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.
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
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
52 CountriesIncluded in IlluminatingHidden Harvests StudyOn the contribution of small-scale fisheries
USD 17.2 Millioninvested by ourtop 5 donors
179Active partnerships with86 new ones
27New Projects
3
Countries withFish GeneticsResearch Platforms in operation
Photo by Filip Milovac/WorldFish
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 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.
Globally, approximately 800 million people depend on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods. WorldFish works to create opportunities in sustainable and productive fisheries and aquaculture to help lift out of poverty people who rely on fish for their income, livelihoods and well-being.
Fish offers untapped potential to meet increasing demand for safe, nutritious food by a growing population. By developing fisheries and aquaculture in an environmentally and socially responsible way, WorldFish seeks to improve the availability of and access to diverse, nutrient-rich diets incorporating fish.
Fish, particularly small fish, are rich in micronutrients like vitamin A, iron, calcium, zinc and essential fatty acids. WorldFish strives to make quality fish available and affordable to the poor in developing countries, particularly women and children in the first 1000 days. Our research informs strategies for combating under- and malnutrition and for preventing public health issues, such as stunting and other non-communicable diseases related to poor diets and nutritional deficiencies.
Rural women play a vital role in fisheries and aquaculture as fishers, farmers, processors and traders. However, they often have unequal access to the resources and services they need to be successful. WorldFish works to address gender inequalities and their underlying factors in order to improve the fish-based livelihoods of women, who in turn amplify the benefits of these livelihoods for their children, families and communities.
WorldFish research shows that adopting new technologies alone is not enough to improve productivity. Using natural resources efficiently, pursuing innovation and having access to knowledge, networks or credit to invest in business and other entrepreneurial activities, especially for poor women and youth, are also vital and central to our contribution to this SDG, particularly in Small Island Developing States.
WorldFish works closely with national actors to enhance local capacities for scientific research and technological innovation in fisheries and aquaculture. We also support the integration of small-scale fish producers and enterprises into national, regional and global value chains and markets.
In the face of a growing world population and the impacts of climate change, there is an increasing imperative to do more and better with less. WorldFish works to achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources and to reduce waste and loss along fish value chains.
Overfishing, ineffective management practices, industrial development, agricultural pollution and the impacts of climate change have reduced fish stocks. WorldFish conducts cutting-edge genetics research on improved and resilient fish species and promotes a sustainable approach to fisheries and aquaculture to ensure that enough nutritious fish are available for future generations.
Ensuring that all users benefit equitably from marine and aquatic resources requires new thinking, new information and greater collaboration between less traditional partners. Among the 15 members of the CGIAR, WorldFish is uniquely positioned to contribute to this SDG. We focus on generating evidence-based solutions that inform policies and practices relating to sustainable ocean governance and the development of an inclusive and people-centered blue economy, with special attention for the value and contribution of small-scale fisheries.
Many land-based activities, such as pollution, plastics, deforestation and livestock waste, are affecting, altering or destroying oceans, lakes and other inland aquatic ecosystems and habitats. Preserving life below water (SDG 14) also requires the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices on land. WorldFish research is informing interventions to reduce waste and loss in fish handling and processing, to conserve and restore degraded ecosystems in inland and coastal environments and to develop gender-responsive practices and technologies for innovative small-scale aquaculture systems with low environmental impact.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Integrity and Trust
We are honest, open and accountable with the resources invested in us, and we deliver on our commitments.
Fairness and Equity
We respect and celebrate diversity and actively challenge social and gender inequities that impede progress toward our goals.
Excellence and Innovation
We pursue high standards of scientific and professional rigor and embrace impartial evaluation, critical reflection, learning and adaptation.
Teamwork and Partnership
We seek to leverage our complementary strengths within teams and across institutional boundaries to achieve the greatest impact.
Saying no to single-use plastics
We successfully ran an internal campaign to raise awareness about the impact of single-use plastics and eliminate them in the office.
Gender equality in the workplace
We increased the number of women in science to just under 40 percent and in management to 60 percent.
Innovation and learning lab
A data-driven methodology is addressing challenges in project start-up and delivery, with notable improvements reported.
Building science capacity and quality
Science capacity was a priority in 2018, with a target of increasing science staff by 20 percent.
Monitoring and evaluation
The adoption of a monitoring, evaluation and learning platform is improving our overall research management capacities.
Fish for thought
Our revamped Fish for Thought events are facilitating knowledge sharing and learning across science disciplines and geographies.
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
2.5 million people reached on social media
44.5% new followers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
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.
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.
Cinner JE, Adger WN, Allison EH, Barnes ML, Brown K, Cohen PJ, Gelcich S, Hicks CC, Hughes TP, Lau J et al. 2018.
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.
McCauley DJ, Jablonicky C, Allison EH, Golden CD, Joyce FH, Mayorga, J and Kroodsma D. 2018.
Measuring 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.
Mapping 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.
Selig ER, Hole DG, Allison EH, Arkema KK, McKinnon MC, Chu J, de Sherbinin A, Fisher B, Glew L, Holland MB et al. 2018.
Tilapia 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.
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
179active partnerships
54Academic and research institutions
4Bilateral and donor governments
6Community-based organizations and farmer groups
7CGIAR
44Development organizations nongovernmental, networks and regional organizations
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
