ACP-EU Fisheries Research Initiative.

Abstract

This report presents the papers discussed at an EC/INCO-DC-sponsored international workshop ‘Markets, Global Fisheries and Local Development’ held on March 22 and 23, 1999 at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Bergen, Norway. The main objective of the workshop was to initiate a debate on how markets impact on global fisheries, and how these in turn impact on the ability of developing fishing nations to improve the welfare of their citizens. The motivation for the workshop stems from the observation that over time two things have happened to the world’s fishing sector. First, through improvement in fishing technology and the activities of distant water fishing fleets, fish exploitation and harvest have become global. Second, with significant technological improvements in the handling, processing and transportation of fish products, the markets for fish products have also became global such that fish caught off Mauritania, for instance, may end up in the plates of people living thousands of kilometres away. These two developments raise immediate questions that need to be explored systematically, which is exactly what this seminar sought to initiate. Hence, the meeting explored three inter-related issues: the effects of globalisation of fish exploitation and marketing on the sustainability of world fisheries, the consequential effects on the development of fishing nations, and third, the potential incorporation of economic data into existing database and analytical tools (FishBase and Ecopath/Ecosim) that will enable us to explore these questions globally.