Wetlands and Fisheries

Abstract

Wetlands are in decline, and this has led to a loss of eighty percent of the global wetland biodiversity over the last 50 years. Part of the species loss comes from freshwater fish and their associated fisheries. Inland capture fisheries yield 6.25 million metric tonnes per annum (p.a.) of which 55% comes from Asia and South East Asia. While apparently contributing only 6.5% of total fish production, inland fisheries provide food for hundreds of millions who derive up to sixty percent of their animal sourced protein from freshwater fish. Without exception these fisheries are now in decline, largely due to the removal of wetlands and the connectivity between river systems and floodplains. The largest inland capture fishery associated with the lower Mekong River basin provides an example of this decline. The demise of wetlands and their associated fisheries is largely of anthropogenic origin including land clearance, climate change, infrastructure (roads and irrigation systems) overfishing, illegal fishing and pollution from intensive agriculture and industry. It is not too late to stop this downward destructive trend as many wetlands and their biodiversity can recover, as demonstrated by a range of protected areas. Improved wetland management including rice field modified wetlands, from which the rice yield feeds half of the world’s population, has also demonstrated how the use of better management practices can sustain rice and fish production while maintaining a degree of wetland biodiversity. It is recommended that further Total Economic Value (TEV) assessments of wetland fisheries are undertaken as a means of demonstrating to policy makers the potential loss to national economies from wetland destruction. Improved assessments of wetland loss coupled with more accurate inland fisheries assessments are urgently required.