Rampant overfishing, illegal trawling affect 357m people

According to IRIN, the latest report on fisheries and aquaculture by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns that Illegal and unregulated fishing is rampant worldwide, particularly off the coasts of West Africa and the Horn of Africa, and accounts for between US$10 billion and $23 billion of direct losses globally every year.

According to FAO, the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2012 (SOFIA) says small-scale fisheries directly affect the lives of about 357 million people. More than 90 percent of the world's fishermen play a huge role in improving food security and alleviating poverty, particularly in developing countries.

Michele Kuruc, a fisheries expert at FAO, told IRIN that Illegal fishing has negative biological, environmental, economic and social impacts. "Much of the world's fish are harvested from developing countries," he said. The SOFIA report concludes that effective management plans "must be put in place to rebuild overexploited stocks," IRIN reports.

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