UN stresses need for food security

New York, 10 Jul - (ANA) - The United Nations food agency has urged countries to effectively manage their fisheries and aquaculture sectors to help ensure the food security for millions of people, warning that failing to do so would have serious environmental, economic and social consequences.

 “Fisheries and aquaculture are making a vital contribution to global food security and economic growth,” the head of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Árni M. Mathiesen, said in a news release. “However, the sector faces an array of problems, including poor governance, weak fisheries management regimes, conflicts over the use of natural resources, the persistent use of poor fishery and aquaculture practices. “It is further undermined by a failure to incorporate the priorities and rights of small-scale fishing communities and the injustices relating to gender discrimination and child labour,” Mr. Mathiesen added. (ANA)

FA/ANA/10 July 2012--------------