The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

USD/TONNE
JAN
83
JAN
20
JAN
01
JAN
95
JAN
93
JAN
88
JAN
89
JAN
90
JAN
91
JAN
92
JAN
85
JAN
03
JAN
05
JAN
19
JAN
00
JAN
94
JAN
87
JAN
84
JAN
86
JAN
02
JAN
04
JAN
97
JAN
99
JAN
96
JAN
98
JAN
06
JAN
07
JAN
08
JAN
09
JAN
10
JAN
11
JAN
12
JAN
13
JAN
14
JAN
15
JAN
16
JAN
17
JAN
18
NOTE: Data refer to c.i.f. prices. Fishmeal: all origins, 64–65 percent, Hamburg, Germany. Soybean meal: 44 percent, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
SOURCE: Oil World; FAO GLOBEFISH.
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
anchoveta fishing season in late 2019 and a 
drop in raw material supply point to a likely 
reversal of this trend. Prices of fish oil have 
been increasing since mid-2018 and are 
expected to increase further (
Figure 38
).
n
security as fewer pelagics are available for 
human consumption, including sardinella 
and bonga shad. Although prices for fishmeal 
have generally been decreasing since mid-2018 
(
Figure 37
), early closure of the second Peruvian 
FIGURE 38
FISH OIL AND SOYBEAN OIL PRICES IN THE NETHERLANDS
Fish oil
Soybean oil
0
400
800
1 200
1 600
2 000
2 400
2 800
USD/TONNE
JAN
1984
JAN
2002
JAN
1999
JAN
1996
JAN
1993
JAN
1990
JAN
1987
JAN
2005
JAN
2008
JAN
2011
JAN
2014
JAN
2017
JAN
2020
NOTE: Data refer to c.i.f. prices. Origin: South America. Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
SOURCE: Oil World; FAO GLOBEFISH.
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TURKEY
Semiha Basak, a fisher 
in Akyaka, a town 
included in FAO’s
Blue Hope project.
©FAO/Emre Tazegul

