The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

parts of the world. Therefore, more effort is 
needed to better quantify fisheries interactions 
with such species, and to implement measures to 
reduce mortality.
In 2018, COFI requested that FAO continue its 
work on developing best practices for reducing 
the bycatch of marine mammals in the form of 
technical guidelines. In September 2019, FAO 
organized an expert meeting on the matter. 
Fishing technologies 
Technological developments keep improving 
efficiency by reducing costs and saving energy. 
Examples include innovations in propulsion 
systems, improvements in vessel hull design, 
reduced use of wooden vessels, and the use of 
larger vessels. Other technological innovations 
focus on increasing fishing efficiency and 
reducing environmental or ecological impacts. 
Innovations in these fields that are now in 
widespread use are GPS, fishfinders, seabed 
mapping technology, fish aggregating devices 
(including ones that communicate with vessels 
via satellite), biodegradable and collapsible traps, 
LED light use in night fishing, bycatch reduction 
devices, turtle excluder devices, and circle hooks 
in longline fisheries. In some cases, pelagic 
fishing has become a highly efficient harvesting 
sector, with skippers largely able to estimate, 
when they set out, how much they are likely to 
catch and where. 
Improvements in fishing technology and 
operations to address resource sustainability 
include: innovations in gear types to reduce 
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
bycatch in trawl fisheries; high-resolution 
underwater cameras to monitor fish behaviour 
on the gear; and ways to systematically collect 
and recycle used fishing gear. However, uptake 
by small-scale fishers in particular is often slow 
(FAO, 2019f). 
Despite these technological improvements, 
overcapacity is negatively affecting 
the profitability of many fishing fleets. 
Initial findings of FAO’s 2019 techno-economic 
performance assessment of the world’s main 
fishing fleets show ageing fleets as lower levels of 
vessel profitability lead to reduced investment.
Finance and investment
The fisheries sector requires access to financial 
services (e.g. savings, credit and insurance) 
and investments to support the transition to 
more sustainable and responsible fishing, as 
well as to address climate change adaptation 
and mitigation. Investment programmes 
recognize that small-scale fisheries often 
operate within overfished coastal areas, with 
open-access regimes. FAO has partnered with 
the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit 
Association to build capacity among rural 
finance institutions on doing business with 
the fisheries sector and to increase access by 
small-scale fishers to microfinance, credit 
and insurance services. Capacity-building 
programmes and pilot projects in several 
countries in Asia in 2020 will support the 
implementation of guidelines developed in 2019 
(Grace and van Anrooy, 2019; Tietze and van 
Anrooy, 2019). 
Since 2015, the FAO/GEF Project on the Sustainable 
Management of Bycatch in Latin America and 
Caribbean Trawl Fisheries has worked with partners 
across the region and in countries such as Brazil, 
Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Suriname and Trinidad 
and Tobago to test, adapt, support and disseminate 
socio-economic policies, technologies and best 
practices that reduce bycatch in bottom trawl 
fisheries.
1
Bycatch reduction technologies are readily 
available and easily transferable – if technical 
knowledge is shared, local testing capacity is 
available, and fishers are willing to test the gear 
improvements. The main gear improvements introduced 
and disseminated by the project have been: square-
mesh panels; fisheye devices; and increases in codend 
mesh size. These three measures have gained wide 
acceptance and resulted in bycatch reductions in 
industrial and semi-industrial fleets of 25–50 percent, 
with acceptable levels of target species losses. These 
percentages are in line with those achieved in the 
Australian Northern Prawn Fishery (which is certified 
by the Marine Stewardship Council) and the United 
States Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawl fishery. Where trawl 
fisheries depend on both fish and shrimp catches, the 
devices retain larger specimens of commercially 
important fish species, contributing to economic 
viability and environmental sustainability. 
To support the uptake of such devices and 
measures, all project countries have established 
institutional structures for participatory management, 
with bycatch management being integrated into 
management plans or normative measures. This has 
resulted in an engaged fishing sector and increased 
trust between government agencies and fisheries 
stakeholders. The establishment of spatial and 
temporal closures, as well as fleet zoning regulations, 
have contributed to a significant reduction in overall 
bycatch from trawl fisheries. The beneficiary 
countries report clear improvements in their ability to 
implement the ecosystem approach to fisheries, as 
demonstrated in a series of management plans and 
regulations with high degrees of ownership from 
fishing communities, particularly in Brazil and 
Colombia. Moreover, the project has helped local 
communities and vulnerable groups of women 
increase the use and value of bycatch and