Capture fisheries, particularly small-scale ones, provide a vast
diversity of culturally preferred, highly nutritious fresh and processed fish which are often accessible to poor consumers due to
their ‘divisibility’. Small-scale capture fisheries also generate the
vast majority of livelihood opportunities associated with fisheries
as a whole. At the same time, the growth of aquaculture has held
down fish prices, so that they are far less affected by price
volatility than terrestrial foods. Aquaculture has also helped to
peg downprice inflation for all fish, perhaps reducing the level of
exploitation to which capture fisheries stocks would have been
subjected if their market value had risen further.