Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 127

THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 2018
e.g. processing, sales, distribution and marketing;
however, women also fish. They obtain income,
independence and power through these activities.
Income earned by women often has a stronger,
more beneficial impact on household incomes
(Porter, 2012). In 61 countries that report
disaggregated data to FAO and where women are
recognized as fishers, the ratio is one
fisherwoman to ever y 7.3 fishermen (Simmance,
Funge-Smith and Gee, 2018). Women are most
often involved in fishing when the water body is
close to the household. Although comprehensive
information is lacking, it appears that much of
women’s catch is of small highly nutritious fish
and other aquatic animals and is consumed by
their households. percent or more of the people working in capture
fisheries work in inland fisheries, although
inland fisheries constitute only 3 percent of
catches in the region (FAO, 2016g). Recreational
fishing on inland waters also contributes to
global economies (Box 9).
Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation As mentioned above, many small indigenous
inland fish species are consumed or processed
whole and consumed locally with little waste.
As natural production systems, inland fisheries
have a far lower environmental footprint than
agricultural production systems. To replace the
basic energ y (kilocalorie) content of the 11.5
million tonnes of wild inland-water fish, it has
been estimated that lower-intensit y
developing-countr y crop production would
have to increase by 14.3 million tonnes
(Ainsworth and Cow x, 2018). Similarly, chicken
production would have to increase by 11.7
million tonnes and aquaculture by 6.8 million
tonnes. Complete replacement of current global
inland fish production with aquaculture-
produced fish (e.g. common carp and tilapia)
would require conversion of 2.4 million square
kilometres, as production efficiencies are
currently low in many regions. Conversion for
beef would be similar (2.1 million square
kilometres), with the added challenge that beef
would require an additional 196.95 km 3 of
water. It is important to note that inland fisher y
production fig ures are almost certainly
underestimated, and these replacement
equivalents are likely to be higher.
Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Inland fisheries are t y pically in remote areas,
although they can be found in peri-urban
and even urban areas in some countries.
They are difficult to manage, and related
management policies are hard to enforce, as
they involve few or no recognized landing
sites or processing plants and fishers are
largely not organized.
Healthy inland aquatic ecosystems are indicators
of good water qualit y, with benefits in terms of
productive fisher y resources and municipal
drinking-water that requires minimal treatment.
The need to manage inland fisheries has been an
important driver in the creation of national and
cross-border lake and river basin authorities,
which super vise many freshwater systems around
the world. Examples of international authorities
include the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization
in East Africa and the Great Lakes Fisher y
Commission in North America. Unfortunately,
only a small proportion of transboundar y inland
water bodies have such authorities, and where
they do exist, their mandates var y considerably
between water management and environment
and only occasionally include the management of
fisheries resources.
Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth
Inland capture fisheries are important as a source
of direct employment and income to an estimated
16.8 million to 20.7 million people globally,
particularly in developing countries. It has been
conjectured that more than twice as many people
may be involved along the supply chain,
including women (see above) (HLPE, 2014;
Funge-Smith, 2018). Most inland fisheries are
small in scale. Small-scale fisheries create
employment several times greater than large-
scale fishing, as the lesser mechanization of the
fishing operations t y pically requires greater
human input ( World Bank, 2012). In at least 11
countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, 20
An aspect of inland fisheries production that may
not be immediately obvious is its relative
nutritional efficiency in comparison with other
fish production systems such as marine fisheries
and aquaculture. As 81 percent of nutritional
dependence on freshwater fish occurs in nations
with per capita gross domestic product (GDP)
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