Secondly, various management measures can be employed. Thirdly, by-catches can be better utilized for commercial purposes. While total elimination of unwanted by-catch and the subsequent discards is an unrealistic goal, the use of discards as a potential source of food will continue to have a role to play in elimination of wastage. Recent trends however seem to indicate that, driven by increased human population, shortage of fish supplies from conventional sources and, notably, the growth of aquaculture, more previously discarded bycatch is now being used either directly as human food or in aquaculture or animal feed industries. Madam Chairperson, The third area of issues I mentioned at the outset is coastal aquaculture .
Aquaculture is the world s fastest growing food production system.
In 1996, over a quarter of the world s food fish supply was derived from aquaculture. The majority of farmed finfish is produced in freshwater culture systems. Opportunities for expansion of coastal aquaculture practices exist in many locations. Deteriorating water quality resulting from aquatic pollution by non-aquaculture activities has adverse effects on coastal aquaculture. Pollution is reducing the availability of sites for aquaculture developments in coastal areas.