Over the last two decades, the fishing sector of many countries underwent significant changes, mainly as a result of the reduction of seafood resources due to an increasing fishing activity and, also, to the difficulties in accessing fishing grounds outside the countries' Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). About 30 % of the presently captured species are overexploited and, furthermore, 44 % are very near its exploitation limit. Such problem has led the various international organizations to propose management measures capable of ensuring a responsible fishing; however, this fact did not produce as yet any positive effects in the fishing resources situation.

Regarding seafood production in the whole world, it is important to mention that, over the last years, an increase was observed due to the development of the aquaculture sector, which contributed with 28 % of the total catches in 2002 (Table I).

An analysis of fish utilisation shows that 71% are used for human consumption while most remaining seafood is processed into meal and oil for feeds (Fig. 2). In the last few years, 60 % of the world seafood production have been subjected to some degree of processing and, concerning seafood for human utilisation, 54 % have been consumed fresh, 25.6 % frozen, 11 % canned or semi-preserved and 9.4 % dried, salted or smoked. Europe is the largest importer of seafood and some countries in Africa and Asia are its main suppliers as it is shown in figure 3.

Fig. 2. Evolution of seafood utilisation worldwide (adapted from http://www.fao.org/).

Fig. 3. European imports of seafood (adapted from http://www.fao.org/).

Table 1. Total fisheries production.

* Estimate based on data published by FAO (2004).

In Portugal, seafood was always an important part of the national gastronomy, being used not only in the confectionery of a large number of traditional dishes but also in the preparation of a substantial portion of everyday meals, being its per capita consumption (about 60 kg/person.year) the highest among the EU countries.

The Portuguese seafood production grew at a constant rate until 1992, however, from this year on a decrease on catches was observed, due to the implementation of technical measures aiming to protect the stocks of several species, such as fleet reduction and also to the end or decrease of activity in some international fishing grounds. The overall business value remained relatively stable, in spite of the observed fall in the quantity of unloaded seafood, thanks to the average prices rised. Moreover, as seafood production in Portuguese fishing grounds is smaller than demand, the alternative has been fishing in foreign waters and imports.

The fishing fleet's activity encompasses three segments - purse seiner, trawler and polyvalent -, being the largest amount of catches (about 55 %) due to purse seining, followed, in order of importance, by polyvalent and trawler fishing.

In order to satisfy growing seafood demand, imports have been increasing at a similar pace. On the other hand, the exports of raw and processed seafood products have been irregular.

In 2003, 152 000 tons of fresh or iced seafood were unloaded at the national ports, being sardine (64 016 tons), Atlantic horse mackerel (11 147 tons) and octopus (9 716 tons) the most important species.

The aquaculture production was about 9 000 tons in 2002, where clam, gilthead sea bream, trout and sea bass must be outlined since they represent 94.5 % of the production.

Most Portuguese consumers prefer fresh seafood, however, the scarcity of some species traditionally marketed fresh, the present lifestyle and the global circulation of frozen food products promoted an increase in the demand of frozen seafood. The consumption of dry salted cod, called as the “fiel amigo” (faithful friend), is still very important, although it has declined over the last years due to several reasons, namely, price.

If you want to know more, see:

FAO, 2000. The state of world fisheries and aquaculture http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/X8002E/X8002E00.htm).

FAO, 2002. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, . http://www.fao.org/ documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/005/y7300e/y7300e02.htm

FAO, 2004. FAOSTAT data ( http://faostat.fao.org.faostat/notes/citation.htm)

INE, 2004. Estatísticas da Pesca 2003. Instituto Nacional de Estatística, Lisboa.