WorldFish Center
2018AnnualReport
Transforming food systems through fish


Welcome message
WorldFish had a remarkable year in 2018 developing and scaling scientific innovations that support the sustainable transformation of food systems with fish for the benefit of people and the planet.
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In 2018, we made notable progress toward our ambition to position fish firmly at the heart of discourse, policy and practice currently shaping the global thinking on transforming food systems, paying closer attention to nutrition and healthier diets, and informing the path toward an inclusive and sustainable blue economy.Yvonne PintoBoard Chair
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The emerging blue economy provides new research, policy and investment opportunities to build a stronger case for fish and to promote evidence-based solutions that work for the health and wellbeing of people and the sustainability of our planet. WorldFish is uniquely positioned among the 15 CGIAR centers to link food systems in land and water through fish and build novel and disruptive public private partnerships.Gareth JohnstoneDirector General
Big splashes in 2018
- 124 Publications
- 65 Journal Articles
- 73% of peer-reviewed Articles Are Open Access
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3 Science papers with
Altmetric
Attention Score
- 626,240 downloads of Publications
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52 Countries
Included in Illuminating
Hidden Harvests Study
On the contribution
of small-scale fisheries
- USD 17.2 Million invested by our top 5 donors
- 179 Active partnerships with 86 new ones
- 27 New Projects

Highlights from 2018
Fish continues to rise on the global development agenda. During 2018, we made a strong case for the role of fish in healthier nutrient-rich diets, increased incomes and improved job and entrepreneurship opportunities, particularly for women and young people, as well as the conservation, protection and restoration of critical natural resources—both on land and below water—by generating and disseminating scientific evidence to shape action, policies and practices for the sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture.

WorldFish and the SDGs
WorldFish is part of the global effort to eradicate poverty, hunger and malnutrition and reverse environmental degradation, as well as many complex global challenges reflected in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ten of these SDGs are particularly pivotal to our work and mission. Hover over each SDG icon below to find out how we contribute to these goals.
From research to impact
Photo by Tessa Minter/WorldFish Reduced poverty through fish
Around 800 million people depend on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods. The very poor often rely on fishing as a primary source of income and are particularly vulnerable when fish stocks decline. We focus on mitigating risks to livelihoods and contributing to income generation and employment by supporting increased productivity from fisheries and aquaculture through innovative technologies and sustainable practices and reducing waste in fish value chains.
Photo by Finn Thilsted/WorldFish Nourishing nations with fish
Factors such as low incomes, insufficient fish supplies and inefficiencies in value chains constrain access by poor consumers to highly nutritious and affordable fish products. Postharvest losses are a particularly widespread challenge, as is a lack of information on good nutrition. We apply a food systems approach as well as social- and behavior-change communications, where appropriate, to help feed billions and nourish nations in the developing world.
Photo by Habibul Haque/WorldFish More sustainable fish agri-food systems
In the face of climate change and other threats, we recognize the need to restore degraded fish agri-food systems and manage them more sustainably. We use life-cycle assessment to quantify the environmental impacts of aquaculture production and identify solutions for the development of sustainable aquaculture systems. In small-scale fisheries, we work to integrate local-scale action research on tenure systems with analysis of broader institutions and policies for governance, contributing to equitable resource use and restoration of agroecosystems in both inland and coastal environments.
Crosscutting impacts
Photo by Fani Llauradó/WorldFish Informing action on climate change
Climate change impacts fisheries and aquaculture directly, by influencing production quantities and efficiency, or indirectly, by influencing the market price of fish or the costs of goods and services required by the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. Our research on climate change therefore seeks to provide new knowledge on mitigation and adaptation strategies to build resilience among poor fish-dependent populations across Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
Photo by Randall Brummett/WorldFish Empowered women and youth
Achieving impacts at the scale of our ambition can only happen by leveraging the dynamism of private enterprise and creating new jobs and better economic opportunities, particularly for women and youth. We work in fisheries and aquaculture value chains to tap the vast potential offered by fish processing and trade, the supply of inputs such as locally produced feed and seed for aquaculture, and the marketing and distribution of nutritious fish-based products for maternal and child health.
Photo by WorldFish Capacity building
Capacity development is a key enabler of impact and is needed to support movement from research outputs to research outcomes and ultimately to development outcomes. We work with stakeholders along our impact pathway to assess capacity needs and intervention strategies, taking into account national development priorities. These include the capacity of farmers to demand and adopt aquaculture technologies and apply improved practices, and of fishing communities to implement co-management; public sector capacity to design and implement policy and regulatory measures that affect the viability of scalable technologies; and the capacity of development agencies to integrate evidence-based solutions into their programming and investment priorities. The resulting interventions use innovative learning materials and approaches that are gender and youth sensitive, such as those employed at the WorldFish-run Africa Aquaculture Research and Training Center in Abbassa, Egypt.

