YEAR IN REVIEW 1996: AGRICULTURE

FISHERIES World fish catches reached record levels in 1993, with over 100 million mt (metric tons) produced by fisheries and aquaculture. The new record total of 101,417,500 mt was up from 98,785,200 mt the year before and was over a million tons more than the previous record, which was set in 1989. The figures reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization showed that although most of the rise over 1992 was due to continuing increases in production from aquaculture, the country figures showed that results in many fisheries were consistent, with improvements showing on some of them. With more than 17% of world production--17,567,907 mt--China again topped the table. Sea fisheries produced over 10 million mt, but increased aquaculture accounted for most of the country's staggering 2.5 million-mt jump over the previous year. Emerging pelagic giant Peru knocked Japan from the number two spot with an 8,450,000-mt catch. Japan recorded 8.1 million mt to continue its steady decline since 1988, when it caught 12 million mt. Chilean catches also decreased in the face of stiff competition from Peru. One-time leading fisheries nation Russia fell to sixth place with 4,460,000 mt. U.S. catches continued to increase steadily and in 1993 were at 5.9 million mt, a rise from 5.6 million mt in 1992. That was enough to knock Russia, which had been in decline since the demise of the communist system, out of fifth place. The decay of the Russian fleet had left hundreds of thousands of tons of catching capacity rusting away in harbours around the world with insufficient funds to operate. A massive doubling in anchoveta catches to 8.3 million mt since 1991 accounted for Peru's climb in the ranks. Anchoveta was the most-caught species in the world for the second consecutive year, followed by Alaskan pollock, which totaled 4.6 million mt in 1993. (See Table I.) Aquaculture rose dramatically over 1992 production, and wild fish catches may actually have dropped. Silver carp and grass carp were the main aquaculture species, accounting for 1.9 million and 1.5 million mt, respectively. Seaweed production, which was not included in the total, had increased by one million metric tons to 7.2 million. China again dominated, producing 4.5 million mt. Despite the international community's efforts over the past 10 years, there was little improvement in the conservation and management of the world's fisheries. The political dimension of fisheries conservation and management had been seriously underestimated. In an effort to deal with certain major issues facing the industry, in 1993 the United Nations set up the UN Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks to identify, assess, and find solutions to the long-standing problems of high-seas fisheries. Conferees met six times at UN headquarters in New York City before August 1995 brought the much-anticipated culmination: the approval of a 48-article draft agreement relating to the conservation of depleted fish stocks and the management of high-seas fisheries. The agreement was built on three essential pillars: Principles for conservation and management should be based on a precautionary approach and the best scientific information available. In other words, states were obliged to act conservatively when there was doubt about the vulnerability of stocks. Conservation measures must not be undermined by those who fished for vulnerable stocks. Disputes should be settled peacefully. It was this last area, fishing disputes, that often made the international news in early 1995. In March the international press had a field day when Canadian government vessels and Spanish trawlers were involved in a row that threatened to boil over into a dramatic showdown over the straddling fishery for groundfish, such as cod, American flounder, and Greenland halibut, on the Grand Banks off Canada. The roots of the problem went back to the reemergence of Spain in waters off Newfoundland in the late 1980s. The stocks of cod and other groundfish collapsed, which led to a moratorium inside Canada's 200-mi exclusive economic zone in 1992 and to the loss of 50,000 fishing and onshore jobs. This placed a fresh emphasis on conserving straddling stocks, which migrate between the Canadian zone and international waters. During 1994 Canada had extended laws that allowed the high-seas arrest of vessels that bore state flags and were suspected of breaking conservation rules to cover the Spanish and Portuguese fleets, which accounted for most of the European Union's (EU's) presence in the northwestern Atlantic. Ultimatums followed stating that ships in international waters could be arrested, and in March 1995 the Spanish vessel Estai was boarded, arrested, and escorted into St. John's harbour before a cheering crowd of thousands. The EU branded the Canadian action an act of "high seas piracy." This game of brinkmanship led to feverish activity between the two parties involved and finally resulted in a compromise. The two countries agreed to the reallocation of their catch quotas on groundfish species. Canada also agreed to repeal the law allowing authorities to board and arrest Spanish and Portuguese vessels and to drop all charges against the Estai. (MARTIN J. GILL) This updates the article commercial fishing. FOOD PROCESSING In 1995, as people in Western nations came to realize that "there are no unhealthful foods, only unhealthful diets," sales of low-fat and diet foods declined slightly, and a shift toward traditional full-flavoured products was noted, as was the growing tendency of people to consume more fatty foods. Sales of butter and butter-based products increased. In Japan "functional foods"--containing ingredients claimed to promote health--gained ground. That market, worth an annual $7 billion, was aided by advertising laws that were less stringent than those in most other countries and that permitted unsubstantiated health claims to be made. Meat consumption was rising by 3% annually in less developed countries, contrasting with a 1% fall in developed countries, where there was an increase in vegetarianism. It was believed that nearly half of all consumers in the West did not bother to read nutritional information on labels and that between half and three-quarters neither read nor followed manufacturers' cooking instructions. Young people showed the greatest ignorance. Significantly, this group suffered most from food poisoning, the worldwide incidence of which continued to grow. In the U.K. 7.5% of people said they had suffered from food poisoning, up one-third from the previous year; working days lost as a result could have cost the British economy alone some $1 billion. A spate of food-poisoning outbreaks across the U.S. left many Americans worried about food safety. This benefited sales of kosher foods, which increased 12% in a year marked by an overall static food market. Over 26,000 products in the U.S. carried the kosher designation, including mainstream products such as Coca-Cola, Tropicana orange juice, and many canned fruits and vegetables. It was estimated that up to 70% of those buying kosher foods were not Jewish.