Inland fisheries around the world – and the people who depend on them for food, livelihoods and well-being – need international action to improve the sustainability of freshwater aquatic resources, according to recommendations supported at the Committee on Fisheries meeting at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome.
The conference is summarized in “The Rome Declaration: Ten Steps to Responsible Inland Fisheries.” In addition, Freshwater, Fish and the Future, was co-published by FAO, Michigan State University and the American Fisheries Society.
Freshwater fish provide food, livelihoods and ecosystem services to millions of people, especially in low-income countries, yet their value is generally not adequately considered in water use, energy and their value to local communities and the threats to their sustainability are often similar.
The challenges to inland fisheries are also critical to the 60 million people who rely on freshwater fish for livelihoods – more than half of whom are women. Fish also is an essential source of protein and other nutrients that cannot easily be replaced with other food sources.
“Rivers in Asia, Africa and South America provide fish that serve as a major food source for millions of people,” said MSU Provost June Pierce Youatt. “These are not people who have the option to buy alternative nutritious foods at the local markets – they live in rural communities in some of the poorest nations on earth and rely on ready access to a plentiful supply of fish.”
FAO and MSU are collaborating to bring greater awareness of the value and sustainability challenges of inland fisheries around the world. With the publication of the proceedings and the Rome Declaration’s ten recommendations, the next step is regional implementation.
FAO is working on updating the global state of inland fishery resources and developing new projects. MSU is joining this effort with faculty positions, internships, a visiting scholars and immersive experience program, and an upcoming online course on inland fisheries that will be available to students throughout the world.
“The Rome Declaration is bringing new attention to both the value and vulnerability of this resource,” Youatt said. “MSU is proud to partner with FAO to work on an issue with so many global and cross-sectorial implications, such as nutrition security, water use, blue growth, development and ecosystem services.”
Additional MSU contributors include Bill Taylor, So-Jung Youn, Devin Bartley, Steve Hanson and Ian Gray.
“As outlined in FAO’s latest report on the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, the challenges facing local inland fisheries – for example, competition for water, dams and diversions that interfere with fish migration, and a changing climate – are global and found in developed and developing countries alike,” said Árni Mathiesen, assistant director-general at FAO.