Study On The Development And Sustainable Utilization Of Marine Fisheries In Africa

The 21st century is the century of the ocean.As an important natural resource,marine fishery resources play an irreplaceable role in global food security,social and economic development.Marine fisheries provide about 80 million tons of protein-rich and trace elements-rich aquatic products annually,and provides employment opportunities for 260 million people.With the progress of science and technology as well as the increasing demand of human beings,the scope of fishing for marine fishery resources is expanding,the depth of fishing is increasing,the intensity of fishing is only increasing,and the proportion of overfishing fish stocks has reached 33.1%.The exploitation and utilization of fishery resources is one of the important ways to compensate for the low per capita food production in Africa.However,due to the increasing fishing intensity and weak fisheries management of African marine fishery resources,the resource situation is deteriorating.In addition,under the background of globalization,the overcapacity of world marine fisheries and the depletion of fishery resources,as well as the impact of climate change,the issue of food security and sustainable development in Africa is not optimistic.In order to solve this dilemma,it is necessary to strengthen the restoration and protection of the marine ecological environment on the basis of clarifying the development status and influencing factors of marine fishery resources,strengthening the restoration and protection of marine ecological environment,so as to realize the sustainable use of marine fishery resources and the rapid development of the marine economy.Based on the capture production statistics for marine species in the adjacent marine areas of African marine fishing countries provided by FAO from 1950 to 2015,integrated with mean trophic level of fisheries landings collected from Fishbase and Sea Around Us Project Database,the sustainable utilization of African marine fishery resources from 1950 to 2015 was comprehensively analyzed and the potential change mechanism of mean trophic level(MTL)was proposed.In addition,the impacts of climate change on the sustainable utilization of marine fishery resources in Africa and the vulnerability of food security under the impact of climate warming are analyzed.Finally,based on the current status and major problems of marine fisheries as well as food security objectives,the countermeasures of sustainable utilization of marine fishery resources are put forward,which provide the basis for fishery managers to make scientific decisions.The main results of this study are as follows:(1)Spatial and temporal evolution analysis of African marine fishery countries from 1950 to 2015 shows that,the catch of African marine fisheries shows a fluctuating growth trend,with an average annual growth rate of 6.1%from 1950 to 1970;a stable change period from 1971 to 1990,with a production of about 3 million tons;and a fluctuating growth period from 1991 to 2015,with a total of 5.93 million tons in 2015.Comparing the catches of North Africa,East Africa,South Africa,West Africa and Central Africa,before 1990,South Africa has the most marine fisheries capture.From 1990 to 2015,the share of catches in South Africa continued to decline and that of North and West Africa increased.There are large spatial differences in the catch of African marine fisheries.The catches of western and southern are high.South Africa and Morocco have high catches while most countries have low catches.It is predicted that the annual growth rate of marine fishery resources catches in Africa will be 3.11%in 2016-2020,and the catch in 2020 will reach 736,280 tons.(2)Most fishery countries in Africa entered the stage of rapid development in the 1960s and 1970s,and entered the stage of over-exploitation in the 1990s.At present,many benthic fish with important economic value are in the state of over-fishing.From 1996 to 2003,MTL fluctuated and decreased in West Africa and South Africa,the number of low-trophic fish increased,and fishery resources were overexploited.In 2004-2015,MTL in South Africa resumed a slight upward trend.From 1985 to 2015,the catch of TrC3 in North Africa decreased by 33.5%,the production of TrC1 increased,MTL decreased by 0.17,and marine ecosystems were gradually damaged.The fishery resources in East and Central Africa are in the stage of accelerated development and the pressure of marine ecosystem is gradually increasing.From 1950 to 2010,the MTL of 42%of the countries has been stable or rising.The MTL of the other 22 countries has been declining since the 1980s.The high trophic category has not shown a significant downward trend,indicating that the phenomenon of "fishing down marine food webs" has occurred.MTL in 15 countries resumed an upward trend,predator production showed an increase or no significant change,and predator production decreased.(3)The results of vulnerability assessment of food security under the impact of climate warming on African marine fisheries show that most African countries have high vulnerabi lity,South Africa has the lowest vulnerability,Gambia,Mauritania and Sierra Leone have the highest vulnerability,and the vulnerability index is above 0.7.Atlantic coastal African marine fishery countries as well as Kenya,Mozambique and Tanzania have higher sensitivity and lower adaptability,while South Africa,Namibia,Algeria and Morocco have higher adaptability.Highly vulnerable countries usually have high sensitivity and low adaptability,with the highest correlation between vulnerability and sensitivity and the lowest correlation with exposure.(4)Illegal fishing,weak fishery management,destruction of fishery ecosystem as well as post-harvest loss and underutilization are the main problems in the development of African marine fisheries.Suggestions on Sustainable Utilization of African marine fishery resources:improving legal system,taking strict law enforcement actions to ensure transparency of management and decision-making;strengthening scientific research such as fishery resources accounting system,establishing fishery Reserves Assessment system,improving production efficiency of marine fisheries;introducing advanced aquaculture technology,developing aquaculture industry and reducing dependence on marine fisheries;strengthen fishery supervision and control capacity,establish modern fishery management mode based on ecosystem,enhance the ability to adapt to climate change,and attach importance to international cooperation in order to promote the sustainable development of marine fisheries.