Managing Fisheries for Food Security: Implications from Demand Analysis

The rapid rise of aquaculture and concurrent stagnation or decline in capture fisheries output are widely recognised global phenomena, but the food and nutrition security implications of these trends remain the subject of considerable uncertainty. The paper uses the latest (2010) nationally representative household income expenditure data from Bangladesh to estimate elasticities of demand for fish by using the QUAIDS model. It estimates elasticities of demand for fish, categorized by their origin (inland capture fisheries, marine capture fisheries, aquaculture), for poor and non-poor households in Bangladesh and analyse implications for food security and fisheries management. The paper finds that demand for fish from all sources and by all poverty groups will increase with income. Elasticities of demand for aquaculture and inland capture fish are found to be higher for poor households than non-poor. The case of Bangladesh presented in this paper adds to knowledge on how these trends may affect food security in developing countries, with associated implications for fisheries resource management strategies.  Technological progress has driven reductions in the real price of farmed fish. Effective management of all sources of fish is important for food security, but increasing supply from aquaculture and inland capture fisheries will have the largest impact on food security.

Study Team: Dr. Kazi Ali Toufique, Sami Farook, Dr. Benjamin Belton