The status of Asian fisheries – meeting the demands for food and feeds. Trends, sources of fishmeal, outlook, issues. IFFO , Beijing, 2010

1. The status of Asian fisheries – meeting the
demands for food and feeds
Simon Funge-Smith
Secretary
Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

2. Some general trends in marine capture fisheries
• The Asia-Pacific region continues to be the
world’s largest producer of fish.
– world’s largest producer of fish for decades
(47 million tonnes)
– 51 % of global capture production
– China largest producer in the region (34%
of total regional production).
• South and Southeast Asia catch trends show
consistent increase
– masking underlying fishing effects
– serial depletion of higher trophic level
species
– more short-lived, lower-trophic level
species.
• Need for action to implement management
measures not being clearly communicated.
– leads to a false assumptions
– e.g. suggests there is still significant
potential for further expansion of fishing.
South East Asia
South Asia
China
1950 2008

3. Issue of reporting species composition – not
elsewhere included (‘nei’)
• Not identified to species,
order, or family level
– 14.3 million tonnes
– 30% of capture production
• Southeast Asia 41%
• China 31%
• South Asia 38%
• China has improved its
reporting on individual
species.
– ‘nei’ reports reduced from
52 % (2002) to 31 %
(2008)

4. South China Sea & Gulf of Thailand region
• The production trends of the past 10 years do not
reveal the changes very clearly
– majority of the impact is presumed to have
taken place during the massive expansion of
fisheries effort between 1975 and 1985.
• There have been clear ecosystem level effects
– Recent data for the past 10 years indicate that
the South China Sea area has reached a low level
plateau
– Ecosystem dominated by small species
– Lower value species are being utilized (surimi,
canned fish, fishmeal, aquaculture feeds)
– loss of higher value larger species
– Fisheries having to work harder to catch a lower
value product.
• May reflect the tendency towards maximizing
employment in the fishery
• Trade-off is lower economic efficiency and
product quality
1960
1980
Declining biomass
abundance

5. How it is possible to increase total catch
Total catch
Large demersals
Large Pelagics
Small demersal Small Pelagics
Time (years)
`Catch
• Catch increases
• Species composition changes
• Increases up to a point – ecosystem turnover....
?
?

6. Proportion of higher values species in catch declining
• Large demersal species
– Declining in many fisheries
– Slight increase in parts of
Indonesia.
• Larger pelagic species
– Increasing percentage of catch of
in the last 10 years
– May reflect increasing effort to
target these species
• Crustaceans
– Declined in a majority of areas
• Sharks and rays
– Declining
% Landings
Large demersal 3 - 17
Small demersal 6 - 12
Large pelagic 7 - 32
Small pelagic 15 - 60
Anchovy/Sardine 4 - 22
Trash fish/low value fish 16 - 25
Surimi species 3 – 13
Shark/rays 0 - 2
Squids/cuttlefish 2 - 7
Crustaceans 2 – 7

7. Proportion of lower value fast recruiting species increasing
• Small pelagic species (including sardines and
anchovies)
– Northern South China Sea increased from 30
to 60% of catch
– Increasing elsewhere in South China Sea
• Trash and low value fish
– Large contribution to total catch in region
– The relative proportion declined recently
– Increased use for human consumption
– Also linked to rising costs of trawling?
• Small demersal species
– Stable or slightly increasing over past 10
years
• Surimi species
– Massive increase in demand for surimi
species
– Small demersal species specifically utilized
for surimi production.
– The relative catch increased in all assessed
areas
% Landings
Large demersal 3 - 17
Small demersal 6 - 12
Large pelagic 7 - 32
Small pelagic 15 - 60
Anchovy/Sardine 4 - 22
Trash fish/low value fish 16 - 25
Surimi species 3 – 13
Shark/rays 0 - 2
Squids/cuttlefish 2 - 7
Crustaceans 2 – 7

