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"We've been anything but wise
in our modern use of coastal waters. In just a few
years we have managed to drive some fish species almost
to extinction and destroyed rich coastal habitats."
Anita Roddick, Body Shop Founder
A staggering one third of the world's protein comes
from fish. But 11 of the 15 world's major fishing
grounds are seriously depleted. With no slackening
in the pace at which the seas are being over-fished,
increasingly inland freshwater fisheries are taking
up the slack. But they depend on a reliable supply
of water. This HANDS ON programme, which has been
included in the TVE Changing Currents water series,
looks at measures underway to sustain the boom in
fish farming.
Green
Gold
St Lucia is known as the Helen of the West
Indies for its striking natural beauty. Tourists are
drawn here as much by underwater treasures as by its
tropical allure. But tourism only fuels the local economy
in small pockets of the island, and for the majority
of St Lucians, fishing still provides the mainstay of
their income.
This is where the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute
(CANARI) and the UK Department for International Development
(DFID) come in. They have set up a cost-effective
and community-driven programme to help St Lucians
get the best from their marine assets.
Industr-eel
Revolution
While coastal communities look for ways
to protect fish stocks, there are also new approaches
that don't only rely on the sea. Helsingborg, in southern
Sweden is an unlikely place to find an active fishing
industry. It's a landlocked industrial town and the
biggest employer is a chemical plant. But it's also
home to the latest developments in fish farming. This
is no ordinary fish farm because they rear an extraordinary
fish - the eel.
Fishy
Business
Iquitos, Peru. Hemmed in by jungle, this
frontier town lies at the centre of a waterway network
connected by the mighty Amazon. Fish is the staple food
and a big earner for the local economy. But population
growth has pushed up demand for fish resulting in a
decline in fish stocks, endangering species and creating
food shortages.
Seeing the need to revive fish stocks, the European
Union Food Security Programme funded an Italian Non-Governmental
Organisation, Terra Nuova, to create a city-wide network
of sustainable fish farms. Aqua-culture is ideal for
small-scale farmers because it fits perfectly with
other farming activities. Natural fertilisers are
added to ponds, encouraging vegetation for herbivorous
species of fish to feed on. Smaller fish are raised
on a special home made feed, and they are in turn,
eaten by the larger carnivorous species.
Breaking
the Bank
The Logone River flood plain, north Cameroon,
home to over one hundred thousand people, most of whom
depend on fish. In the late seventies, the government
built an irrigation system to boost rice production.
The Maga Dam irrigation scheme blocked off water supplies
to a labyrinthine system of waterways that criss-crossed
the flood plain. It was like turning off the tap to
thousands of people, fish and animals and deprived over
four hundred villages of their vital lifeline - the
waterways that provided fish, water and transport.
The situation worsened when the region was hit by
drought in the mid-1980s. Alarmed by the plight of
fishing communities, a group of Non-Governmental Organisations
including the Support Group for Conservation and Sustainable
Development Initiatives (CACID) teamed up with local
people to find a solution. Their combined efforts
earned them recognition from the Equator Initiative,
a new United Nations award scheme, for projects that
safeguard biodiversity. But even so, it was no quick
fix.
Hungary
for Fish
Szarvas lies in the Hungarian great plain,
a region with a long tradition of fresh water fisheries.
But here fish farmers are under pressure to boost productivity,
so they have teamed up with the researchers to raise
output, without damaging the natural environment.
The fish harvest in Szarvas is a seasonal ritual
which requires everyone to lend a hand. They struggle
to recover tonnes of carp, the local fish. But carp
need more oxygen than intensive fish farming can provide,
so to keep up with demand they've invited a new fish
to town - the African catfish.
High
Fly-er
London's Pall Mall, home to Sport Fish,
where fishing equipment from round the world is sold.
But among the high-tech offerings is a local product
- and it's completely home-made. There are countless
commercially-produced fishing flies available on the
market but for some, only the most finely crafted flies
will do. Enter Mandy. It's a far cry from the exclusive
Pall Mall boutiques but at her small flat in west London,
master fly tier Mandy Shelvey-Veness casts her fishy
spells.
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