Fisheries | TableDebates

Tuna in ocean. Credit: isaac mijangos via Pexels

Hidden cost of tuna

This report presents an investigation into the discrimination and poor working conditions endured by many Ivorian and Senegalese crew members working on board European-owned tuna purse seine vessels operating in the Indian Ocean.

Journal articles

Spatial distribution of fishmeal and fish oil factories around the globe

This study identified 506 fishmeal and fish oil factories in 63 different countries, providing an open source database with locations, company names and raw material types. Fishmeal and oil is a critical input for the aquaculture sector but there is little publicly available information despite many reports of unsustainable practices such as decimating fishing stocks in countries that rely on fish as an important source of nutrients.

Woman planting rice. Photo by Deepak kumar via Unsplash

Journal articles

Towards gender equality in forestry, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture

This review article examines the impact of gender in the forestry, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture sectors and provides empirical evidence for initiatives which have sought to redress the negative and inequitable disparities. The paper provides an overview of the major issues of women in these sectors and provides useful examples of successful programs in low- and middle-income countries. Women play a significant role in these sectors, but their work is often invisible, unregulated and vulnerable. The article calls for further efforts to eliminate gender-blind and biased policy and governance and expand and share successful initiatives.

Image of the role of seafood in food systems transformation report title page

The role of seafood in UK food systems transformation

This report by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Marine Conservation Society argues that seafood should play a more prominent role in debates about food systems transformation in the UK. It discusses the connections between seafood and the broader food system and considers seafood’s potential role in food systems transformation in the UK, as well as analysing future visions for seafood in the UK.

Image: Front cover of Feedback’s report titled “Blue Empire” showing aquaculture farms in a mountainous lake

Blue empire: Norwegian salmon industry impacts in West Africa

Feedback, a UK and Netherlands based organisation campaigning for sustainable and ethical food, has published a report linking the Norwegian salmon farming industry to poor nutrition and livelihood outcomes in West Africa. Norway has become the world’s largest salmon farming country with a handful of companies dominating the market, including MOWI which had nearly €5 billion in turnover in 2022.

Aerial view freshwater aquaculture farm. Photo by Alexey Komissarov via Pexels.

Journal articles

Economics of aquaculture’s contribution to future food security

This article takes an economic approach to projecting future scenarios for the global fish market and is intended to guide policy around aquaculture regulations. It presents different scenarios for aquaculture and fisheries production projections up to 2030 and highlights the potential implications for food security. The authors identify a gap in future food security literature, both within literature focused on fish and the literature more broadly, that has lacked incorporation of the impact of supply and demand due to changes in food prices, household income, and consumer preferences.

The cover of “Fishing Europe’s Troubled Waters: Fifty Years of Fisheries Policy”

Fishing Europe's Troubled Waters: Fifty Years of Fisheries Policy

This book, coming at the end of the author’s celebrated career in social science, reflects on 50 turbulent years of fisheries management and policy in Europe, across a period in which the globalisation of trade, increasing regulation and declining fish stocks have had a radical impact on North Atlantic fisheries. The author considers the origins of the Common Fisheries Policy and the roots of its failure to deliver sustainable fisheries, the flaws of a centralised system and the consequences of Brexit for the UK fishing industry.

Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare

Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare

This book presents an overview of animal welfare as it relates to farming, hunting, fishing, entertainment and environmental implications. It discusses legal developments around the world as well as how different groups of stakeholders view animal welfare issues.

Grindadráp: What place does whaling have in a sustainable food future?

What place does whaling have in a sustainable food future?

Few food practices draw more intense debate than whaling. In the case of grindadráp, the traditional Faroese form of whaling, this debate plays out almost every summer in bloody images in tabloid newspapers around the world and calls for the tourist industry to boycott the islands. But beyond the headlines, this is a complex, challenging issue that raises questions about what a truly local, sustainable food future could look like. In this TABLE blog, Tamsin Blaxter, researcher and writer at TABLE, explores some of the issues around the grind, both from the perspective of animal rights and conservation, and food traditions and local identity.