The Role of FAO in World Fisheries 



by Roy I. Jackson 



Director, Fisheries Division 

 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 



First, I would like to say what a pleasure and honor it is for 

 me to be here. I recently ended my first year with the Food 

 and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome. 

 It is a privilege to be able to mark that first anniversary by 

 helping to establish this other "first" — the First North Ameri- 

 can Fisheries Conference. 



This year the Food and Agriculture Organization celebrates 

 another anniversary, its twentieth birthday. In many ways 

 the figure reflects some truth — we are emerging from adoles- 

 cence and are about to come of age. In many other ways, and 

 in terms of problems faced and storms weathered, both FAO 

 and the UN are rather ancient and worldwise institutions 

 already. 



My topic — FAO's role in world fisheries — is a large one. 

 First I intend to review some of the major elements in the world 

 fisheries situation. The story there is change, expansion and 

 increased catches. My second major point will be an attempt 

 to show how this change and expansion gives more and more 

 of an international character to what was once a more or less 

 localized industry in most parts of the world. 



I want then to mention the part that FAO and its Fisheries 

 Division play in this international movement. Finally gentle- 

 men, I want to outline some very current ideas for improving 

 and enlarging FAO's role in world fisheries, ideas that are now 

 being debated in the international forum. 



In talking about world fisheries, especially to practical people 

 from the industry, there is no better reference point than pro- 

 duction. In 1963 the marine and inland waters of the world 

 produced something more than 46 million metric tons of fish, or 

 about 100 billion pounds. Most of this catch was taken in 

 international waters where fishing is almost completely uncon- 

 trolled. Here, what you take depends only on your skill, gear, 

 good fortune and markets. The resulting catch distribution 

 is rather interesting. 



First, nearly one-third of the 1963 world catch was taken by 

 two countries — Peru and Japan. Second, the top two-thirds 

 of the world catch was taken by only ten countries. Finally, 

 95 percent of the world catch was taken by the leading 42 fish- 

 ing nations. 



Forty-two countries. Good. However, there are in the 

 world about 220 countries, dependent or independent. 



But some countries have no marine fisheries. Others — such 

 as the Vatican City — have no fisheries at all. Taking this into 

 consideration, the fact remains that perhaps 165 or 170 coun- 

 tries — a majority of countries with millions of fishermen — must 

 share only five percent of the world catch. Perhaps as many 

 as 1 20 countries, nearly half the countries in the world — each 

 produce less than 5,000 tons of fish a year from both marine 

 and inland waters. 



A look at the regional distribution of the catch shows that 

 most of the traditional fishing grounds are in the north tem- 

 perate zone. One of our staff in Rome calculates that an 

 average Icelandic fisherman accounts for an annual catch of 

 a good deal more than 100 toas, while the average tropical 

 fisherman will take about one ton a year. According to this, 

 the technology of the advance nations puts them at least 100 

 times ahead of the developing nations from a production 

 viewpoint. 



Again, we see this imbalance in sharing food from the seas 

 by matching the oceans against their production. The Pacific, 

 with 50 percent of the earth's sea water area (including adja- 

 cent Arctic and Antarctic waters), produces a little more than 

 50 percent of the world catch. The Atlantic (including the 

 Mediterranean and Black Seas) , with 30 percent of the sea area, 

 produces a little over 40 percent of the fish. But the Indian 

 Ocean, with 20 percent of the world's sea surface, produces 

 considerably less than 1 percent of the world catch. 



By rearranging these ocean catch figures roughly according 

 to production by climatic zone, we see that waters such as the 

 northwest and northeast Adantic and Pacific, including the 

 Mediterranean and Black Seas — northern waters in other 

 words — provided nearly 60 percent of the marine catch. 

 Tropical waters such as the west-central Atlantic and Pacific, 

 the Caribbean and the Indo-Pacific regions, produced only 

 17 percent. At least some of this must have been taken by 

 northern fishermen with their factory trawlers and mother- 

 ships, far south of their home ports and traditional grounds. 



Almost the entire remainder of the world marine catch was 

 anchovy — another sign of the change sweeping through the 

 world industry — a change that has lifted Peru from obscurity 

 as a fish producer to the top of the production heap in a dozen 

 vears. 



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