Fishing for proteins: How marine fisheries impact global food security up to 2050
This report (PDF) by WWF Germany argues that sustainable managing of fishing is needed to answer on the increasing global demand for protein in the coming decades. If the current situation doesn’t improve, millions of people may no longer be able to afford fish by 2050, particularly those in developing coastal countries. According to the projections made by this study, it will on the one hand be possible to fish approximately 112 million tons of fish around the world in 2050 if the current moderate level of fishery management effectiveness remains the same. On the other hand this would risk the health of predatory fish stocks which will befished too hard. This may cause a perilous destabilisation of the ecosystem. It would appear that marine resources are already close to fully exploit, leaving little room to increase catch volumes in the future. In WWF’s view, the discussion about supplying the world’s population with high-quality protein neglects the fact that both food productions systems, the sea and the land, are closely interconnected and in terms of their capacity and natural limits must be viewed as one.