Living our values
WorldFish is founded on the values of integrity and trust, fairness and equity, excellence and innovation, and teamwork and partnership. In 2018, we launched several initiatives that support our commitment to living our values across the organization.
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Integrity and Trust
We are honest, open and accountable with the resources invested in us, and we deliver on our commitments.
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Fairness and Equity
We respect and celebrate diversity and actively challenge social and gender inequities that impede progress toward our goals.
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Excellence and Innovation
We pursue high standards of scientific and professional rigor and embrace impartial evaluation, critical reflection, learning and adaptation.
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Teamwork and Partnership
We seek to leverage our complementary strengths within teams and across institutional boundaries to achieve the greatest impact.
Communicating science knowledge and evidence
A comprehensive communications and marketing strategy driven by a stronger focus on new and digital media is raising the profile of our research evidence.
- 626,240 downloads of WorldFish publications
- 667.5 million total media reach
- 264,761 visitors to the WorldFish website
- 265,881 views of our videos
- 746 stories about WorldFish and our work in the news
We believe that effective communication of our research and the scientific evidence we produce is critical for making a difference to the people whose livelihoods, in both the developing and developed world, depend on and are shaped by fish. Those who support our work understand through communication that our research is relevant because it helps shape solutions to many pressing development challenges. At the same time, effective communication enables others to translate our science into actions from discourse and advocacy to practice and policy.
Read more
Publications highlights
The following is a selection of key publications from 2018. Find all our publications and research outputs online.
Building adaptive capacity to climate change in tropical coastal communities
Nature Climate Change 8:117–123.To minimize the impacts of climate change on human well-being, governments, development agencies and civil society organizations have made substantial investments in improving people’s capacity to adapt. To date, these investments have tended to focus on a very narrow understanding of adaptive capacity. Here, the authors propose a new approach to build adaptive capacity across five domains.
Journal Impact Factor19.181Wealthy countries dominate industrial fishing
Science Advances 4(8):eaau2161.This article reports patterns of industrial fishing effort for vessels flagged to higher- and lower-income nations, using analyses of high-resolution fishing vessel activity data. Insights from these analyses can strategically inform important international- and national-level efforts to ensure equitable and sustainable sharing of fisheries.
Journal Impact Factor11.511Measuring the potential for sustainable intensification of aquaculture in Bangladesh using life-cycle assessment
PNAS 115(12):2958–2963.Life-cycle assessment is operationalized here as a tool to evaluate a range of environmental impacts resulting from the intensification of aquaculture production in Bangladesh and a subset of trade-offs among them. These findings are used to identify simple improvements in farm management practices that can make the intensification of aquaculture more sustainable and avoid some of the environmental pitfalls of agriculture and livestock production.
Journal Impact Factor9.504Mapping global human dependence on marine ecosystems
Conversation Letters 12(2):e12617.The authors created a new conceptual model to map the degree of human dependence on marine ecosystems based on the magnitude of the benefit, susceptibility of people to a loss of that benefit and the availability of alternatives. The model showed that more than 775 million people are highly dependent on marine fisheries, providing the basis for more targeted management and policy interventions for vulnerable small-scale fishing communities.
Journal Impact Factor7.279Tilapia lake virus: a threat to the global tilapia industry?
Reviews in Aquaculture 1–15.Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) is a recently described virus affecting wild and farmed tilapines. Currently, there are severe knowledge gaps relating to TiLV and no effective, affordable vaccines available. This paper summarizes the published scientific information on TiLV and highlights important issues relating to its diagnosis, mitigation and control measures.
Journal Impact Factor7.139

