Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 22

PART 1 WORLD REVIEW
for reg ulating har vesting, ending overfishing and
restoring stocks to levels that can produce
maximum sustainable yield (MSY) in the shortest
time feasible. However, it seems unlikely that the
world’s fisheries can rebuild the 33.1 percent of
stocks that are currently overfished in the ver y
near future, because rebuilding requires time,
usually two to three times the species’ life span.
86 percent of the motorized fishing vessels in the
world were in the length overall (LOA) class of
less than 12 m, the vast majority of which were
undecked, and those small vessels dominated in
all regions. The number of engine-powered vessels
was estimated to be 2.8 million globally in 2016,
representing 61 percent of all fishing vessels, and
similar to the number for 2014. Only about
2 percent of all motorized fishing vessels were
24 m and larger (roughly more than 100 gross
tonnage [GT]), and the proportion of these large
boats was highest in Oceania, Europe and North
America. Worldwide, FAO estimated about 44 600
fishing vessels with LOA of at least 24 m for 2016.
Despite the continuous increase in the percentage
of stocks fished at biologically unsustainable
levels, progress has been made in some regions.
For example, the proportion of stocks fished
within biologically sustainable levels increased
from 53 percent in 2005 to 74 percent in 2016 in
the United States of America, and from 27
percent in 2004 to 69 percent in 2015 in Australia.
In the Northeast Atlantic and adjacent seas, the
percentage of stocks where fishing mortalit y does
not exceed the fishing mortalit y at MSY increased
from 34 percent in 2003 to 60 percent in 2015.
However, achieving SDG target 14.4 will require
effective partnership between the developed and
developing worlds, particularly in policy
coordination, financial and human resource
mobilization and deployment of advanced
technologies. Experience has proved that
rebuilding overfished stocks can produce higher
yields as well as substantial social, economic and
ecological benefits.
The state of marine fisher y resources, based on
FAO’s monitoring of assessed marine fish stocks,
has continued to decline. The fraction of marine
fish stocks fished within biologically sustainable
levels has exhibited a decreasing trend, from 90.0
percent in 1974 to 66.9 percent in 2015. In
contrast, the percentage of stocks fished at
biologically unsustainable levels increased from
10 percent in 1974 to 33.1 percent in 2015, with
the largest increases in the late 1970s and 1980s.
In 2015, maximally sustainably fished stocks
(formerly termed fully fished stocks) accounted
for 59.9 percent and underfished stocks for 7.0
percent of the total assessed stocks. The
underfished stocks decreased continuously from
1974 to 2015, whereas the maximally sustainably
fished stocks decreased from 1974 to 1989, and
then increased to 59.9 percent in 2015, partly as a
result of increased implementation of
management measures.
Of the 171 million tonnes of total fish production
in 2016, about 88 percent (over 151 million
tonnes) was utilized for direct human
consumption, a share that has increased
significantly in recent decades. The greatest part
of the 12 percent used for non-food purposes
(about 20 million tonnes) was reduced to fishmeal
and fish oil. Live, fresh or chilled is often the
most preferred and highly priced form of fish and
represents the largest share of fish for direct
human consumption (45 percent in 2016),
followed by frozen (31 percent). Despite
improvements in fish processing and distribution
practices, loss or wastage between landing and
consumption still accounts for an estimated 27
percent of landed fish.
In 2015, among the 16 major statistical areas, the
Mediterranean and Black Sea, Southeast Pacific
and Southwest Atlantic had the highest
percentages of assessed stocks fished at
unsustainable levels, whereas the Eastern Central
Pacific, Northeast Pacific, Northwest Pacific,
Western Central Pacific and Southwest Pacific
had the lowest. An estimated 43 percent of the
stocks of the principal market tuna species were
fished at biologically unsustainable levels in
2015, while 57 percent were fished within
biologically sustainable levels.
Fishmeal production peaked in 1994 at 30 million
tonnes (live weight equivalent) and has followed
a f luctuating but overall declining trend since
then. A growing share of fishmeal is being
The persistence of overfished stocks is an area of
great concern. The United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) include a target (14.4)
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