8. Indicative fishery assessments & stock assessments
Depleted or Over-fished
Fully-fished
Moderately/Under-fished
• Few assessments available.....
– national EEZ cover almost the entire
South China Sea
– indicator for the state of the sub-
region.
• Large demersals and small demersals
– overfished in a majority of the areas.
• Large and small pelagics
– overfished or fully fished in a
majority of the cases.
• Stocks of anchovies and sardines
– overfished in a majority of the
assessed fisheries.
• Low value/trash fish species
– fully fished
• All assessed stocks of surimi species
– overfished.
• Squids/cuttlefish and crustacean
– fully fished or overfished
Note: VietNam data missing

9. CPUE/ catch rates
• Trends in CPUE can indicate fishing impacts
• A declining CPUE is normal when a fishery
is developed
– Considered a bad situation when CPUE falls
below ~50 % of initial value
– ~20% of initial values should be considered as
the limit
• Majority of the assessed fisheries
– CPUE and catch rates are declining
– CPUE values available indicate decline 21-68%
over 20 year period
– trawl fisheries, purse seine fisheries, net
fisheries
• Northern part of South China Sea
– Large decrease in CPUE (>50%) over the past
30 years and even over the past decade

10. Some Asian fisheries becoming
“low value/trash fish” fisheries
• Some Asian fisheries are evolving into “trash
fish” fisheries
– Fishing to supply aquaculture with feeds
– Declining investment in fisheries management
(perception nothing can be done, no rent)
– Reluctance to make hard management decisions
• Policy & perverse subsidies
– Aquaculture promotion (low taxes, limited
environmental regulation)
– Fuel costs subsidized - trawling for lower value
catch
– Aquaculture is not paying the ‘real price’ for its
feeds
• Aquaculture products may be preferred by
supermarkets/food industry
– Standardized: size, quality , food safety

11. Total production of low value/trash fish
species in the South China Sea region
• Estimated at 8.3 – 10.3 million tonnes.
– The proportion of trash fish varies vary
according to area
– Low value/trash fish is consistently more than
20 percent of overall catch
– Considerably higher for the trawl fisheries
(more typically 40-60 percent)
• Demand onshore for this is booming
– aquaculture demand
– keeps operations profitable despite impact
on fishery

12. Fish meal
• Derived largely from the low value/trash fish
catch
– Some targeted small pelagic fisheries which
are directed into fish meal production.
• Processing wastes from capture fish and
aquaculture are significant
– trimmings and processing waste from fish
processing
– converted to fishmeal
– 56% of fishmeal derived from this source
– Globally the figure is only 25%
– also utilized directly as livestock or fish feeds
• fisheries – from canning, filleting , heading
• aquaculture - shrimp heads/wastes,
pangassius processing wastes

13. Fishmeal production - East Asia
Source: IFFO 2008 compiled data from IFFO members, FAO and Oilworld
(‘000 tonnes)
Country Total Fishmeal
Fishmeal
from Process
waste
Thailand 468 278
Japan 203 192
China 141 10
Korea RO 50 10
Vietnam 46 26
Malaysia 44 19
Taiwan POC 18 13
Indonesia 15 5
Cambodia 3 2
Total (region) 988 555 (56%)
Total world 4,818 1,196

14. Flow of fish for food and feed in East Asian region
Note: Aquaculture production does not include filter feeding molluscs and plants
CAPTURE FISHERIES
AQUACULTURE
Actual fishmeal
demand ~3.0 ?Livestock
pigs 0.9
poultry 0.3
FISHMEAL
1.1 – 1.9
FISH FOR
FOOD
FISH
FOR FEED
Discarded bycatch
FISHMEAL
Trimmings
0.56
36.8
0.3 ?
Million tonnes
6.4 – 8.4
1.9
?
IMPORT
FISHMEAL
2.2 Wastes
Direct feeding
1.8 ?
1.2
Low value/trash fish
8.3 -10.3
34.8
26.2 – 28.2
Surimi 1.3

