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The importance of marine ecosystems in global food supply today is undeniable. Marine fisheries are assessed as contributing 80 million tonnes of protein a year to human diet, and offer a livelihood for 8% of the world's population. Fish is particularly important in developing countries, acting as a vital source of protein for growth and development where meat is otherwise unavailable or expensive. But demand for this vital food source is not static - demand for fish is forecast to increase in line with the expanding population and improving levels of economic development.

Fisheries as a food source have the potential to achieve the resource sustainability in food supply that we desperately need. This diagram from National Geographic represents the quantity of feed mass required to produce a pound of body mass. At 1.1 pounds of feed, fish is clearly more efficient than chicken, pork or beef and seems a suitable candidate for a resource-stretched future. However, while a mass global dietary shift towards fish may be efficient, it is also difficult to attain under present circumstances. And let's face it - who wants to eat nothing but fish?

The pressures that climate change poses to fish stocks and global fish supply are still not fully understood, and will only make a bad situation worse. Fisheries are in quite dire straits due to human over-exploitation coupled with a limited understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics. Global marine catch peaked in 1996 and has been in decline ever since, and it is now thought that as many as 64% of global fisheries are in a state of over-exploitation.

It's clear therefore that if fish is to remain a staple source of protein and nutrients in the human diet it is important to understand the threats posed to global fish supply and the actions we can take to limit them. The purpose of this blog is not to offer a comprehensive solution to the problems facing fisheries - I can assure you that I'm hopelessly under-qualified for such an undertaking. Instead, over the coming weeks this blog will examine the science behind climate change and fisheries as well as exploring proposed and implemented management strategies. And of course, no geographical inquiry will be complete without a healthy dose of case studies, so you can look forward to (I use that phrase reluctantly) analyses of marine and fluvial ecology.

Please feel free to comment and contribute, and hopefully we can start insightful discussion regarding this crucial resource!