WorldFish and partners develop science-based services and solutions (e.g. knowledge, expertise, methods, tools, technologies) in the areas of aquaculture and fisheries management that are used to reduce poverty, hunger and environmental degradation across Africa, Asia and the South Pacific.
Our impact assessment studies conclude that investing US$100 in WorldFish yields benefits to society of $134 per year (30-year time frame of analysis). This is a remarkably high rate of return on investment.
Three areas of work have generated particularly large impact, so impressive that the CGIAR Science Council commissioned special studies to further highlight these outcomes:
The breeding of much higher-yielding tilapia fish varieties, widely used in aquaculture across Asia, greatly raising productivity and incomes: $170 returned for each $100 invested per annum.
Integrated aquaculture-agriculture in Malawi that has sharply increased incomes and reduced childhood malnutrition, and helping HIV/AIDS-affected families cope; $115 returned for each $100 invested per annum.
Fisheries co-management in Bangladesh, which is increasing biodiversity, raising incomes by 100% and fish catches by 30%, particularly by empowering women. The Science Council commended co-management as an “eminently replicable model for contemporary rural development.”
As a sample of our major achievements, with our partners we have:
Raised regional and global awareness of the major challenges and opportunities facing fisheries through high-level “Fish for All” dialogues, conferences and campaigns. Together with our sister center IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) we carried out a major future-modeling study (Fish to 2020) that provides policymakers and researchers with a global overview of likely directions for the global fisheries sector.A follow-on regional study in nine countries, called AsiaFish, provides a framework for the development of sustainable and economically-effective fisheries management policies and strategies for the coming decade, while a “Fish for All?conference in Africa has put fish center stage on that continent’s development agenda through a NEPAD Action Plan.
Pioneered the breeding of more productive and profitable strains of tropical food fish. For example, a superior strain of Nile tilapia we developed with partners yields 50% more fish per harvest while growing 75% faster, enabling three harvests per year, and fish reaching the market with a 25% lower production cost. Improved tilapia strains are now farmed in 13 Asian countries and accounted for up to 68% of the total tilapia seed produced in 2003 in the Philippines, and 48% in Thailand. The GIFT breeding approach is now being implemented in Africa for tilapia, carp and African catfish.
Demonstrated to millions of impoverished rural dwellers in Asia and Africa, the benefits of integrating aquaculture with agriculture (IAA) ?growing valuable fish by feeding them with crop residues, tree leaves, household food wastes and other scrap materials while recycled pond sediments enrich their croplands. In Bangladesh, for example, nearly 150,000 poor and landless have converted at least a million ponds, ditches, seasonally-flooded fields, and other bodies of water into productive “fish factories? doubling their average fish yields and tripling fish production from 1990 to 2000.
Among participating farmers in Malawi, aquaculture production increased by an average 22% per year from 1996 to 2001, and total farm income rose by 28%. By increasing nutrient recycling and water availability, IAA increased total farm productivity by 18% relative to terrestrial cropping. More recently, using GIS and biophysical and socioeconomic analysis, we’ve identified areas most suitable for small-scale pond aquaculture.
Provided families coping with HIV/AIDS, and the caretakers of the ill, with doubled or more domestic incomes through low-labor fish farming technologies. According to the World Food Programme, persons with disease need up to 50% more protein and 15% more calories than healthy people. We introduced aquaculture to 1,200 affected families in Malawi, and the results were tremendous: their incomes doubled and their intake of fish increased by 150%, providing them with much-needed protein, calcium, vitamin A and micronutrients. Research by the World Health Organization has shown that good nourishment can prolong the life of HIV/AIDS patients by up to 8 years. Malnutrition among children in Malawi under five dropped from 45% to 15%, and cash income was generated that could be used to purchase anti-retroviral drugs. The project is expanding into Mozambique and Zambia, aiming to benefit 134,000 people.
Helped countries cope with climate change, disasters (e.g. the Asian tsunami) and conflicts by restoring fisheries health, introducing new fisheries-based livelihoods, and devising ways to reduce fisheries over-capacity to reduce ecological damage and the potential for conflict over fisheries. Based on post-tsunami research, WorldFish and a coalition of partners developed a “Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods Framework?to guide integrated, multi-sectoral rehabilitation.
Developed higher-value, alternative livelihoods that are more sustainable in coastal and island areas suffering from overfishing, such as the culture of food and ornamental species (sea cucumber, clam, pearl, spiny lobster, coral, sponges). In the Solomon Islands, the establishment of just one major pearl farm is expected to provide annual incomes of US$2,000 for at least 100 households. A commercially valuable sea cucumber species fetches close to US$75 per kilogram; with new pro-poor rearing technology, thousands have been re-seeded. Fiji is establishing six pearl farms and seeding more than 10,000 oysters.
Empowered poor communities to co-manage their fisheries with government agencies, particularly in Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Cameroon. Since September 2001, through co-management progress, fishers in Bangladesh have gained access to more than 115 water bodies covering 16,485 hectares in the monsoon season. Over 180 community-based fisheries management organizations have been established. New fish sanctuaries have been established in 81 project water bodies, increasing fish biodiversity by as much as 30%. Restocking of water bodies has increased production by 70-200%. Decentralized seed distribution has provided employment for 10,000 marginal and poor farming households and produced some 25 million large fingerlings of common carp and improved tilapia.
Provided improved systems for the planning and management of major river basins through integrated hydro-ecosystem planning tools, methods and models such as the AsiaFish and Bayfish models. The Mekong River is a prime example; it is experiencing intensified competition over water flows, in particular from hydropower and irrigation schemes that place aquatic ecosystems at great risk. The WorldFish models help determine the consequences of altered water flows from structures proposed to be built in these basins, alerting nations to risks before major investments are committed.
Developed authoritative, widely-consulted global databases on fish species and sensitive coastal ecosystems. FishBase describes 30,000 species and receives 30 million website hits per month; ReefBase holds vital information on 10,000 highly vulnerable reef ecosystems in 40 countries including maps, risk assessment indicators and global reef-monitoring activities. More than half of the world’s coral reefs, often called “rainforests of the sea? are at risk from the effects of disease, pollution, over-harvesting of fish and other organisms, natural disasters, and global warming.
Two-thirds of all reefs are in developing countries, including one-third in Southeast Asia, where 90% of them are heavily damaged or endangered. People in this region depend on fish and other reef-based organisms for a quarter of their total food supply and up to 60% of their protein. An estimated 500 million people in the tropics worldwide depend heavily on reefs for food, livelihoods, coastal protection, and other basic needs. The total goods and services that coral reefs provide around the world have been valued at US$375 billion per year.
Strengthened national capacities for fisheries management by building knowledge networks such as the International Network on Genetics in Aquaculture (INGA); helping Cambodia build its Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute (IFReDI) from the ground up by providing knowledge and skills in institutional management, scientific research, technology transfer, and policy development; and participating in partnerships. In the course of our many projects, we’ve trained thousands of research and development practitioners from Asia and Africa.
