Towards sustainable and efficient use of fishery resources: present and future trends

Present production of wild fish resources is around 85 million tonnes per year, and the maximum long-term potential of marine capture fisheries of some areas and fisheries has been reached. However, not all that is obtained from the sea is adequately used and three clearly differentiated factors can be taken into account to explain this fact: discards, wastage on board and byproducts and wastage ashore. Although some efforts have been made to change this situation, a more efficient and intelligent use is needed of the natural resources extracted from sea and wasted. In this article, the present utilization of discards and fishery wastage and also the future trends and the expected future of fishery industry are presented.