ABSTRACT

Norman Maclean, Muhammad Sarwar, Philip Belfield and Gyu-Lin Hwang

Fish constitutes a very important part of the human diet in both the developed and developing world, since fish represents 16% of the consumed animal protein worldwide and one billion people worldwide rely on fish as a primary source of animal protein (Knibb 2002). The total fish catch (inclusive of finfish, crustaceans and molluscs) was estimated to exceed 92 million metric tonnes in 1999, while the yield from aquaculture and fish farming was in excess of 33 million metric tonnes (FAO 2001). However, despite increased fishing effort, the capture fisheries, which are chiefly marine, peaked in 1996 and 1997 and are now showing some indication of decline, as a result mainly of stock depletion by overfishing (Hutchings 2000).