understanding inland fisheries production using household consumption and expenditure surveys
TRANSCRIPT
Understanding inland fisheries production using household consumption and expenditure surveys
Simon Funge-SmithSecretary, Asia-Pacific fishery Commission (APFIC)FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
We know inland fisheries are important in some Asian countries
• Inland fisheries a source of food and food security throughout the Asian region– 9 Asian countries in top 16 inland
fisheries producers– 11 Asian countries produce 65.5 % of
reported global inland fisheries production
• Often overlooked– national statistics – considerations of food security
• Inland fisheries are a vital part of some rural people's livelihoods– a major nutritional role– especially for vulnerable populations
Roadside sale of dried fishLao PDR
Inland statistics and valuations are weak
• Monitoring of inland fisheries remains rather poor
• Many countries reports are estimates, not based on actual measures of production– unreliable statistics– reduces confidence in the data – prevents effective analysis at the sub-national
level
• Often an assumption that production is homogeneous
• Actually highly variable sub-nationally– downscaling important for assessing
importance, role and vulnerabilities – as well as potential impacts
• Leads to mis-directed or uninformed policy
Fermented fish “ngapi”Myanmar
Household consumption and expenditure surveys
• Consumption of fish can be picked up by national household surveys– statistically significant – conducted regularly – high level of statistical accuracy
• Can be “triangulated” with other data– production/trade stats– population census– agricultural census Tonle Sap
flooded villageCambodia
Surveys provide idea of sub-national variability
• Provide detail on consumption patterns and habits – detail on commodities and food types
consumed and purchased– contribution of fish to total protein
consumption
• Downscaled information by– district/province/region– urban rural– by income bands
• Can inform fisheries and natural resource policies – that impact vulnerable segments of the
population– fishery dependent areas
Water snail dredgingTonle Sap, Cambodia
1950 1970 1990 20100
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
Example - validating inland production in Myanmar
• Large annual increases in reported inland capture production – 389 percent over a decade– “recognition of historic under-
estimation”– no statistical basis for annual increases?– no natural inter-annual variation
• Potential to validate with household consumption survey?– 75% of fish from inland or estuarine
waters – majority from capture fisheries. – inland capture fisheries ~750,000 tonnes
• Reported production over-estimated?– household consumption surveys often
under-estimate consumption….
• But..unlikley to be 50% off?
750,000 tonnes
Example - Cambodia
• Massive inland fisheries• Huge increases in late 1990’s
– Inclusion of “previously unreported small scale fisheries”
• Reported inland production ~450,000 tonnes
• Consumption surveys help validate massively increased production estimate…– total national fish consumption
~890,344 tonnes– 71% of fish from inland– Inland ~630,000 tonnes
• So current reports may still be under-estimates!
1975 1985 1995 2005 20150
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
400,000
450,000
500,000
Lao PDR - fishery or aquaculture?• Statistics reported to FAO indicate
– aquaculture provides 75% of fish– inland capture fishery only 25% of fish
• Household consumption survey indicates source of fish, locations– Aquaculture only 22%– inland fisheries 88 %
• Fisheries probably grossly under reported and undervalued– dependency varies within country– implications for water policy
• Consumption figures already exceed national reported production
India - inland fishery production estimates periodically reset?
• 13 cases of inter-annual variations >20%– Sometimes as much as 40%
• Not really explained by drought/flood years?• “Resetting” by national statistical reporters?• Surveys may help validate production totals
– Reduce fluctuations
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
-40%
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Consumption surveys have limitations
• Can be frustrating– Generally under-estimation?
• Recall is vulnerable to biases• Distinguishing source of fish difficult
– Can be guessed or estimated by product form or species
• Seasonal data may not capture highs and lows– surveys conducted in dry season for easy access,
may miss monsoon peak production period
• May need some interpretation to account for conversions– under- over- estimation errors – e.g. adjust for fresh weights of reported dried
and processed foods
Fish trapsMekong river, Lao PDR
Improving the value of surveys
• Getting the sampling and questions right – yields valuable additional information
on sources of products– e.g. aquaculture, inland fishery,
marine fishery– rule out seasonality
• May support indicative of proxy estimates of inland fishery production– Important where inland fishery
production statistics are estimated with little or no basis
Mixed wild & stocked fish Aquaculture
Summary• Inland statistics are weak
– substantial heterogeneity in national production– lack of understanding gives misleading policy
• Household consumption and expenditure surveys – can give excellent idea of sub-national
consumption of fish– can validate erroneous production estimates– can support indicative of proxy estimates of inland
fishery production
• Important where inland fishery production statistics are estimated with little or no basis
• They do have weaknesses– may be less good for splitting fishery/aquaculture– need to account for wet weight conversions
• Getting the questions right reduces errors and gives information on sources of production