The future of fish: Issues and trends to 2020

Abstract

The supplies of fish in the world’s vast oceans once seemed inexhaustible. Not any more. In the past three decades, production and consumption of fish have risen so dramatically that the world’s wild fisheries may fall victim to their own success. Meanwhile, the growing aquaculture industry has attempted to fill the gap between supply and demand. But as the global appetite for fish continues to increase, current trends in the fish sector pose serious risks to the environment, to the well-being of poor people, and to the viability of the fish sector itself.

What is the outlook for fish in a globalizing food economy, and how will trends in the fish sector affect the poor and the environment during the next two decades? A new book from IFPRI and the WorldFish Center, Fish to 2020: Supply and Demand in Changing Global Markets, and an accompanying food policy report, Outlook for Fish to 2020: Meeting Global Demand, examine changes in the fish sector; the forces driving these changes; and the implications of the changes for fish consumption, production, prices, trade, the environment, and the world’s poor.