15. Ballpark estimates of aquaculture’s demand
• Fed with fresh/low value/trash fish
– 2.42 million tonnes of marine/coastal species produced
– carnivorous fish, crustacean & mollusc species
– Fed mainly low value/trash fish production
– Conversion ranges from 3 upto >6
– Requires 6.4 – 8.4 million tonnes fresh fish for feed?
• Fed with supplemental or formulated feeds
– 26.7 million tonnes including: shrimp, pangas catfish,
tilapia, carps
• not all based on formulated feed
• formulated feed fishmeal inclusion varies 3-32%
– Conversion varies 1 - 2 (kg feed per kg fish produced)
– Fishmeal demand ~3.0 million tonnes?
• Balance
– total regional production and import = 3.2 million tonnes
– 1.2 million tonnes used by livestock
– so this does not balance

16. Key points
• Data on feeds and fishmeal is very poor
– 26 million tonnes of captured fish for food
– 36 million tonnes of aquaculture fish for food*
• Upto 10.3 million tonnes of captured fish for feeds or surimi
– 1.3 million tonnes for surimi (~0.32 million tonnes
surimi)
– 6.4 – 8.4 million tonnes fresh fish feeds for aquaculture
– 1.94 million tonnes for fishmeal (could be higher)
• Fishmeal
– 1.1 million tonnes fishmeal produced (FAO figures differ)
– 2.18 million tonnes fishmeal imported
– 3.2 million tonnes fish meal available
– 0.56 million tonnes fishmeal/crustacean meal derived
from trimmings/processing**
• Fishmeal demand for aquaculture could be >3.0 million
tonnes
*Does not include filter feeding molluscs and plants ** Capture fishery & aquaculture product processing

17. Capture production of surimi species
• The production of surimi in the
region has increased dramatically
over the past decade
– > 321,250 tonnes in the South
China Sea region.
– conversion of ~3.5
– ~1.34 million tonnes fresh fish
• Reflection of several drivers:
– improved processing techniques
– increasing use of species
previously regarded low value
trash fish category.
• Need to track
– quantity of surimi produced
– sources and quantities of raw
materials

18. Management challenges - Fleet capacity
• There is significant over-capacity in the fishing fleets of the
region
• ~1.64 million fishing vessels operating in the South China Sea
region
– majority are small- scale vessels.
• Obtaining good estimates of vessel numbers continues to be a
challenge this sub-region.
– Incomplete vessel registers and records

19. Management challenges - Fishery zoning and
management measures
• All the countries have zoning of their
EEZ
– two or more zones and some having up
to four different zones.
• Closed areas and closed seasons are
common in the near shore zone
– Also Marine Protected Areas
• Gear restrictions and licensing
– Varyingly applied
– Problems with compliance in many
areas
• Size limits (e.g. fish length) and quotas
are not used by any of the countries
the region as a management measure.

20. Key messages - state of resources
• Coastal and many EEZ resources subject to
high fishing effort for past 30-40 years
– poor data/records on state of resources
– many fisheries have weak management
– limited management for sustainability or
biodiversity
• Shifting species composition
– small pelagics, low value and trash fish
predominating East Asia
– drives interest to develop fisheries for fish
meal/feed fisheries
• Aquaculture demand is a strong driver for
landings of small/lower value species
– generating concern in importing countries
– demand for certified feeds?
– very poor information on fresh/pellet feed use

21. Key messages - Improved utilization
• Increasing efforts to utilize capture fish for food or feeds
– Surimi/human foods
– Fishmeal/ animal feeds
– aquaculture producing more food fish than fisheries
• Reports of decreasing catches of trash fish/low value fish
– Reflects greater utilization and disaggregation e.g. surimi
– need more accurate data on aquaculture feeding
• Emerging interest in finding small pelagic fisheries which can
be certified for fishmeal production
– for production of certified animal feeds (e.g. pet foods and
aquaculture feeds)
– generally to demonstrate the increased responsibility of fish
meal fisheries.
• Fishmeal derived from processing wastes of fisheries and
aquaculture are important
– These may be more certifiable in the short term

22. Thank you!Thank you!