Fisheries
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
State of the World's Fisheries and Aquaculture
Pacific Community
Fisheries in the Economies of Pacific Island Countries and Territories
(688 pages)
Fisheries is a critical sector for food security and economic growth in the Pacific region. Maintaining up-to-date information about the impact of fisheries is critical for Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) and their communities to make informed decisions about management of the sector, and for a range of development organisations, institutions and donors to plan and implement effective development assistance in collaboration with PICTs. However, finding accurate and up-to-date data on the value of fisheries and its numerous components to the economies of Pacific Island countries and territories is very difficult, and this makes the assessment of development and change very difficult to measure over time. To address this information deficit in the past, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), with the World Bank, the Australian Government, the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) undertook to embark on a series of studies of fisheries in the Pacific region: the 2001 report, The Contribution of Fisheries to the Economies of Pacific Island countries, and the 2009 report, Fisheries in the Economies of the Pacific Island Countries and Territories. These reports provided a snapshot on where each PICT was in their fisheries development, including an assessment of the contribution of fisheries to gross domestic product (GDP). The 2009 report stated: “The study was also intended to provide the basis for progressive refinement and development of a regular assessment of the region’s fisheries, which ideally would be done every 4–5 years.”