---

PART 2
SUSTAINABILITY 
IN ACTION

---

THE TWENTY-FIFTH 
ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
CODE OF CONDUCT FOR 
RESPONSIBLE FISHERIES
How has the Code supported the adoption
of sustainable practices?
Fisheries and aquaculture resources, in both 
marine and freshwater ecosystems, constitute one 
of the world’s largest sources of animal protein. 
Fisheries are crucial to global food security and 
nutrition, and they offer development pathways 
to contribute to a more prosperous, peaceful and 
equitable world. 
Today, the importance of utilizing fisheries 
and aquaculture resources responsibly is 
widely recognized and prioritized by countries. 
However, responsible utilization of resources was 
not always at the centre of development strategies 
in the sector. For much of history, resources were 
assumed to be infinite, and after the Second 
World War, scientific and technological advances 
drove the intensive development of fisheries and 
fishing fleets. With time, the fallacy of infinite 
resources was replaced by the realization that 
fisheries resources, although renewable, are 
not infinite.
In the late 1980s, with several fish stocks 
collapsing globally, it became increasingly 
clear that fisheries resources could no longer 
sustain the rapid and often unfettered advances 
in fishing effort, and that new approaches to 
fisheries management embracing conservation 
and environmental considerations were urgently 
needed. Unregulated fisheries on the high seas, 
in some cases involving straddling and highly 
migratory fish species, were also becoming a 
matter of increasing concern.
The Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries 
(the Code), unanimously adopted by FAO 
Members in 1995, is a foundational document 
that sets out globally agreed principles 
and standards for the use of fisheries and 
aquaculture resources, including through 
regional mechanisms and cooperation, to ensure 
sustainable use of aquatic living resources in 
harmony with the environment (FAO, 1995). 
As such, over the past 25 years, the Code 
has informed the development of a number 
of instruments to provide the overarching 
framework for international, regional and 
national efforts to sustainably and responsibly 
utilize fisheries and aquaculture resources. 
Development of the Code 
The 1987 Brundtland Report, 
Our Common 
Future
(World Commission on Environment and 
Development, 1987), marked a paradigm shift 
towards global efforts to ensure sustainable 
development. This came amid growing 
international concern regarding the overfishing 
of important fish stocks, damage to ecosystems, 
economic losses, and issues affecting fish 
trade – all of which threatened the long-term 
sustainability of fisheries and, in turn, the 
contribution of fisheries to food security. In 1991, 
the Nineteenth Session of the FAO Committee on 
Fisheries (COFI) requested that FAO develop the 
concept of responsible fisheries and elaborate a 
code of conduct to this end.
Subsequently, the International Conference on 
Responsible Fishing, held in 1992 in Cancún, 
Mexico, further requested FAO to prepare an 
international code of conduct for responsible 
fisheries. The resulting Cancún Declaration 
provided an important contribution to the 1992 
PART 2
SUSTAINABILITY 
IN ACTION
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
United Nations Conference on Environment 
and Development, in particular Agenda 21, a 
precursor to the Millennium Development Goals 
and the current SDGs. 
Noting these and other important developments 
in world fisheries, FAO facilitated negotiation 
of the Code to be consistent with existing 
instruments and, in a non-mandatory manner, 
establish principles and standards applicable to 
the conservation, management and development 
of all fisheries. On 31 October 1995, the Code 
was unanimously adopted by more than 
170 Member Governments at the Twenty-first 
FAO Conference, to provide the world with a 
groundbreaking framework for national, regional 
and international efforts for the sustainable use 
of aquatic living resources.
What is in the Code?
The Code promotes responsible fisheries and 
aquaculture, covering virtually all aspects of the 
sector, from responsible fishing and aquaculture 
practices to trade and marketing, and it has 
guided government policies on all continents. 
It recognizes the nutritional, economic, social, 
environmental and cultural importance of 
fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the interests 
of all those involved in the harvesting, farming, 
processing, trade and consumption of seafood. 
Objective
The objective of the Code is to promote 
responsible practices, from harvesting to 
consumption, in the capture fisheries and 
aquaculture sector. It establishes principles for 
fishing and aquaculture and related activities, 
and provides standards of conduct for all 
persons involved in the sector. It establishes 
criteria for the elaboration of national 
policies for the responsible management and 
development of fisheries and aquaculture 
resources. Moreover, it serves as a point of 
reference to assist States in establishing or 
improving legal and institutional frameworks 
for fisheries and aquaculture governance. 
The Code facilitates and promotes technical 
and financial cooperation for the conservation 
and management of fisheries resources, 
for research on fisheries and associated 
ecosystems, and for trade in fish and fishery 
products. It promotes the contribution of 
fisheries to food security, giving priority to 
the nutritional needs of resource-dependent 
communities, and calls for protection of living 
aquatic resources and their habitats. 
Nature and scope
The Code is global in scope, and is directed 
towards: FAO Members and Non-Members; 
fishing entities; subregional, regional and 
global organizations, whether governmental 
or non-governmental; and all persons 
concerned with the governance of fishery and 
aquaculture resources and their management 
and development, such as fishers, those 
engaged in processing and marketing of fish 
and fishery products, and other users of the 
aquatic environment in relation to fisheries. 
The Code is voluntary in nature; however, 
certain parts are based on relevant rules of 
international law. Broad in scope, it covers 
harvesting, processing and trade of fish 
and fishery products, fishing operations, 
aquaculture, fisheries research and the 
integration of fisheries and aquaculture into 
coastal area management.
The Code and the international legal framework
for fisheries 
International fisheries law (Al Arif, 2018) 
comprises a number of instruments on 
fisheries management and conservation, both 
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PART 2 
SUSTAINABILITY IN ACTION
binding and non-binding,
15
negotiated under 
the umbrella of the United Nations (
Figure 39
). 
The Code is a key reference for informing the 
formulation of policies and other legal and 
institutional frameworks.
UNCLOS
The United Nations Convention on the Law 
of the Sea (UNCLOS), often referred to as 
the Constitution for the Oceans, was adopted 
in 1982 after nine years of negotiations. 
This international treaty is a framework 
convention that provides a foundation upon 
which to build an international framework for the 
management of fisheries resources. It provides 
coastal States with rights and responsibilities 
for the management and use of fishery resources 
within their EEZs, which embrace some 
90 percent of the world’s marine fisheries. It gives 
States the right to engage in fishing on the high 
seas, and obliges them to cooperate with other 
States in the conservation and management 
of living aquatic resources, including through 
15
Legally binding instruments are agreements concluded by States or 
international organizations in writing with an intent to create legal 
rights and duties. They are called “hard law” because the contracting