Today, more than 1 billion people rely on fish as a source of animal protein. Fish supplies about 30% of the total protein intake for people in Asia, 20% in Africa and 10% in Latin America. In addition, two million people around the world depend on fish, either directly or indirectly for employment. Fish are also one of the most highly traded agricultural commodities with nearly 40% of fish production traded internationally.

Though catches between 1950 and 1990 increased fivefold to some 100 million tons, they are now in slow decline, and as a result, prices have risen. Currently researchers are working to determine ways to cope with increasing stock scarcity and price increases by developing methods to increase production through aquaculture and better stewardship of natural fisheries resources and the environment. It is estimated that by 2010 the world will need between 110 and 120 tons of food fish in comparison with a supply of 71 million tons in 1995. The WorldFish Center, in Malaysia, the world's only global research institute that focuses on fisheries and aquaculture research for low-income people, is a CGIAR center dedicated to ensuring food security while improving natural resource management and the conservation of biodiversity. For more information click here.

Fisheries research such as that conducted by the WorldFish Center, works to:

• make fish more affordable to consumers through increasing production and improving efficiency of production methods;
  
• add to the diversification of agriculture and produce a range of products from food staples to pharmaceuticals and luxury ornaments;
  
• produce profits and income for the farmer, thus assisting rural development;
  
• create jobs;
  
• rebuild wild stocks by relieving pressure from over-exploited natural resources;
  
• contribute to environmental conservation.

CGIAR Investment in Fisheries Research

The CGIAR invested approximately $ 16 million in fisheries research in 2005.

An Example of a CGIAR Fisheries Project

Tilapia is a fish grown by small farmers and consumed mainly by lower income groups. In this experiment the WorldFish Center researchers applied the techniques of genetics and selective breeding, which had long been applied to plant and animal production, to aquaculture. Over a five-year period researchers were able to develop a strain of tilapia that was 85% larger than those in the original base population. A related experiment then further assessed the new strain, called GIFT (Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia), at testing stations and on small farms in Bangladesh, China, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. This second experiment demonstrated that the GIFT strain had a considerably higher yield potential in actual farm conditions than the current locally available strain. In comparison with existing strains already in use at the farms, the GIFT strain performed 18 to 70% better, depending on the existing efficiency of tilapia culture. Even more significant is that production costs were 20 to 30% lower. Today, the study of selective breeding techniques for tilapia and other important food species continues in projects in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam. For more information click here..

Research Sites

The WorldFish Center operates site-specific research programs that focus on three types of fisheries ecosystems: coastal waters, inland waterbodies and coral reefs. Headquartered in Malaysia, research offices are sited in key areas around the world.

• Bangladesh - Promoting beneficiary-based management of inland fisheries, developing and introducing low-cost techniques for fish culture suited to local socio-economic conditions. Read more about WorldFish's work in Bangladesh.
  
• Cameroon - Extending the World Fish Center's approach to the introduction of aquaculture into the farming systems of humid West Africa. Read more about WorldFish's work in Camerooon.
  
• Caribbean - Studying the benefits of marine protected areas for enhancing and protecting stocks of fish and other aquatic resources
  
• Egypt - Regional research center for Africa and West Asia, focusing on research and training in aquaculture
  
• Malawi - Focusing on integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems to improve resource utilization and productivity of small and marginal farmers. Read more about WorldFish's work in Malawi.
  
• New Caledonia - Developing methods for culturing high-value tropical marine species and restocking fisheries. Read more about WorldFish's work in the Pacific.
  
• Philippines - Developing relational databases for aquatic resources and habitats, and coastal zone management training
  
• Solomon Islands - Developing methods for farming and managing coral reef, species, including pearl oysters, giant clams and reef fish
  

   

Sources

CGIAR Financial Report 2005

Priorities and Strategies for Resource Allocation during 1998-2000 and Centre Proposals and TAC Recommendations, June 2000.

The WorldFish Center Medium Term Plan 2002-2004.

ICLARM 1999 Annual Report.

The WorldFish Center website.

"ICLARM The WorldFish Center," brochure.

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