Use of wild fish in aquaculture and its effects on income and food for the poor 401
communities adjacent to fishing centres and that the bycatch often contains such a high
percentage of juveniles that negative externalities are created, i.e. that other fisheries
suffer serious negative consequences. Governments are struggling to control bycatch
fisheries and may also want to promote food-use of sustainable bycatch.
What could and should governments do if they want to promote a modification in
the use of feedfish or a different usage of sustainable bycatch? A number of possible
actions come to mind. They are likely to be a combination of economic incentives/
disincentives and straight-out regulations. Before adopting any measure, governments
will want to (i) investigate the effectiveness of the proposed measure and (ii) make
certain that it is compatible with the economic policies that it applies nationally and
must adhere to internationally.
Entrepreneurs in the fisheries field very often trade their products in the international
market^51 , and they will not want to contravene international trade agreements. National
governments will not want to be seen as enacting economic policies towards the
fisheries and aquaculture sector that differ in their basic principles from those applied
to the economies generally.
6.1 Undesirable outcomes of economic growth
Today most countries organize their economies as market economies. However, the
“invisible hand” at work in market economies does not direct economic activities so
that the poor and food insecure automatically benefit. Neither, as has become painfully
obvious during the last decades, will the market economy ensure sustainable use of
land and water. In rural areas of straggling economies, the market may act so that the
poor and food insecure are disadvantaged, i.e. that their income and/or wealth shrinks
or their access to food is impaired in the short and/or long run. The fundamental
reason for this is that a market economy is organized (and supported by a legal regime)
to generate wealth in the economy, but does not automatically ensure that the wealth
is distributed in line with what might appear appropriate to many. A market economy
generates economic growth, not an equitable distribution of the resulting income or
wealth.
When the income of the poor falls or their access to food is curtailed, the reasons
are usually related to market swings and/or externalities. The problem is that in most
situations market forces will not automatically counteract externalities and market
swings. Those economic actors who benefit from market swings or externalities will
argue that the negative outcomes they cause are not very important; those who suffer
them will argue the contrary. Thus, it is up to those concerned to call the situation to
the attention of public authorities so that these can assess whether to intervene or not,
and subsequently take appropriate legal or regulatory actions.
Those who participate in debates about negative outcomes intend to persuade public
authorities that they need to intervene to nullify or defend, as the case may be, the
negative outcomes. In such discussions, the rural poor in struggling economies often
start with a handicap. They may be illiterate and they may be ignorant of their legal
rights.
6.1.1 Market swings
A market swing^52 is a situation that occurs when a commodity or service appears
or disappears in a market. When the swing peters out and trade stabilizes, a market
shift has occurred. Such changes can occur at different scales, at different speeds
and in regional, national or world markets. They can be seen as positive or negative.
(^51) FAO has estimated that in 2006, some 38 percent of all fish products (capture fisheries and aquaculture)
entered international trade in one form or another (S. Vanuccini, FAO, personal communication, 2009).
(^52) In the traditional macroeconomic literature, such changes in the market are often described as “shifts” in
the supply or demand curves.