Inland fisheries and aquaculture

Abstract

Fish and other living aquatic resources of inland water ecosystems provide important services that are seriously undervalued [well established]. Inland fisheries and aquaculture contribute about 25% to the world?s production of fish. In addition, many important estuarine and coastal fisheries are strongly linked to the ecological processes that occur in freshwater systems [well established]. The value of freshwater production to human nutrition and incomes is much greater than gross national production figures suggest. The bulk of production is generated by small-scale activities, with exceedingly high levels of participation not only in catching and farming, but also in processing and marketing. Inland fisheries are often critical to local food security [well established]. Most inland fisheries in the developing world are heavily exploited. While the fisheries are not necessarily overexploited in terms of gross production, individual species are often seriously overexploited. However, inland fisheries suffer greatly from environmental pressures, in particular deteriorating water quality and habitat [well established]. Many coastal and inshore marine systems are also affected by lower water quality and reduced availability of freshwater.