Aquatic Genetic Resources
Aquatic genetic resources include all genetic resources living in water. By that we understand fish, cyclostomes, mussels, decapods, marine mammals, aquatic plants and all other waterdwelling organisms that populate marine, coastal or inland waters, or are kept in aquaculture.
- Haul from the North Sea
© BLE
Sea-water and freshwater fish, but also crustaceans, mussels and other seafood belong to the most important sources of protein for human consumption worldwide. As the basis of the fishing industry, they play, at the same time, a major role in socioeconomic terms. Particularly in developing countries local fishing and the related branches of production guarantee the income of a large part of coastal communities.
German sea fisheries (coastal and deep-sea fisheries), which is embedded in the common fisheries policy of the EU, holds about 8.5 % (2006) of the catch quota of species subject to quota within the EU.
Freshwater fishing uses both wild stocks of lakes, reservoirs and rivers, and stocks in aquaculture that are, more or less, affected by breeding. Aquacultures play an increasingly important role both in inland waters and the coastal environment of the seas.
While professional freshwater fishing without aquacultures has sharply decreased in Germany during the last century, angling, with currently more than 1.5 million anglers, and the supplier business gain a greater significance.