Marine Affairs Program, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada.
Ocean Wise, Vancouver, British Columbia V6G 3E2, Canada.
Sci Adv. 2018 Aug 8;4(8):eaat8351. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aat8351. eCollection 2018 Aug.
Recent international negotiations have highlighted the need to protect marine diversity on the high seas-the ocean area beyond national jurisdiction. However, restricting fishing access on the high seas raises many concerns, including how such restrictions would affect food security. We analyze high seas catches and trade data to determine the contribution of the high seas catch to global seafood production, the main species caught on the high seas, and the primary markets where these species are sold. By volume, the total catch from the high seas accounts for 4.2% of annual marine capture fisheries production and 2.4% of total seafood production, including freshwater fisheries and aquaculture. Thirty-nine fish and invertebrate species account for 99.5% of the high seas targeted catch, but only one species, Antarctic toothfish, is caught exclusively on the high seas. The remaining catch, which is caught both on the high seas and in national jurisdictions, is made up primarily of tunas, billfishes, small pelagic fishes, pelagic squids, toothfish, and krill. Most high seas species are destined for upscale food and supplement markets in developed, food-secure countries, such as Japan, the European Union, and the United States, suggesting that, in aggregate, high seas fisheries play a negligible role in ensuring global food security.
最近的国际谈判强调了保护公海海洋生物多样性的必要性——即国家管辖范围以外的海域。然而，限制公海捕鱼会引起许多关注，包括这些限制将如何影响粮食安全。我们分析了公海捕捞和贸易数据，以确定公海捕捞对全球海鲜生产的贡献、公海捕捞的主要物种以及这些物种的主要销售市场。就数量而言，公海总捕捞量占年度海洋捕捞渔业产量的 4.2%，占海鲜总产量的 2.4%，包括淡水渔业和水产养殖。39 种鱼类和无脊椎动物占公海目标捕捞量的 99.5%，但只有一种南极齿鱼是专门在公海捕捞的。其余的捕捞量，即在公海和国家管辖范围内捕捞的，主要由金枪鱼、箭鱼、小型中上层鱼类、中上层鱿鱼、齿鱼和磷虾组成。大多数公海物种都被运往日本、欧盟和美国等发达、粮食有保障的国家的高档食品和补品市场，这表明，总体而言，公海渔业在确保全球粮食安全方面的作用微乎其微。
