ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the social and economic significance of fisheries for food security and nutrition, supporting livelihoods of human society. It reviews the situation in global marine fisheries, the status of fish stocks, the state of fishing fleets, and management practices. The chapter discusses how fisheries can make a successful transition to achieve long-term sustainability. Food security requires 'all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life'. The social and economic contribution of the small-scale fisheries sector, however, tends to be obscured by national statistics in many countries, because fish landings by the small-scale sector may not be reported, or if data are collected, are typically under-reported. The world's total fish production has increased linearly since 1950, reaching 154 million tonnes in 2011, of which marine capture fisheries contributed 51 per cent.
