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MArINE sysTEMs
THE GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY CRISIS AND RELATED POLICY CHALLENGE
oceans account for 90% of the habitable volume for
life on earth and contain 90% of Earth’s biomass
(rogers 2009). recent statistics (fAo 2009a) demonstrate
their importance as a provider of food and other
goods:
• in 2006, global capture fisheries represented 92
million tonnes of fish, of which nearly 90% was
from the marine environment;
• since industrial fishing began, the total mass of
commercially exploited marine species has been
reduced by 90% in much of the world;
• 52% of marine fisheries are fully exploited (at or
near maximum sustainable yields), 17% over exploited,
7% depleted and 1% recovering; 18% are
moderately exploited, with only 2% ‘underexploited’
(see figure 1.4).
Lowered biomass and habitat fragmentation resulting
from fisheries impacts have led to local extinctions,
especially among large, long-lived, slow-growing species
with narrow geographical ranges (Pauly et al.
2005). yields from global marine capture fisheries are
lower than maximum potential owing to excess fishing
Figure 1.3: Map of Coral Reefs
pressure in the past, with no possibilities in the short
or medium term of further expansion and with an
increased risk of further declines and a need for
rebuilding (fAo 2009a).
Improved governance could greatly increase economic
benefit from existing fisheries. The difference
between the potential and actual net economic
benefits from marine fisheries is in the order of
$50 billion/year in an industry with an annual landed
catch value of $86 billion. The cumulative economic
loss to the global economy over the last three decades
is estimated to be in the order of Us$2 trillion (fAo
2009a). There is also enormous waste: by-catch
(unused catch) amounts to 38 million tonnes/year or
40% of total catch (Davies et al 2009).
TEEB for NATIoNAL AND INTErNATIoNAL PoLIcy MAKErs - chAPTEr 1: PAGE 11
Source: Nellemann et al 2008: 22