Increasing the contribution of Africa’s fisheries to food security through improved management

Yimin Ye (), Papa Gora Ndiaye and Mohsen Al-Husaini
Additional contact information
Yimin Ye: Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Papa Gora Ndiaye: Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l’Ouest
Mohsen Al-Husaini: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, No 11, 455-470

Abstract: Abstract Africa is the poorest continent, with the fastest population growth, the most acute food shortages, and overfishing. Meeting rising food demand while preserving sustainable production is challenging. We evaluated the full fishery supply chain over the previous 70 years in search of sustainable growth paths, from fish resource status and fishery production to trade and human consumption. Our data show that Africa had the lowest per capita fish consumption of any continent in 2017, with international imports accounting for 35% of this low fish consumption. Meanwhile, foreign vessels fish legally or illegally in African waters, landing 3.1 million tonnes of fish outside of Africa each year. Current fishing practises have resulted in 40% of fish populations being overexploited, causing a loss of 2 million tonnes of fish production per year. Improved management can reduce non-trade fish outflows from foreign vessels fishing and restore overfished stocks to maximum sustainable levels, increasing Africa's fish consumption by 42% and the commercial value of marine fisheries by 53%. Aside from food supply and economic benefits, there are also various social and environmental benefits including job opportunities, support for local livelihoods, and environmental health. These findings can help inform policy and the development of long-term sustainable solutions to challenges in Africa such as overfishing, low fish consumption, hunger, and poverty.

Keywords: Africa; Fisheries; Food security; International trade; Sustainability; Sustainable development goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12571-024-01432-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:16:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s12571-024-01432-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ulture/journal/12571

DOI: 10.1007/s12571-024-01432-5

Access Statistics for this article

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food is currently edited by R.N. Strange

More articles in Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food from Springer, The International Society for Plant Pathology
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().