of the world, it is estimated that
only about a third of these stocks are capable of increasing
harvests. About one-fourth are overexploited and would produce
greater catches only i