Our Partners
Our work is rooted in multidisciplinary science and food systems thinking. It is guided by national priorities and the capacity development needed to improve agricultural research and extension systems; it is enhanced by our unique ability to convene and broker novel partnerships with development actors and the private sector as a mechanism to take innovations through to impact at scale.
- Foundations and financial institutions6
- Governments10
- Multilateral2
- National agricultural research and extension systems or national agricultural research systems12
- Private sector32
- Others2
- 54Academic and research institutions
- 4Bilateral and donor governments
- 6Community-based organizations and farmer groups
- 7CGIAR
- 44Development organizations nongovernmental, networks and regional organizations

Our Investors
Our work is funded by an extensive network of investors committed to tackling specific challenges within the global 2030 sustainable development agenda. Thanks to their generous support, we are helping to eradicate poverty, hunger and malnutrition among the millions of people who depend on fish for food, nutrition and income in the developing world.
CGIAR Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research United States Agency for International Development Livelihoods and Food Security Fund Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation OAK Foundation Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft Save The Children Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Financial Overview
As of 31 Dec 2018 | As of 31 Dec 2017 | |
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Assets | ||
Cash and cash equivalents | 10,555 | 14,614 |
Account receivable | 6,100 | 4,026 |
Other current assets | 277 | 253 |
Capital assets | 516 | 605 |
Total assets | 17,448 | 19,498 |
Liabilities | ||
Accounts payable | 6,653 | 8,154 |
Accruals and provisions | 1,480 | 1,089 |
Other current liabilities | 57 | 45 |
Non-current liabilities | 430 | 473 |
Total Liabilities | 8,620 | 9,737 |
Net Assets | 8,828 | 9,737 |
Total Liabilities and Net Assets | 17,448 | 19,498 |
For the years ended December 31 | 2018 | 2017 |
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REVENUE | ||
Grants | 29,070 | 24,718 |
Other income | 223 | 997 |
Total revenue | 29,293 | 25,715 |
Expenses | ||
Research | 19,261 | 17,093 |
Administration, support and other | 10,941 | 8,647 |
Total Expenses | 30,202 | 25,740 |
Net Deficit | (909) | (25) |
WorldFish expenditure by region, 2018
- South Asia21%
- Southeast Asia55%
- Pacific6%
- Central and West Asia and North Africa6%
- Sub-Saharan Africa12%
WorldFish expenditure by cost category, 2018
- Personnel costs40%
- Collaborators costs21%
- Supplies and services33%
- Travel6%

Our Team
Board of Trustees
- Yvonne Pinto, Board Chair, Agricultural Learning and Impact Network (ALINe), United Kingdom
Africa
- Ayman Anwar Ammar, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research (CLAR), Egypt
- Baba Yusuf Abubakar, Board Vice-Chair, University of Abuja, Nigeria
- Abdou Tenkouano, West and Central Africa Council for Agriculture Research and Development (CORAF), Senegal
Asia-Pacific
- Tony Haymet, Chair of the Governance Committee, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Australia
- Hee Kong Yong, Chair of the Audit Committee, ASEAN Advisory, Malaysia
- YBhg. Dato’Haji Munir Haji Mohd Nawi, Department of Fisheries, Malaysia
Europe
- Anthony Long, Chair of the Governance Committee, Belgium (resigned 7 May 2018)
- Gareth Johnstone, ex-officio member, Director General, WorldFish
North America
- Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio, independent consultant, United States (joined 1 October 2018)
Executive Team
- Gareth Johnstone, Director General
- Michael Phillips, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems and Aquaculture and Fisheries Sciences
- Zarinah Davies, Director of Human Resources and Administration
- David Shearer ,Director of International Partnerships and Program Delivery
- Tana Lala-Pritchard, Director of Communications and Marketing
- Marc-Antoine Baïssas, Director of Finance and IT Systems (interim)
Global research leaders
- John Benzie, Sustainable Aquaculture Program Leader
- Philippa Cohen, Resilient Small-scale Fisheries Program Leader
- Shakuntala Thilsted, Value Chains and Nutrition Program Leader
- Cynthia McDougall, Gender Research Leader
- Cristiano Rossignoli, Monitoring and Evaluation Leader
Country directors
Africa
- Harrison Charo Karisa, Country Director, Egypt and Nigeria
- Sloans Chimatiro, Country Director, Zambia and Tanzania
Asia
- Malcolm Dickson, Country Director, Bangladesh
- Yumiko Kura, Country Director, Cambodia
- Michael Akester, Country Director, Myanmar
Pacific
- Delvene Boso, Country Director, Solomon Islands